Wartime Britons could welcome American troops as allies while worrying about the social changes that came with them. US military segregation differed from a British society that had prejudice and informal separation but generally lacked the same legal division of public spaces. American officials also worried that service in Britain might change their personnel's expectations. Canadians had arrived earlier and were paid more than British troops, so the familiar complaint about visitors being overpaid first attached to them here. By the time large US forces arrived, Britain was already accustomed to substantial Commonwealth and Allied contingents. Coalition warfare appears here as a social encounter as well as a military arrangement.
Notable Point · 2:12:53-2:19:00
Allied troops, segregation, and wartime Britain
Wartime Britain met American and Canadian troops through a mixture of alliance, social unease, and conflicting approaches to segregation.