[Joe Forte]

A friend sent this to me. I don't know if it is true or not. If nothing else, it's a good read.
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WHY IS IT THAT WE HAVE TO SPEAK ENGLISH?
An officer in the U.S. Naval reserve was attending a conference that
included admirals from both the U.S. Navy and the French Navy. At a
cocktail reception, he found himself in a small group that included
personnel from both Navy's.
The French admiral started complaining that whereas Europeans learned
many languages, Americans learned only English.
He then asked: "Why is it that we have to speak English in these
conferences rather than you speak French?"
Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied: "Maybe it's because
the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you would
not have to speak German."
The group became silent.

"AMERICA - Land of the FREE and Home of the BRAVE"

 

[ExtremeDooty]

I really hope that's a true story.

 

[Nemo]

Brilliant!

 

[OldStar]

I wish I had said it!​

 

[Charlie Petty]

Joe it certainly should be true...

A couple of years ago I was in France and Belgium and over dinner one guy was beating up on Americans. I understood part of what he was saying and asked him how they would have come out had it not been for us during the wars. He switched to good English and came back with some smart ass remark. I started to say something but before I could a Brit who spoke French said, "you'd be speaking bloody German you ass."

A couple of days later I walked into a small cafe near Bastogne and spoke some fractured French in ordering. At a table across the room there was a man about my age and when he heard me he jumped up and asked in French... "are you American?"

When I told him yes he said... "I must buy your lunch. Americans saved my life during the war."

I still get choked up remembering that...

 

[SpecialEd]

Great story Charlie! As easy as it is, and sometimes no matter how much we want to, you just can't generalize... even about the French.

Ed

 

[Joe Forte]

When I told him yes he said... "I must buy your lunch. Americans saved my life during the war."

This is why we shouldn't paint all the French with the same brush. Some did pay attention in history class. Others chose to forget. "VIVE LA AMERICA"

 

[harvey]

Charlie:

Big difference between the French and the Belgians, thank goodness!

Harvey

 

[Charlie Petty]

Actually the guy that was giving me the hard time was Belgian too.

It was a fairly large group for dinner in a lovely little Bistro outside of Paris and I had been introduced to the group as a guest from America. During the course of dinner the guy kept getting louder and louder (we were on the third or fourth wine by then) . I understood some of his rant, but my Brit buddy translated for me.

After the exchange I reported the guy started off again and a very attractive woman sitting next to him said something to him very quietly. He turned violent red and sat silent for the remainder of the meal. I would love to know what she said to him

 

[jeffw]

Maybe this isn't the place for this but OH WELL.

Charlie's story immediately brought to mind the last time I saw my grandfather.He died on Labor day 1998 @ the Battle Creek Mi VA hospice wing.Colon cancer.

Anyways,although he & I were close he had almost never spoken to me about his time during the war.He had told me that he was a scout ,that he carried the Carbine,& that he was machine gunned & left for dead in France.Well,he was found,patched up,& shipped to Britian for a few months.Nothing special there,that part was repeated thousands of times.
Well,my grandmother had told me that she was picking bits if fatigue cloth out of him on their honeymoon still,some months later.
He & both thought that that was a little funny.I had never seen his wounds though.I'd never seen him w/o a shirt on.Until he died.

I will always have the memory of his shrunken,twisted body laying there waiting for the undertaker to arrive.And I will always remember the horrible scars accross his chest & down his leg from that machine gun in France so many years ago.

 

[harvey]

I would love to know what she said to him

Probably told him he was acting like a Frenchman!

Harvey