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SOME SPECIAL PROBLEMS OF REGIONAL WORK
(ANGLO-AMERICAN LIAISON)

1. The Nature of the Problem

In the late summer of 1942 it became clear that East Anglia would gradually become one vast base for the American Air Force. Our first problem was to find out where the men would be based, in what numbers and when. To obtain this information involved many (and often fruitless) meetings with American Red Cross authorities and with such American commanders as we could contrive to lay hands on. For a long time the American Red Cross did not know where its troops would be based, neither did it know in what places it would be required to provide service clubs. Eventually, security difficulties were overcome (largely in an unofficial way) and we could see the size of the problem confronting us. There would be about 350,000 U.S. troops in this rural part of England, some based reasonably near the larger towns, such as Norwich, Ipswich, Cambridge, and Bedford, but others centred in the depths of the countryside, a mile or so from villages or small market towns, such as Attleborough, Dunmow, etc. In this second category would come at least 70 Bomber and Fighter stations, many of them containing as many as 3,000 men. what recreational arrangements could be made for this large number of men in such slightly equipped towns and villages, and how could they best be brought into touch with the civilian population?

The Mandate of the Ministry of Information was at first a restricted one. We were instructed to form suitable local committees, to afford the best welcome possible to the coming Americans, to co-operate in U.S. liaison with the Regional office of the Ministry of Home Security, but we had no staff, no money, and little real authority. (In addition, we were advised to write to Emergency Information Officers (men whose duty was mainly-concerned with post-blitz announcements) and ask them to act as key men in their localities for promoting contacts between the British people and the American soldiers.)

The instruction that we should co-operate with the Regional Commissioner in Anglo-U.S. matters was a wise one and, in this Region, strong and valuable support was at all times received from the Regional Commissioner and his R.A.F. and British Liaison Officers. With his co-operation, Anglo-American committees under civic aegis were formed in the main centres of the Region. As later experience showed, however, they were formed too soon. They made plans to extend generous hospitality to the American troops long before those troops had been able to establish themselves on their bases. The result was many disappointments in the way of neglected invitations, etc. Part of the blame for this must be laid at the door of the pamphlet given to U.S. soldiers coining to Britain, which over-stressed the ordinary householder's shortage of food; but the visitor was shy when he first came to a new country. Another difficulty met with by the Committees was that the American representatives who attended them were either Special Service Officers of slight ability or Public Relations Officers, Station Adjutants, etc., who, while ready to co-operate, were unable to speak for more than their own unit. We were never able completely, or for any length of time, to overcome this difficulty of finding an American Public Relations Officer or Liaison Officer who could speak for all the troops in a given area.

2. Early Liaison with the American Red Cross.

Our first cardinal principle grew out of our first few weeks’ experience in this work - that it was of little use to talk about home hospitality, welcome parties, common interests, etc. until the bodily needs of sleep and refreshment when the men were on leave, had been satisfied in the larger 204 - 6 -towns to which they could be expected to go when they were free. An agreement was drawn up with the American Red Cross which fixed the main leave centres at which the American Red Cross would provide full service clubs with dormitory accommodation, the smaller centres being assigned to the Ministry of Information working with the Voluntary Societies. We concentrated all our efforts at first on assisting the American Red Cross, who established a Zone Executive Organisation in Cambridge. To enable the Ministry to give this assistance, one post on the Regional staff was created (that of a Deputy Regional Information Officer for American affairs). Our main work, therefore, for some months consisted of helping the American Red Cross Zone Executive to obtain sites or buildings. This required many visits to Local Authorities or organisations which might be able to release land for buildings. The process was slow, and the requisitioning powers for this purpose given to the Ministry of Works, could only operate slowly. With the assistance of this Ministry, however, good sites or premises were obtained for the American Red Cross in all their centres and we worked in the closest and friendliest possible co-operation with the American Red Cross.

Once clubs were built, equipped, and opened, and co-operation between the Club staff and the local Anglo-American Committee ensured, our main task with the American Red Cross was done - from that point onwards they, clearly and understandably, wished to look after their own affairs and they made but few calls upon us.

