The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1944-05-25

LETTERS FROM The
FIGHTING FRONTS
Interesting Letters From Any
Serviceman Will Be Printed
In This Column
The following is a letter received
by Mrs. August MooS from her
son, S/Sgt. Edgar G.. MooS.
Somewhere in England
My Dear Mother:
Well, here I am in Great Bri-
tain as a small part of the great
Allied offensive-to meet Hitler
and beat him on his own ground.
But at the preSen, I merely con-
slider myself as a guest of Great
Britain. My main purpose in this
letter is to try and acquaint you
with the British, their ways and
their country, in my most anna
teu way.
The British Ire more reserved
in conduct than we. On a small
and very crowded island where
As million people live, each man
learns to guard his privacy
and careful is the word for it.,
too. They are equally careful not
to invade anonther mans pri-
vicy. At first it struck me funny
that they would sit in trains,
subways and the buses with
out stiking up a conversation
with you, but it didn't mean Il
found out later that they were
being unfriendly. Nine times out
of ten they were probably pay
ing more attention to me than
I would ever have dreamed OF.
Their attitude seems to be this:
If I speak to him I may appear
to be a bit on the rude side.
The British have phrase and
colloquialisms of their own that
may sound funny to you. I'll ad-
init that they sounded very odd
when they used them. Since
then I've learned that 1T nothing
more than another form of
slang and that our slang ex-
preSsionS sounded queer to
them I've used many of our own
slang expressions and once was
the victim of a bad boner. I had
said that someone looked like a
bum and was told that to the
British this means that you look
like your own back-Side. OF
course all this doesn't mean a
great deal, but then occasionally
one wishes to shine in polite
Socitey.
British money is in pounds,
ShlllingS and pence. They are
used to this system and like it,
and all our arguments for the
American form of the decimal
system won't convince them in
the least. I have heard some of
our boys cal lit funny money"
or cigar coupons" They be-
come displeased with a man
who keeps referring to it as
such. They sweat hard to get it,
wages are much lower in Bri-
tain than America, and they
don't like it in the least to have
someone hooking at it.
One of the most touchy sub
jects under any conditions to
the British is money. They are
touchy about the men in the
u. S. Services being so highly
paid and do not like to be rub
bed the wrong way in comparing
the pay rolls of the two services.
I must say though that a lot of
people over here are really COIN
ing the dough since the "Yanks"
came to ETC. OF course you
will find that so any place
where there is an unusual in
crease in population that is
more or less mobile. Just plain
old profiteering is the word for
1t, here, there, or anywhere.
The British as a whole are
very soft spoken and very po-
lite, but with nerves of steel.
The total of British civilians
men, women and children-that
have died under bombs, is well
up into five figures, yet the
morale is unbreakable and very
nigh. They are not particularly
Interested in taking it any more.
They are far more interested in
getting together in solid friend
snip with us, so that we can all
start dishing it out to Hitler.
England is a small country,
smaller than the state of Mon
tana or North Dakota. The whole
OF Great Britain-that is, Eng
land. Scotland and WaIes-is
hardly bigger than Minnesota.
England's largest river, the
Thames pronounced "Tems"D
IS not as big as the Mississippi
when it leaves Minnesota. No
part of England is more than
100 miles from the sea.
The climate reminds me of
Seattle. At first it was almost
impossible for me to get used
to the continual rains and mist
and, of course, the absence of
snow and the crisp cold this
winter. Actual the city of Lon
don has less rain for the whole
year than many places in the
United States, but the rain falls
in freQl1ent dri1zlac