I am currently doing research for my dissertation and will be looking at the influence of American GI's on Britain, be it from the music, day to day life, trends and so on. Can anyone suggest some good books or know of any relevant links, or have information on this. Would love to discuss it and the influence that they would have had considering how many troops where crammed into a country smaller than most American states. Would have been a huge clash of cultures for the British and the Americans themselves, and the troops defiantly left their mark on the country. Any info that you guys have would be much appreciated, thanks Sean
Welcome to the forum skenny93, Just so happens I recently received a book (from a real Brit ) that would be helpful to you. "OVER HERE the GI's in wartime Britain" by Juliet Gardiner. Not only does it have interesting reading, it also has an extensive "sources and further reading" index.
Hello (again) Sean. I do not know if this is the sort of thing you are after (I posted about this on the sister forum) but I was reading "newsletters" by the commanding officer of the 16 Infantry Training Centre (Part of the Ox and Bucks Light Infantry). In it he was giving out that they had been given the boot out of Cowley Barracks in Oxford to house US personnel. He made reference to having to find a new home for items from the regimental museum for fear of something happening to them while the Cowley was occupied. He was also not happy with the poor state of the Barracks that they were relocated to in Essex. In a later newsletter he wrote (AND THIS IS NOT MY OPINION CHAPS): "Item. What is the difference between a cow chewing cud and an American chewing gum? The answer, of course, is none; only that the cow looks more intelligent. This is Birgadier Stapleton's, not mine." So from the British side I suspect there was some clash of personalities particularly when people's own circumstance was altered for the worse. It is only natural. Same happens today with the "fine but not on my doorstep attitude"
Hi thanks for the welcome, I also have recently purchased this book and am part of the way through reading it - just what I needed to get started but thanks for the advice, much appreciated.
This is the only book I've managed to acquire, but it's a good one- http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0002551276/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1AN646D4F9YDZP1HGRSB&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=418445227&pf_rd_i=468294 There's also these- http://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/ http://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/ http://www.unithistories.com/ You could also try contacting these guys for help/advice- http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/warstudies/events/seminars.aspx http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/history-classics-archaeology/modern-conflict/ http://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/humanities/research/historyresearch/historyresearchcentres/warstudies/ http://secondworldwaroperationsresearchgroup.wordpress.com/2012/12/05/introducing-the-second-world-war-operations-research-group/ http://www.smats.org.uk/directions.php http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/
Ahh brilliant - that quote is fantastic, I'm sure there was a real clash of personalities - its interesting found this handbook that was given to troops as an introduction to britain before they went - so interesting to read what they thought of us as this time. - this is the link to it - [SIZE=11pt]http://ia700404.us.archive.org/12/items/AShortGuideToGreatBritian/UK2.pdf[/SIZE]
I enjoyed the book. Heads up : if a guy named urgh offers his advice -- well keep in mind he has some 'interesting' observations on the whole American thing. He's one of us but he won't admit it.
Hey thanks for the links - they will help a lott over the next few months! ill post any new things that I find that you guys might find interesting!
When I was in England in the early 90's on business, I was speaking with some English native colleagues and he brought up the old quote regarding Americans in the UK during the war: "There are 3 problems with the Americans They're overpaid, over sexed and over here" I had heard US service men were paid more than their British counterparts and that lead to some monopolizing of pubs and womens' attention. Also, the race issue was something Brits we're not used to seeing so blatantly. Some pub owners had to have certain nights where only black soldiers were allowed and other night where only white soldiers were allowed, just to keep the local peace.
Cheers Aurora, You reminded me of another source for Sean I forgot. This mag has done quite a few features on American troops in Britain over the years-http://www.afterthebattle.com/
Two books worth checking out with very similar titles... 'The Friendly Invasion' by Roger A Freeman 'Friendly Invasion - Memories Of Operation Bolero ' by Henry Buckton These books contain more memories and recollections than social analysis.
Some links for you, from sister site. http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/11213-african-american-soldiers-based-in-britain-during-ww2/ http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/12798-images-of-references-to-americans-in-ireland/ http://www.secondworldwarni.org/default.aspx?id=2&themeid=7 Pity this wasn't available on iplayer http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jwcb5
Oh my gosh! I remember seeing 'After The Battle' magazine years and years ago! Many thanks for the link, Gordon.