3. Information about American and American customs to civilian audiences.

Coincident with the work just described was the work of giving simple information about the American way of life to as many audiences as possible. This was undertaken by our Meetings department, and a special panel of speakers who had recently visited the States was gathered together. A very large number of talks was given to Women's Institutes and other voluntary organisations with considerable success. We should have liked to illustrate these talks with film shows, but the Films Division were unable to produce suitable films about American towns, countryside, schools, home life, etc. Two sets of good lantern slides with commentaries were sent to us when we had practically finished the tours of meetings. At most meetings held, the question of different rates of pay as between the U. S. and British armies arose and only a partial answer could ever be given to that insoluble problem. Genuine keenness to afford home hospitality was shown everywhere. The question of coloured troops also usually arose, and a careful directive, after Headquarters guidance, was issued to all speakers about this. The gist of this directive was that British organisations could not discriminate as between white and coloured troops, but that arrangements made on behalf of the latter should not be such as to embarrass U.S. Commanding Officers. The local Press in many areas published a number of helpful general articles concerning the American mode of life, but security considerations prevented the publication of many local stories.

4. Home Hospitality

In the early days of the work, householders were invited to offer home hospitality to the American troops, and large numbers of offers were received. This proved to be a mistake. The Americans were clearly scared of ‘blind dates’ and home hospitality could only grow from preliminary acquaintance. Some form of ice-breaking party or reception was clearly necessary to enable prospective host and guest to size each other up. This report will show later how we tried to solve this problem.

5. The Need for Common Meeting Grounds - The Voluntary Societies.

Once the premises requirements of the American Red Cross were satisfied, we were able to turn our attention to the question of providing some kind of Club in the small towns or big villages not served by the American Red Cross. The American Red Cross was not an Anglo-U. S. organisation and its Clubs were American-style places for American soldiers. We wanted to create a common meeting-place where the American and British soldier and the British civilian could meet together. The Ministry decided to obtain or build small non-dormitory Clubs in eighteen centres for this purpose. The Voluntary Societies jointly offered, through the Council of Voluntary War Work, to operate these Clubs and - unfortunately, as it later seemed to us - the Ministry accepted this offer, without, as we understand, imposing conditions as to the kind of amenity to be 205 - 7 -provided. The various Clubs were assigned to individual Voluntary Bodies by agreement among themselves, the general principle being that that Body, which had the strongest following in a given centre, was the proper Body to operate the new Club. An excellent design for a pre-fabricated hutment scheme with good furniture and equipment was agreed upon between the Ministry, the Voluntary Societies and the Ministry of Works. It would have been better had all the Clubs been in such hutments, but the Ministry of Works was obliged by its instructions to offer an existing building which could be adapted for the purpose of the Club if such a place could be found.

The process of obtaining sites or buildings was over-lengthy and wearisome. The Ministry of Works was inadequately staffed to survey sites and buildings sufficiently quickly, and the Voluntary Bodies were too much reliant on amateur personnel for agreeing to the places chosen. The two members of the Ministry's Regional staff (the Regional Information Officer and the U.S. Deputy) were completely occupied for several months in urging the Ministry of Works to action, overcoming the prejudices of Voluntary Society representatives, coaxing Local Authorities or other organisations to release land and dealing as best they could - in the absence of anyone else to do it - with technical building points, plumbing and the like. Before a site could be requisitioned by the Ministry of Works, no fewer than fifteen Government Departments or semi-Government organisations had to be asked whether they had any objection, and this process often took many months.

When, at length, all obstacles were overcome and the Clubs were provided, we found ourselves confronted with two very difficult problems:

1. These Anglo-American Services Clubs were conceived to be on the same basis as a normal British troops canteen i.e. no civilians were allowed to enter the Club or obtain refreshments at them.

2. Many of the Voluntary Body officials, though it is impossible to speak too highly of the keenness and willingness to contribute to the welfare of the U.S. troops, of many of them, conceived the Clubs as normal canteens - indeed as the reverse of the social centres which we envisaged.

The first of these problems was partially solved. After many meetings with the British Army Welfare (who were not entirely co-operative at first) and with Ministry of Food officials, an agreement was made by Headquarters which enabled selected civilians to attend the Clubs as guests of the Club and to receive limited refreshments once weekly. It cannot be said that all the Voluntary Bodies were entirely with us in this venture: and some were slow to take advantage of the concession. A second concession made by the Ministry of Food, namely to provide ‘A’ licences for the Clubs (which meant that hot meals could be served) was also looked at askance by some Club leaders but it later proved of value in attracting men to the Clubs. The second problem above referred to, namely the type of recreation provided, depended upon the views of the particular operating Body, and could never be entirely solved. The Voluntary Bodies went some way with us in making exceptions to their normal practice: more dances were held, more stage entertainments, more social evenings etc. In general, the greater number of professional staff allowed, the more successful the Club, particularly when a professional staff was supervised by a volunteer. The W.V. S. though most generous with their time and energy, were never able to operate these Clubs properly because, in spite of frequently repeated requests, they could not agree to employ paid staff. The Salvation Army, to give another example, were, for quite another reason, unable to operate the Clubs as fully as we should have liked, since, although they made their two Clubs homely and attractive, their rules forbade them to have the one thing most desired by most American soldiers, namely dances. Again, the Church Army club leaders were essentially ‘Lay Evangelists’, and were, as their Headquarters told us, ill-equipped to organise recreational clubs.

6. Problems of Relationship - Staff and Organisation.

While the work of setting up the Anglo-American Services Clubs was proceeding as fast as the two members of this staff available could rush round this large Region, other problems presented themselves. How should 206 - 8 -our U.S. visitors be assisted to meet the average type of British civilian and particularly the average young woman, rather than the debased type? How could the anxieties of Local Authorities be set at rest by the provision of more extensive American police precautions in leave towns? What advice should be given to those who asked about the relationships with American coloured troops? How could the difference of pay question be dealt with? Two administrative developments were important in strengthening our power to deal with such matters as this. First, after many months of struggle by the Regional Information Officer, we were at last allowed a staff of four Civil Liaison Officers. We established three of these in branch offices at Norwich, Ipswich and Colchester, and the fourth in Cambridge. Their function was to find out in what types of social activity, etc., the Americans would like to join with British people, and, having found that out, to encourage Anglo-American Committees, Voluntary Bodies, factory clubs or any other suitable organisation to provide what the Americans asked for. These C.L.O.'s visited every American station in their part of the Region, making a courtesy call on the Commander, and then doing business with the Station Adjutant, Public Relations Officer, Special Service Officer, chaplain, etc. This cardinal principle of our work should be stressed - we consistently discouraged the Committees, etc., from planning activities and then inviting the Americans to join in: it was essential first to approach the Americans and to find out what sort of activity would suit them.

In their visits to stations, the Civil Liaison Officers had little to offer. They mentioned the possibility of public meetings, of the loan of films; they could speak about Committees in the various towns - but the Ministry had little real power to its elbow in any of this work.

The second administrative development was the formation of the American Forces Liaison Division at Headquarters. It is not the intention of this report to discuss the doings of Headquarters, except to show how these doings reacted on the Regional work. The formation of American Forces Liaison Division had a considerable morale value, since our work was no longer merely one of the many concerns of Home Division. Its disadvantage was the lack of satisfactory co-operation between American Forces Liaison Division and the American Division.

These developments brought the Regional Anglo-American Hospitality Fund of £500 per month with Regional discretion as to its use, and, of importance also - though of only secondary advantage to the Regional work - was the formation of the British American Liaison Board.

7. Progress in Anglo-American Understanding and Joint Activities.

The administrative developments mentioned above made faster progress possible. We were able to put the Committees of the larger towns, and especially Norwich and Cambridge, in closer touch with the American commanders, more particularly as the division of the U.S. Eighth Air Force into four bombardment divisions, with Headquarters situated near Cambridge, Norwich, Ipswich and Colchester, became operative. We corrected our initial mistake of dealing through Special Service Officers and were able to obtain the ear and co-operation of Divisional Commanders, Chiefs of Staffs, and Public Relations Officers. The measure of our success still depended on the amount of co-operation received from the American commanders (Divisions 1 and 2. were the most co-operative, Division 3 the least) and on the state of mind of Mayors and Town Councils. Norwich, Cambridge and Colchester, for instance, were fully alive to the importance of good Anglo-American understanding; on the other hand, Bedford and Bury St. Edmunds, owing to the lack of understanding of certain key persons, seemed to be anti-American, and our work in those towns was, therefore, only partially successful. We partly overcame such difficulties by resorting to county authorities: a Lord Lieutenant or High Sheriff could sometimes obtain the co-operation of a lukewarm Mayor and Corporation.

The provision of the Regional Hospitality Fund now made it possible for us to approach the problem of home hospitality with more success. It was mentioned earlier in this report that home hospitality depended a great deal on preliminary ‘ice-breaking’ parties or gatherings which would enable 207 - 9 -prospective host and prospective guest to take each other's measure. By the judicious use of the Hospitality Fund, we were able to make large numbers of civic receptions, invitation dances, tea-parties, cocktail parties, sight-seeing visits, etc. possible. Similarly, grants were made to Anglo-American Services Clubs to enable them to extend their social activities, and to hold parties at which local civilians could meet both American and British troops. In the use of the Hospitality Fund we adopted a strict principle: we paid grants only to Committees or suitable Voluntary Bodies; we never promoted direct and we did not normally pay cheques direct to commercial organisations. Some £9,000 was spent from the Fund, mostly in grants of less than £20 (apart from eight larger functions which received grants averaging about £l50 each.)

As a result of the innumerable friendships and acquaintanceships which grew out of such receptions and parties, Committees were able to approach American commanders with such problems as those mentioned in Section 6., and, in general, good co-operation was received from the commanders. Many Committees undertook the collecting of parties of dance partners under proper supervision to send out to weekly dances on stations; others promoted regular dances themselves; others concentrated particularly on Sunday evening entertainment owing to the lack of commercial entertainment in their towns; most of them did a great deal to provide sports amenities. A certain number of local problems arose apropos U.S. coloured troops, but the problem never reached large proportions. Our advice when we were asked about this matter was that, before organising any dance or other activity for coloured troops, Committees or Voluntary Bodies for Clubs should approach the nearest American commander, and should act by his advice.

Frequent meetings were held between our own staff and Regional supervisors of the Voluntary Bodies operating Anglo-American Services Clubs, the British Army Welfare Authorities, and other Bodies concerned. The Voluntary Bodies were always willing to hear our point of view about the Anglo-American Services Clubs and we never ceased to beg for social centres instead of canteens. The degree to which the Voluntary Bodies responded to our advice, however, was dependent, not so much on the unwillingness of their officials as on the constitutional limitations of the Bodies - sometimes on their religious prejudices. The Ministry never had any real control or authority over these Clubs and this was an important drawback to the full success of our work. The concession which had been made by the Ministry of Food enabled civilians to go into the Clubs one night per week and of this concession varying use was made.

8. A Regional U.S. Liaison Officer.

The appointment of an American Liaison Officer to the Regional Commissioner raised considerable hopes in our minds. Unfortunately, the Liaison Officers appointed had but little power or authority, nor were they individuals of the ‘public relations’ kind of ability. They could never speak for all the U.S. troops in the Region, and it was a disadvantage that they were technically attached, not to the U.S. Air Force, but to the Services of Supply (Engineers). Such a Liaison Officer was obtained by the energy and determination of the Regional Commissioner. It was always a disadvantage to our work that the Liaison Officer was attached to another office instead of to the Ministry of Information, which was the Ministry with Cabinet responsibility in Anglo-American liaison. The U.S. Liaison Officer was of but little use in our work; the right kind of men, working on this staff, could have increased our effectiveness greatly.

9. Welcome Clubs

The establishment of the Welcome Club scheme (unsuitably called, at first, British Welcome Clubs) enabled Clubs to be formed at which the U.S. and British soldier could meet regularly with selected civilian members (as opposed to the Anglo-American Club scheme which permitted civilians to use the Club only one night per week). Like many branches of the work, the Welcome Club appeared to have a special chance of success in this Region, since here our American population was more static than in other parts of the country where U.S. troops were mainly infantry units rather than members of the Air Force. A considerable number of small Clubs were 208 - 10 -formed and, in certain towns, e.g. Bury St. Edmunds, Braintree, Ipswich and Colchester, larger Clubs were formed with the aid of considerable Treasury and W.V.S. Regional Trust Fund subsidies. These larger clubs were designed to take the form of Anglo-American community centres. Certain things robbed the scheme of its full possibilities; viz., the limitation of the normal Ministry of Information grant for starting a Club to £30, the limitation of the food ration to tea meals and the over-careful attitude adopted by W.V. S. organisers and their committees in the admission of woman members. A further drawback to these Clubs was the lack of alcohol - due, not to the impossibility of obtaining a licence, but to the over-caution of most W.V.S. committees. Men would dance and play games with their girl friends in the Clubs and then be obliged to go out of the Club for a drink. American soldiers at first seemed to fight shy of many of the Clubs, apart from a minority of the quieter or more studious men. This was particularly noticeable with a Club which had a large British soldier membership. Nevertheless, a great deal of valuable work was done by the Welcome Clubs and many home friendships resulted from them. Those in villages were the most successful from the American point of view and in particularly those which were organised by wealthy ladies who often gave unstintingly of their money as well as their time to the work, and were not frightened of a little alcohol.

10. Hospitals .

Six large U.S. Hospitals were established in the Region and for each a special Committee and Honorary Organiser was arranged. Regular outings to places of interest were conducted, and parties of ladies visited the wards to decorate them with flowers, and small entertainments were frequently sent out to the hospitals. The transport arrangements made with the Regional Commissioner of the Ministry of War Transport were not unfairly restricting in this work, except with one hospital which was particularly isolated. In the hospital work the co-operation received from the American Red Cross was less good than that which it gave us with other branches of the work. Our opportunities were somewhat limited by the fact that most of our hospitals dealt with short-term patients.

11. Further Attempts to improve the Anglo-American Services Clubs.

Despite unceasing efforts and despite the concessions obtained from the Ministry of Food, the majority of the Anglo-American Services Clubs continued to be, in our view, seriously inadequate. Most of them continued to be, in the main, canteens rather than centres of recreation and common meeting grounds. Therefore, after lengthy negotiation, a new plan was drawn up involving the appointment on to the Ministry's Regional staff of six Social Organisers. The duties of the Social Organisers, who worked under the Civil Liaison Officers, were to visit the U.S. bases whose men visited the Anglo-American Clubs, there to find out in what ways the Clubs could be of greater use to the Americans; to go to the Clubs and endeavour, in co-operation with the Clubs’ leaders, to provide such further amenities as were suggested. By concentrating on a small area with perhaps eight main U.S. units and three Clubs, each Social Organiser was able to visit his or her entire area weekly, whereas Civil Liaison Officers with larger areas and many other duties could pay less frequent visits. The Social Organisers’ scheme was welcomed by the Voluntary Bodies centrally, and by many club leaders, but, in effect, it seemed to be sabotaged by some of their workers. Nevertheless, a considerable amount of recreational activities was brought about by the Social Organisers and they themselves were able to act as links between many American soldiers and many British civilians. Had this scheme been initiated twelve months earlier, considerable success would probably have been achieved. The weakness of the scheme was that the Social Organiser had no more real authority in the Clubs than any other Ministry official. They could only suggest - it was for the club leader to decide.

One particular process carried out by the Social Organisers must be mentioned, namely the application of the Welcome Club scheme to the Anglo- American Services Clubs. A Welcome Club was formed within most Anglo-American Services Clubs in order that civilians could meet the men in the Clubs every day instead of once a week. Grants were made to the committees of these Welcome Clubs from the Regional Fund.

12. The Regional Anglo-American Liaison Board.

An important development in our work was the formation of a Regional Anglo-American Liaison Board, something on the lines of the British-American Liaison Board. High-ranking British and American officers and police officers joined with us under the chairmanship of the Regional Commissioner in its meetings. It met privately at the Regional office, and spoke freely and candidly on all matters presented to it. Subjects such as the need for further U. S. Military Police in certain places, the difference between U.S. and British Army lorry lighting, the proper means of obtaining financial assistance for English girls pregnant from American soldiers, and methods for the proper disposal of property by American units about to depart from the country, were frankly dealt with, and through this Board important directives were issued to American units which did much to smooth over a number of difficulties. This Board was of far greater value in our work than the British American Liaison Board, which had the disadvantage, from our point of view, of not informing us, except occasionally, about its activities.

13. Records and Public Relations.

A large and important system of recording every type of Anglo-American activity in the Region was established by our Regional Press Officer, who had for the work the services of one part-time volunteer. Through his department a great deal of material was supplied to the News Section of American Division for inclusion in American papers, etc. A good example of this was the large Christmas Eve party in 1943 in the Guildhall, Cambridge, which was broadcast, both in this country and in America, Many individual messages from those present at the party were got across to home-town newspapers, and a fair coverage in larger newspapers was obtained, recording the main events of the party, A staff photographer would have been of great value. Photographic materials were in short supply - at least on the British side!

14. Other Organisations.

We were frequently associated with other organisations interested in Anglo-U.S. affairs, more particularly with the British Council, the E.S.U., the W.V. S. and the Regional Committee for the Education of H.M. Forces. The British Council established a similar organisation to that of our Civil Liaison Officers and there was some danger of over-lapping. We offered more co-operation to the British Council than they gave us, but relations between our Civil Liaison Officers and their Area Representatives were good. The British Council could offer one type of activity which was of considerable value and which we could not, namely, talks on controversial subjects and Brains Trusts. We were frequently in the position of finding our Civil Liaison Officers and the British Council officers regarded as rival commercial travellers in their visits to American stations, and this undignified situation undoubtedly did some harm.

With the E.S.U. our relations were close, valuable and very good. The E.S.U. branches at Cambridge and Ipswich (and especially at Cambridge) were the best sources of real Anglo-American friendship, home hospitality and mutual understanding in the Region.

