If you think my tales of ordinary soldiers being conscripted as 'personal servants' for Officers (see 'Batmen') was a purely British phenomenon born of the Public School and Class System, the story of GI's sent to the Pacific Island of Belangor (affectionately known as Bell-End-cor!) may change your mind.
US Soldiers serving on Belangor were a peculiarly handsome lot and their superiors delighted in sending them out on training missions that involved wading through muddy rivers, so that their uniforms clung sexily to their bodies. On return to camp the whole lot had to strip naked and shower under the watchful eye of instructors and other 'interested' parties.
It had all started 6 months before when
Corporal Suchak had approached his superior, Colonel Madison, with a
novel and audacious proposal for improving Officer morale.
Madison was wary of Suchak's plan, codenamed 'The Full Treatment', because it involved diverting valuable men from combat duties. But Suchak knew from personal experience that when Madison said 'No' he often meant 'Yes, but I must know nothing about it'. So he wasn't put off and began an unofficial recruitment campaign around the Army base.
Suchak had spotted Private Lowery swaggering round the base in his tight, revealing shirt and pants some time before. After some clandestine observation to confirm his suitability for service, he put his name down on his selection list for Belangor. The MP's soon found an excuse to pick him up, the most minor of infractions could be used to effect a requisition into Colonel Madison's 'fatigues squad'. Within days Lowery was labouring in the tropical heat of Belangor wondering what he had done to deserve it. But the best was yet to come.
Sooner or later most of the enlisted men on the island were 'seen' by Colonel Madison. It usually meant that one of the Senior Officers had requisitioned them for some private R&R. The men soon learned that stripping off your shirt was a sure way to get chosen, but Lowery wouldn't be told, he liked to show off his physique. General Norvis, the Commander of the Island no less, had spotted him on one of his walkabouts and you can guess the rest....
Inevitably, Suchak's dubious activities eventually reached the ears of someone higher up.
General Norvis, was summoned to explain just what he was doing on Belangor.
Norvis knew the game was up, he'd make sure Madison and Suchak got the blame of course,
but perhaps he could salvage something from the mess.......
THE END
For more tales of the privations of WW2, click on the 'War Comics' label below
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