Evening star., 1951-12-03
By Betty Betz

tsy WA
Man! :. Was I confused" eX-
claimed a Negro CT after he greet
ed soldier who looked like one
of his schoolmates back in Ala
bama.
-. and this guy starts jabber-
ing in Ethiopian he laughed.
The CT was even more mixed up
when he was told that Ethiopian
soldiers with their many different
dialects require Swedish inter-
prefers to translate orders from
commanding officers.
Indian ambulance drivers with
their British accents continually
have to explain that they are not
Navajo or Sioux. I heard one CT
ask another soldier for a light,
only to be answered in a lingo
that puzzled him.
Its Greek to met" he said
and later found out it was!
"'Chop suey is what we call
the UN troops. they're so mixed
up" Hawaiian GI told me. He
felt the confusion partly because
he is sometimes mistaken for
Korean. Even a CT from Ar
kansas admitted that until he
landed in Korea. he never knew
that Hawaiians spoke English!
Funny j.. some of the State
side guys are Just finding out
that Hawaiians are Americans.
tool" walled CT from hula
land" When the Turkish camp
threw a party for our troops,
General James A. Van Fleet him
self showed up.
General Van Fleet would like
to know if you speak English"
an officer told me. Later. when
I met Gen. Van Fleet for the first
time, / remarked that I was sur
prised he DIDN'T recognize an
American girl when he saw one.
Hord to Differentiote
But at this party, unless you
have conversation. you can't tell
Turks from Americans" said the
general. The nearly 20 different
foreign outfits in Korea are natu-
rally separated in their own
camps; consequently this makes
1t hard for the GIs to find real
buddies among these foreign"
soldiers. most of whom they meet
up on the front lines.
I've been here for five months
and I haven't seen any foreign
soldiers yeti" one soldier confded
to me. He happened to be with
an outfit which hadn't been
brigaded with any non-American
units. Without emphasizing too
much that Americans are carry
ing the brunt of the Korean War,
our boys make big effort to get
along with soldiers from other
lands.
Il never cared much for the
British until I got to know the
limeys over here" a sergeant said.
adding Gee! I wish we had their
whisky and beer rations!"
Yanks inspire tremendous re-
spect from the fighting men of
other nations. This goes so far as
to make foreigners dream of get
ting to America. But none go to
the length as did one young Aus
Sic whose dream became reality
even though he risked being court
martialed. This was the story he
told me:
MY one wish in life was to see
San Francisco. so on a f1ve-day
r g. R in Japan. I smuggled my
self aboard an air liner for the
States. I spent three days in San
Francisco, then returned on a
plane to Tokyo. And was it
worth it,"
0ls Are Ambassadors
This same high opinion of
Americans and their country is
developed in Japan by GIs who
make mighty good ambassadors. A
surprising number are marrying
japanese girls. I drew a flood of
irate letters when I quoted a Chi /
cago sergeant praiSing the charm
and gentle manners of japanese
girls. The American sweethearts
back home protested that our GIs
were having too good a time in
Japan"
But We guys up front get awful
tired of lookin' at each other for
six months or more" was the ex-
planation from one GI who is
amazed at the friend1ineSS ood