We worked to the mutual advantage of both organisations with the Regional Committee for the Education of H.M. Forces. Far more requests for speakers than we could ever meet came our way, and the Regional Committee supplied many talks on subjects not permissible to Ministry of Information speakers.

All three organisations mentioned as well as ourselves, were concerned in the short courses for U.S. and Canadian serving personnel arranged regularly at Cambridge University. These courses had great value.

The appointment by the W.V.S. of a Regional U.S. Liaison Officer, working in co-operation with this office, was a valuable innovation, and she was able to deal frankly and effectively with many problems.

15. Miscellaneous Activities

Of many types of activity other than those already dealt with, four are worthy of particular mention. A series of visits by parties of British civilians to U.S. Bomber stations was arranged by our Civil Liaison Officers and these were valuable and successful. They enabled representative civilians (e.g., a party of Home Guard, or a party of shop stewards or members of a Town Council) to see the Americans at work and to see their living quarters and to obtain some idea of the hazards which they faced.

Second, we were able to arrange for a fair number of American officers or enlisted men to talk for short periods in schools, either about their home life, or, when security rules made it possible, their work.

Third, in addition to the excellent children's parties arranged in American Red Cross Clubs or on the bases, which did so much to cement friendship, many children's parties were arranged through the W.V.S. at schools at which the children were the hosts and the Americans the guests.

Fourth, special entertainments (e.g., at Newnham College, Cambridge) were arranged for parties of W.A.A.C's.

16. Freedom Ceremonies and Memorials

The degree of success achieved may partly be measured by the spontaneity of the demonstrations and entertainments associated with the presentation of the Freedom of towns in the Region to U.S. commanders, and also by the number of memorials to U.S. soldiers.

The City of Norwich presented its Freedom to General Kepner, Bedford to the Commanding General of the First Bombardment Division, Saffron Walden to the Commanding General of a nearby Fighter division, and Cambridge to the entire Eighth U.S. Air Force. These very big-scale ceremonies received a good press and, though criticised amongst certain groups, they were plainly approved by the general public in the areas concerned.

The main memorial to soldiers in the Region is an American one, namely the large U.S. Cemetery at Madingley, near Cambridge. The Memorial Day ceremony at this Cemetery is a matter of deep concern to large numbers of British people and it appears to us desirable for this annual ceremony to continue to have an Anglo-American character. It is important that a British organisation (e.g., the E.S.U. Cambridge branch) should cater well for next-of-kin, etc. who will visit graves at Madingley during the coming years. We also hope that the British American Liaison Board will be able to urge full information about the Cemetery being supplied to next-of-kin.

At Norwich a large fund was subscribed by the members of the Second U.S. Bombardment Division and it was vested in a Body of Trustees associated with the Lord Mayor's Anglo-American Committee. The memorial will take the form of an entrance hall to the new public library.

There are many smaller and more intimate memorials, in existence of projected, from playing fields to windows in churches.

17. What Was Done and What Might Have Been Done

This report has intentionally dealt more emphatically with difficulties than with achievements, since the achievements are matters of common knowledge, whereas the difficulties of organisation can only in this way be placed on record.

A far-reaching system of liaison was established in this predominantly rural part of England, and that liaison system was the tilling of the soil out of which grew innumerable home friendships and innumerable sharings of common interests. Home hospitality remains the real stuff and marrow of Anglo-American wartime understanding, and few towns or villages in the Region did not make some kind of community gesture to their visitors. It may reasonably be estimated that not less than 100,000 U.S. soldiers became wartime members (rather than occasional visitors) of an English home.

Far more might have been achieved had five principles been adopted:

1. The setting-up of an Anglo-American Council, not attached to a propaganda Ministry, but attached to some central power such as the Lord President of the Council with high representatives of the main departments of State, the American Army and the American Embassy. There was no need to ‘pull our punches’ - the Americans preferred plain speaking.

2. Official directives to the American Army when they first arrived in this country, instructing them that the body so set up was the appropriate body with which they should deal in their approach to British civilian authorities. As it was, and given the adequate liaison with the U.S. Army achieved by Ministry of Information Headquarters, we were constantly in the position of having to convince every new American unit that we met, of our respectability.

3. Greater use of broadcasts, both to Americans and British, and both National and Regional in colour.

4. The extension of the American Red Cross system to include Anglo- American Clubs set up jointly with the British Army Welfare.

5. Joint Services Clubs, instead of sectarian clubs operated by individual Voluntary Societies.