Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Fascinating World War II handbook reveals what American soldiers were told to expect in Australia
Daily Mail (Australia/UK) ^ | 5th February 2017 | Max Margan

Posted on 02/05/2017 12:00:52 PM PST by naturalman1975

Australian men were described by the US military during World War II as incoherent, beer-drinking tough guys who would gamble on raindrops falling on a window.

In 1942, the US Army handed a 54-page booklet to its soldiers who were sent to Australia during the war to help them deal with culture shock.

Titled 'Instructions for American Servicemen in Australia', the handbook's overriding theme was that the two countries shared a robust military and cultural alliance.

But 75 years later, it gives a compelling insight into America's perception of Australians and reveals what the US Army told its men about Australian soldiers.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Australia/New Zealand; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: australia; handbook; military; soldiers; worldwarii; wwii
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-35 next last
Interesting that they felt the need to edit out the word 'Japs' in the first photo. It's an historical document.
1 posted on 02/05/2017 12:00:52 PM PST by naturalman1975
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: naturalman1975

There was an Australian fellow in our frat house when I was at U of Iowa back in 69-70. He was doing a doctorate in pharmacy.

He loved tennis, ladies and big block Corvettes, in that order.


2 posted on 02/05/2017 12:04:55 PM PST by Eric in the Ozarks (Baseball players, gangsters and musicians are remembered. But journalists are forgotten.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: naturalman1975
Heck, my late-wife, who was Australian to the tips of her toes, always told me the same thing: Australian men will bet on where a fly will land on the wall.

She also said that, if I hadn't come along, she would have never gotten married to an Australian man. In her words, "The only way that you know that an Australian man loves you is that he will come home to you and beat you up, after a long night of drinking with his mates and spending all of his paycheck at the pub. If he didn't love you, he'd just go off with some other Sheila ...".

3 posted on 02/05/2017 12:05:56 PM PST by BlueLancer (Ex Scientia Tridens)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: naturalman1975

My Great Uncle Carl was in the Navy and was stationed in Australia during WWII. He fell in love and married an Aussie Lass, and moved there after the war.

It’s been fun through the years having our Aussie Cousins come to visit us, ‘in the states.’ My parents took my Grandma (Carl’s sister) and Grandpa to Australia in the mid-70’s and Dad has been back twice, since.

It’s still on my Bucket List. :)


4 posted on 02/05/2017 12:07:59 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: naturalman1975

5 posted on 02/05/2017 12:10:28 PM PST by Larry Lucido
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Larry Lucido

Looks fairly accurate.


6 posted on 02/05/2017 12:13:23 PM PST by naturalman1975 ("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: naturalman1975

My Dad has some interactions with Australians in the Pacific in WWII. He wasn’t negative, but only said his main memories were 1) he couldn’t understand what many of them were saying, they had heavy accents, and 2) that his ship picked up a load of Australian mutton that literally made everyone on the ship sick. He was on an aircraft carrier - he said everyone was throwing up on the flight deck


7 posted on 02/05/2017 12:26:03 PM PST by PGR88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: naturalman1975

“Everything is venomous except the sheep,” I’ve heard.


8 posted on 02/05/2017 12:26:05 PM PST by Tax-chick ("If you think free speech is assault but assault is free speech, you're a moron.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: naturalman1975

My CV made a port call to Fremantle/Perth, and out of that one week visit came no less than seven marriages to Australian women, all beauties, among the 32 officers in our squadron..and I was dang near the eighth! We operated with the Royal Australian Navy, no finer fighting forces in the world, and noble allies. But Australian men treat “sheilas” worse than their animals, all to the benefit of Americans with a bit of courtesy and the promise to Australian ladies of escaping Oz for the USA. True story.


9 posted on 02/05/2017 12:26:17 PM PST by nickedknack
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Larry Lucido
Not entirely accurate. There is no mention of giant spiders.


10 posted on 02/05/2017 12:34:20 PM PST by Telepathic Intruder (The only thing the Left has learned from the failures of socialism is not to call it that)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: naturalman1975

save


11 posted on 02/05/2017 12:44:24 PM PST by arthurus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: naturalman1975

for later


12 posted on 02/05/2017 12:45:21 PM PST by ThanhPhero
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: naturalman1975
"incoherent, beer-drinking tough guys who would gamble on raindrops falling on a window"

Where was the problem? Sounds like my Marines to me.

13 posted on 02/05/2017 12:49:01 PM PST by doorgunner69
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Telepathic Intruder

That was an epic prank. Will probably still work.


14 posted on 02/05/2017 12:52:26 PM PST by fella ("As it was before Noah so shall it be again,")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: fella
Will probably still work.

Unless the poor doggy runs into some old fart who flashes back to his automatically stomp on huge spiders days.


15 posted on 02/05/2017 1:10:00 PM PST by ASA Vet (Make US Intelligence great again!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: naturalman1975

I pulled some liberty in Australia back in the early 70’s. The people were wonderful.


16 posted on 02/05/2017 1:14:55 PM PST by VR-21 (FU Seattle from Finn Hill, Kirkland.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PGR88
My father-in-law said the same thing.

Mutton was so bad, he couldn't eat lamb for years.

Of course, my dad encountered sheeps' eyeballs as a delicacy in the Greek Islands, so you probably aren't safe anywhere.

17 posted on 02/05/2017 1:17:34 PM PST by AnAmericanMother (Ecce Crucem Domini, fugite partes adversae. Vicit Leo de Tribu Iuda, Radix David, Alleluia!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: nickedknack

I can vouch for your experience.
We stopped at Perth/Freemantle for five days in ‘94.
Five marriges, 2 went AWOL for them.
2 Marines were TOLD to NOT go kangaroo boxing and ended up with massive injuries after ignoring the order.
Shattered ribcages, broken arms, legs, etc.
STUNNING women. They DO stand on the pier with their phone numbers on large billboards.
Their Burger Kings are called Hungry Jacks.
They don’t drink Fosters beer.
I loved Australia.


18 posted on 02/05/2017 1:30:18 PM PST by RandallFlagg (Vote for your guns!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: RandallFlagg

Fosters???? Bloody roo pi$$ mate!


19 posted on 02/05/2017 1:35:11 PM PST by clee1 (We use 43 muscles to frown, 17 to smile, and 2 to pull a trigger. I'm lazy and I'm tired of smiling.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: PGR88
1) he couldn’t understand what many of them were saying, they had heavy accents

In the 1950s USN, one of my Filipino shipmates said it was a guy's paradise there during WWII - all their men were overseas. The women would even pick you up on the street. One gal scared the Hell out of him though when she stopped him and asked "Where are you going to die?". He told her he wasn't going to die anywhere.

Of course, she meant "Where are you going today?" She translated, he told her where and entered paradise (pun intended).

20 posted on 02/05/2017 1:38:01 PM PST by Oatka
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-35 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson