What the film shows is how the yanks were over here nailing our women, while their husbands and boyfriends were fighting Gerry. Must have been hard for the veterans watching it in the 50's who came home to this problem.
Or is that a bit harsh ??
Hey Krusty,
Man, does your post conjure up memories for me, and not all that positive! Years ago, I dated a British woman. Her mother hated me (a Yank) from day one, because as a little girl during the War, she (the mother) was poisoned against the Yanks most probably by HER mother.
Anyway, we broke up, ex-girlfriend married a Canuck, and as far as I know, they are all living happily ever after!
I spent a large amount of time in England over a period of years as a pilot and was basically treated the same way. British women would have little to say to us, and any girls that did were not well liked by the rest. I thought it was interesting since anyone coming to the States always generates interest and appeal. I was sitting in a hotel "hospitatility" suite where a pair of wonderfully nice Irish girls were teaching country/western dancing to other flight crews staying at the same hotel. There were small party sized flags of the Stars and Stripes and Union jack in the centerpiece... when one of the flight attendants from a BA crew took out the US Flag and pointed it down at the floor and made a less than polite gesture. I suppose the shocked look on my face caused her to look more carefully at my uniform, and that of the Captain sitting next to me. He was ready to tear the place apart when he saw it, and thankfully cooler heads prevailed. I thought it would be worse for me as I am only 2nd generation born in the USA, my entire family being from Germany... but I was treated better when they thought me a Luftwaffe pilot than American! I had one of the locals go off on me once and say something about "...and don't start telling me how your grand-father helped save us in WW II" too which I replied.."No, he didn't do that, he was shot down over over Biggin Hill in 1940 and sat out the rest of the war in a POW camp!
It was worth it just to see the look on his face.
Larry,
I presume that you were a military pilot, if so, then thank you for your service to our country! I really got a laugh out of your anecdote regarding your grandpa! I can just imagine the look on that idiot's face!!
You and I both know that the great majority of the French, British, and other conquered peoples of Europe do appreciate our help, but unfortunately,we only seem to remember the ingrates, because they get us angry! We just have to answer that lack of appreciation by making sure to say "thank you for your thank you" to those who DO express appreciation or friendship. It will be very interesting to see how the new French President (who is overtly pro-American) works out, for both us and the Frogs!
Hitler abandoned invasions plans for Britain two years before the US even joined the war, and we lost a load of guys, planes and city blocks persuading him to do so. Both the UK and US were part of an international force of allies who then liberated continental Europe.
The US didn’t save us! We were never “conquered”. We just happened to be on the same side. It’s this issue that has lead to 60+ years of animosity. We would be grateful if you weren’t so damn self congratulatory as a nation.
Britain declared war on Germany because of strong principles. After the war we had lost everything. Our position in the world. Our Empire. Our cities, our military, our wealth and a large percentage of our population. Every other nation involved, Axis and Ally, came out stronger. America particularly. Literally the only thing we had was the knowledge that we had taken a bullet for freedom. Britain may well have been a spent force, but at least it went down helping to save the world.
You guys won’t let us have even that. You want all the credit for the victory, and worse still, you want us to pretend we were on our knees begging for you to come and save us. That is where the resentment comes from. We sacrificed and achieved too much to let even Hollywood rewrite our history.
Also, after 65 years do you really expect people to go round thanking you for what was, let’s face it, a fairly minor commitment compared to what every other nation involved went through? It’s not going to happen. Let it go. Surely being the only untouched combatant nation to come out of the war a superpower could be enough?
I was in New York a year ago, an no one thanked me for the British troops that have spent the last 8 years fighting in pointless unjustified wars for you guys.
Sorry to poke a hole in your balloon, but yes, we did save your collective tuchases. Lend-lease, Americans in the RAF, Americans sending you anything that would shoot, etc etc etc etc etc etc, etcetera, ad naseum. It would be nice if you developed some humility and appreciation for our great sacrifices.
I realize that not everything we Yanks do or say is popular or even right, but you have to give credit where credit is due, unless of course you are an anti-American Leftist, which I suspect you are.
I apologize for the horrible way that our new President has insulted you Brits by returning (not even putting into storage, but returning to the British Embassy) the bust of Winston Churchill that sat in the Oval Office for many years, through the last four or five Presidents, I believe.
I apologize that your Prime Minister brought Osama, er um, Obama VERY thoughtful, symbolic gifts and all he got the PM was a multi-volume collection of American movies on DVD. What a schmuck, and I apologize for his tacky faux pas.
I and many of my fellow Americans appreciate all that England has done for civilization and for America in particular. However, you need to give credit where it is due.
I feel sorry for you in England; you are selling your country down the river in favor of the Islamofacsists who day by day are demanding more rights that were never theirs to begin with. The Islamic reconquer of Europe is well under way, without a shot being fired. Very soon it will just be the US, Australia, Israel and a precious few others who are bearing the torch of freedom, justice and Judeo-Christian values and Western Civilization. And once again, we will come to your aid, asking nothing more than a plot of land to bury our dead.
Yes, I am using the IMDB website for my soapbox. Long live democracy and liberty!
Hey Stroud24,
As an American, I will give you a fair and balanced response.
Yes, I stayed awake in History class so I agree that Americans did not
save the British in 1940. You British did that yourselves, bravely.
Yes, I will agree with you that Britain on its own was not capable of defeating the German Wehrmacht in the Western Theater.
It took the combined might of Great Britain, Canada, and the United States, backed up by the immense logistical American material support to evict the Germans from North Africa, France, and deep into the German homeland itself. All this was accomplished at great cost in human lives.
Any "saving" we Americans did for the British was to "save" OUR combined hopes of eventual victory over one of the most evil, totalitarian regimes that ever existed on this planet. The British successfully repelled the Germans in 1940 but were not capable of launching an effective counter-offensive onto the European mainland and into the German homeland. The British simply did not have the necessary manpower numbers nor sufficient military logistical resources to pull off an invasion of Western Europe on their own.
This is where we Americans come in. I think we Americans should have been more 'tactful' in describing our contribution to one of history's greatest military, political, and even cultural alliances ever assembled - Americans, British, Canadians, even Australians - to confront and ultimately overthrow a diabolical malignant fascist empire that would have led the planet into another Dark Ages lasting who knows how long.
It took us Americans so long to enter World War II because, remember, we are a democracy and at the time we Americans were greatly averse into being entangled into European affairs much less another bloody war. We Americans will always be criticized for not getting involved fast enough and then criticized for getting involved in the first place. It goes with the territory of being a superpower, something that doesn't make all Americans comfortable. History shows that the British had to struggle with the same international image problem when they were the preeminent world power in the 19th to early 20th centuries. We didn't ask to become to a superpower and then a hyperpower. It was thrust upon us in August 1945 as the radioactive mushroom-shaped debris clouds towered over Nagasaki and Hiroshima. And ever since then we've had to bear that superpower cross on our backs. One day we'll be free of it and everyone else's expectations of what we should and shouldn't be to them.
By the way, I wish to extend my most sincerest and heartfelt gratitude for the participation and sacrifice of lives by brave British soldiers who fought alongside Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq, two of the most thankless and endless conflicts we're mired in together.
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Thank you stroud24 for your words of truth. I'd like to add a few more points. Before Hitler went totally mad and declared war on the US, 70% of America was against any physical involvement in the war in Europe. Henry Ford was an outright admirer of Hitler. Hearst was convinced Germany was going to win. There was virtual indifference to the fate of the Jews in Germany (check out The Pianist). There are basically only one or two genuine reasons why Hitler was defeated, and why civilization was eventually saved. 1. In spite of being militarily unprepared and at a profound disadvantage, Britain grasped the nettle and declared war on Germany. 2. Britain won the Battle of Britain. At this critical point, Britain stood alone, defending decency. America shrugged her shoulders. She was quite content to watch Britain's engagement in multiple war arenas, world-wide, from a safe distance, knowing that the effort would exhaust the British Empire. Part of the US hidden agenda was to dismantle that Empire, and cash in and take over when the war ended. Meanwhile armaments and food parcels were supplied, at a price, a price which Britain has only recently succeeded in paying off. When America was finally obliged to enter the European war, thanks to Hitler's madness, there wasn't much of a real problem remaining, a mopping-up operation in effect. America still managed to be incompetent, making a hash of things in Italy, and one seriously wonders how come Omaha Beach went so badly when compared with elsewhere on D-Day. American bombing missions over Germany were pathetic compared with the RAF performance. Percentage-wise America lost far fewer troops than Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, during the war as a whole. Since 1945 the world has had to watch the US make a mess of almost everywhere: Korea, Vietnam, the Middle East. Brawn is no substitute for brains. Meanwhile, the Hollywood hucksters have been systematically distorting the truth with their relentless self-congratulatory propaganda. Burma was conquered by Errol Flynn, all by himself. Check out the character of the Yank in Bridge on the River Kwai. I could go on, if I wasn't so sick of hearing how great America is.
shareI don't believe that Hitler was ever serious about invading Britain, partly because he continued to harbour the dream of making peace, partly because the Germans simply didn't have the naval forces or logistics to support an invasion.
