tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post6309409776321149083..comments2024-03-28T06:20:10.699-07:00Comments on Shut up about Barclay Perkins: Pubs and the military in WW IIRon Pattinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03095189986589865751noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-76865093503211817412021-05-13T11:13:10.629-07:002021-05-13T11:13:10.629-07:00That is very interesting, thanks. One aspect I'...That is very interesting, thanks. One aspect I've found interesting as an American is the stories of English pubs which refused to enforce racial segregation and only allow Whites inside. Southern segregationists were able to maintain strict rules on US bases, but found they couldn't force pubs to go along, fortunately.<br /><br />This would have happened later in the war, after the ban on separation between officers and regular troops took effect. I wonder if the levelling effect in pubs for officers and enlisted men was related in any way.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-27681268318564704062021-05-13T03:31:19.775-07:002021-05-13T03:31:19.775-07:00Officers were drawn from the upper classes and the...<i>Officers were drawn from the upper classes and the ordinary soldiers from the working class. (This is a generalisation, but mostly true.)</i><br /><br />What's almost more important is that officers were <b>treated</b> as members of the upper class - and enlisted men very much as workers. The two groups certainly didn't mix on base. My father - who was an MoD civil servant and hence an honorary officer - raised a lot of eyebrows by mostly swerving the Officers' Mess (atmosphere: rather like an Oxbridge college) in favour of the Sergeants' (atmosphere: somewhere between a prison canteen and a rather basic WMC). But he had more friends there, and they let him play the piano and didn't take the piss because he didn't know which way to pass the port; basically it was a lot more fun. I can't imagine he and my Mum would have had any truck with "officers only" pubs.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07009879034507926661noreply@blogger.com