- War Department.
Instructions for American
Servicemen in Britain.
Oxford: Bodelian Library, [1942] 2004.
ISBN 978-1-85124-085-2.
-
Shortly after the entry of the United States into the European
war following the attack on Pearl Harbor, U.S. troops began
to arrive in Britain in 1942. Although more than two years would
elapse before the D-Day invasion of Normandy, an ever-increasing
number of “overpaid, oversexed, and over here”
American troops would establish air bases, build logistics for
the eventual invasion, and provide liaison with the
British command.
This little (31 page, small format) book reproduces a document
originally furnished to U.S. troops embarking for Britain as
seven pages of typescript. It provides a delightful look at
how Americans perceived the British at the epoch, and also how
they saw themselves—there's even an admonishment to
soldiers of Irish ancestry not to look upon the English as
their hereditary enemies, and a note that the American colloquialism
“I look like a bum” means something much different
in an English pub. A handy table helps Yanks puzzle out the
bewildering British money.
Companion volumes were subsequently published for troops
bound for
Iraq (yes, in 1943!) and
France; I'll get to them in due
course.
February 2009 