I apologize for my fellow American, Scotsman. I’m sorry we lost another young man yesterday in this mess. I know there are broken hearts because of it, and I pray they can find peace.
The US and UK have stood side by side for about a century now, and I’ve always been greatful for that.
And please let my ire directed at an American poster here not cloud the fact that I have a great affection for America, its people and its military. I just dont like ‘bad history’, especially where the UK is concerned.
Thank you for your kind post.
The US and UK have stood side by side for about a century now, and I've always been grateful for that.
Expatriate Englishman here domiciled in Canada. I was going to leave this whole post well alone. I do have a Johnny Walker's Red Label to hand, and thought I might shed a little light on this subject.
I had worked in a Steel Plant and there were a large number of ex servicemen as my fellow workers. Now some of them made a bee line for me. I was only a conscript in 1950 though. They sneered at the "limeys" brewing tea while the hard men went and did the job.
A kindly old ex soldier took me aside. He said that the real hard men who fought so valiantly were the LEAST LIKELY to put down the British. I learned later that some of the second string soldiers who went in after the fighting, were the most likely to abuse the German prisoners. They had not fought themselves. They were Guards or holding battalions. They had to consolidate the areas now freed from the Wehrmacht. The real frontline soldiers were more likely to keep their mouths shut, when they returned to Canada.
I can only repeat the phrase from Will Shakespeare- "We band of brothers". I would like to hear from any real American soldier on this blog.
Anyway, I still remember my old grandad, a WW1 veteran in 1942. We never had any eggs, though we were told we had one each per week. He had some greaseproof packages. On the package was two hands shaking with each other. One had a Stars and Stripes on the cuff, the other had a Union Jack. It was reconstituted dried egg. He came in with a huge plate of the British favourite- scrambled eggs. We all cheered.
Some of us do not forget. We were in it together.