Colonel LeGrande A. "Pick" Diller, in Australia during WW2

COLONEL LE GRANDE A. "PICK" DILLER
IN AUSTRALIA DURING WWII

visits since 30 March 2002

Colonel "Pick" Diller was the Public Relations Officer for General Douglas MacArthur.

General Douglas MacArthur arrived in Melbourne at 1000 on Saturday 21 March 1942 after escaping from the Philippines. One of his first orders was to promote Lt Colonel Diller to the temporary grade of Colonel. See entry below from MacArthur's Office Diary:-

S.O. 75 Headquarters Ft. Mills Brigadier General Harold H. George (0-9605) U.S.A. and Major Charles H. Morehouse (0-19342) M.C. were relieved from assignment to Fifth Interceptor Command and assigned to Headquarters, USAFFE. Lt. Cols. Francis H. Wilson, Inf. (0-6701), LeGrand A. Diller, Inf. (0-15078), and Sidney L. Huff, Inf. (0-890004) were promoted to the grade of temporary Colonels; Major Charles H. Morehouse M.C. (0-19342) was promoted to temporary grade of Lt. Colonel and assigned as Aide-de-Camp to General MacArthur.

Pick Diller invited his mistress Joy Foord to join him in Brisbane when General Douglas MacArthur's GHQ SWPA moved to the AMP building in Brisbane. Joy spent most of her time in Lennons Hotel and shared a single bed there with Pick Diller. She would often run into General MacArthur as she left Lennons Hotel. One morning she spotted General MacArthur kissing his wife Jean and son Arthur goodbye. General MacArthur knew what was happening and he would say to her "Good morning Joy, are you taking your constitutional?"

Pick Diller and Joy Foord would often partake in evening cocktails in Sid Huff's suite at Lennon's Hotel. They would also go to General Richard Sutherland's room for drinks with him and his mistress Mrs. Elaine Bessemer-Clarke.

Brigadier General LeGrande (Pick) Diller died at the age of 86 years on 2 September 1987 in Reynolds, GA, USA.

REFERENCE BOOKS

Pacific Fury
by Peter Thompson