Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain, 1942.

from the War Department, Washington DC.

In 1942, over 100,000 American servicemen arrived in Britain.  For nearly all of them it was the first time they had ever left their homeland and, from this distance, when US influence has spread so far and modern technology can connect us instantly with people half way around the world, it’s difficult to imagine just how much of a culture shock that would have been for them – and for the people they were descending upon.

The potential for disaster was enormous and, mindful of the old saying, “It is always impolite to criticize your hosts; it is militarily stupid to criticize your allies”, the  US War Office helpfully provided every American serviceman heading for Britain with a six-page cultural guide.

Over 60 years later, reproduced in a hardback facsimile edition by the Bodleian Library, it provides a witty, well-observed and touching snapshot of not just one culture, but two … at a moment when they were thrown together – not entirely willingly – in a common cause.

The unknown author had a shrewd eye, a detailed knowledge of what life was like in wartime Britain and an unexpectedly laconic sense of humour.  He made his points deftly and without a trace of pomposity.  His aim was to avoid misunderstandings … to prevent the generally well-intentioned but bemused GIs from unwittingly putting their government issue boots straight in it.

Explaining about the war-weary British, he said:  “Thousands of them have lost their houses, their possessions, their families.”  Soap, he continued, is so scarce that “girls working in the factories often cannot get the grease off their hands or out of their hair.  And food is more strictly rationed than anything else.”

Women in uniform were a completely foreign sight to the incomers (something I hadn’t fully appreciated before) and the author pointedly told his readers that when they saw a young woman in khaki, “with a bit of ribbon on her tunic – remember she didn’t get it for knitting more socks than anyone else in Ipswich.”

Whoever the author was (and I’d really like to have met him) he knew his GIs as well as he knew his ‘Tommies’:

“British money is in pounds, shillings and pence.  They won’t be pleased to hear you call it ‘funny money’ …… The British ‘Tommy’ is apt to be especially touchy about the difference between his wages and yours …… You will naturally be interested in getting to know your opposite number ……  You can understand that two actions on your part will slow up the friendship – swiping his girl and not appreciating what his army has been up against.  Yes, and rubbing it in that you are better paid than he is.”

On every page, there are beautifully turned little gems:

“The British do not know how to make a good cup of coffee.  You don’t know how to make a good cup of tea.  It’s an even swap.”

“Don’t be misled by the British tendency to be soft-spoken and polite ……  The English language didn’t spread across oceans and over the mountains and jungles and swamps of the world because these people were panty-waists.”

Instructions to American Servicemen paints a vivid portrait of a world that no longer exists … where “bloody” was the worst swear word in the English language, showing off was still referred to as “swanking” and BBC announcers wore evening dress and pronounced ‘here’ as ‘hyah’.

The  language of the guide itself is an fascinating record of how word meanings change.  At one point, for instance, the author warned his readers against poking fun at British speech patterns:

“The British have phrases and colloquialisms of their own that may sound funny to you.  You can make just as many boners in their eyes.”

Well, quite.

There is, of course, an added layer of poignancy to the book – one that only comes with 20/20 hindsight and the knowledge of what lay ahead of those sometimes brash young ‘invaders’.

Thousands of them never saw their homes again.

It’ll take you all of half an hour to read this little book … but I promise you’ll never tire of picking it up and you’ll almost certainly find yourself warming to the man who solemnly informed his students  that announcing “I look like a bum” in public was probably not a  good idea “if you are trying to shine in polite society”.

Whoever you were sir, I salute you.

Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.  2004.  ISBN: 978-1851240852.  31pp.