_Welcome to England, Yanks

From 1942 thousands of American military personnel began arriving in Britain. Many of them had never been abroad before and were unprepared for the difficulties of interpreting the customs and puzzling ways of our rather idiosyncratic island. The results could be mutual confusion for visitors and hosts alike.

The United States War Department was clearly aware of the potential for friction, so produced a fairly rudimentary guide to the dos and don’ts of arriving in Blighty, to get the GIs ‘acquainted with the British, their country, and their ways’.

The original text was produced on seven pages of typescript on poor quality paper and has since been published in facsimile form.

It makes fascinating reading. The tone of the advice is certainly complimentary to the British. It’s open to discussion whether we are as polite, reserved and formal these days as we were 75 years ago.

If first impressions are a bit negative, it is pointed out the British are ‘reserved, not unfriendly’, partly due to living on a small, overpopulated island. ‘If Britons sit in trains or buses without striking up conversation with you, it doesn’t mean they are being haughty and unfriendly. Probably they are paying more attention to you than you think. But they don’t speak to you because they don’t want to appear intrusive or rude.’

This reticence and politeness should not be misunderstood as weakness. ‘The English language didn’t spread across the oceans and over the mountains and jungles and swamps of the world because these people were panty-waists.’

GIs are reminded of the comparative scale of the island. ‘The whole of Great Britain – that is England, Scotland and Wales together – is hardly bigger than Minnesota.’ Moreover, they may find things looking a little ‘shopworn and grimy’.

‘The British people are anxious to have you know that you are not seeing their country at its best. There’s been a war on since 1939. The houses haven’t been painted because factories are not making paint – they’re making planes…’

Although things may appear strictly, and rather ridiculously, hierarchical, ‘England is still one of the great democracies and the cradle of many American liberties’. And for those with bitter memories of past wrongs, the guide exhorts them to forget the American Revolution and War of 1812. ‘This is no time to fight old wars.’ That would be playing into Hitler’s hands.