As for the argument on who did the most to win the war, I thought everyone knew that - it was the Russians!
...I was treated better when they thought me a Luftwaffe pilot than American! I had one of the locals go off on me once and say something about "...and don't start telling me how your grand-father helped save us in WW II" too which I replied.."No, he didn't do that, he was shot down over over Biggin Hill in 1940 and sat out the rest of the war in a POW camp!
Current political instability in the mideast, and much of Africa originated in aggressive, self-serving 19th and 20th century British colonial policies. Remember that the nations of Israel, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Jordan, Palestine, Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe - are complete British productions. Israel (Balfour Declaration, Mandate for Palestine)is Britain's masterpiece. Today the British people convenientsly blame the sorry state of affairs in these nations .....not just on U.S. foreign policy but on the American people. Fortunately, no one cares about what Britain thinks anymore.
shareWhat do you feel that the British should have done differently during the dissolution of the British Empire and the Ottoman Empire?
Illegitimus!
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It doesnt matter, all this arguing about who won the war.I thought it was the "Allies"??. The graveyards of Europe tell the tale. Soldiers of the Allied Forces fought and died together to save our sorry asses and what do we let happen? Britain might as well have lost it. The country is going down the tubes and will soon be a Muslim state, without a shot being fired. Why? Because our Politically Correct MP`s are too busy lining their pockets and swindling the tax payer to do anything about it.
The National Anthem is being changed in the New Year... " Allah bless our Gracious Queen...." : )
What was it Enoch Powell said....??
Mister , You say three..you`ll never hear the man count ten.
It doesnt matter, all this arguing about who won the war.I thought it was the "Allies"??. The graveyards of Europe tell the tale. Soldiers of the Allied Forces fought and died together to save our sorry asses and what do we let happen? Britain might as well have lost it. The country is going down the tubes and will soon be a Muslim state, without a shot being fired. Why? Because our Politically Correct MP`s are too busy lining their pockets and swindling the tax payer to do anything about it.
The National Anthem is being changed in the New Year... " Allah bless our Gracious Queen...." : )
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"Fortunately, no one cares about what Britain thinks anymore."
And you think all the world loves a yank? Forget it. I am ashamed to say that I was related to a yank - my father's sister married a doughboy in what you guys call the 1917-18 war. They are both now dead and had no children, which sets me free. Rule Britannia.
Going back to the film "D-Day, The Sixth Of June", I'm surprised that there weren't calls in 1956 for it to be banned in Great Britain because of the insulting attitude in parts of it of the American soldiers towards the British soldiers. One American soldier, a pal of Robert Taylor's character, says to Taylor: "I don't go for those Limeys. They talk fast and fight slow." "Yeah", replies Taylor, agreeing with him. My late father landed on the beaches on D-Day. His mates were getting shot to peices alongside him and I'm sure that if he had seen this film at the time, he would have felt very insulted by such dialogue. It should never have been in the script.
shareOne American soldier, a pal of Robert Taylor's character, says to Taylor: "I don't go for those Limeys. They talk fast and fight slow." "Yeah", replies Taylor, agreeing with him.
Look, let's not get into that crap.As far as I'm concerned England and her Commonwealth have been and remain our most steadfast and trusted allies. I would also say we made a d@mned good team in WWII. England did hold its own for a while. Yes, we did help with Lend-Lease, but they also defeated the Germans pretty much on their own during the Battel of Britain and El Alamein. I have heard stories of many guys that were barrackest in England home that thought of tham as their family while they were stationed there. To our English and related friends, many of us over here appreciate all that you did and thnak you for the friendship and support. We are in a sense related, since our country was formed by people who were either from England or descendents of those who were. So, many of us respect what you did and appreciate you as allies. So, please don't let a few ruin your perceptions of us. As peoples we are related and have a common history. have a pint on me, and I'll do the same, brother.
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