"Overpaid, Overfed, Oversexed & Over Here!"

Join us for an this interesting and often humorous presentation on the mutual culture shock experienced by both Britons and the American servicemen stationed in the UK during the Second World War.

American troops started arriving in Britain as early as January 1942, less than two months after the US entered the War following the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. By the Spring of 1944, the Americans comprised the vast majority of the nearly 1.5 million foreign troops posted in Britain in preparation for the D-Day invasions in France. Up until this time, relatively few Britons had encountered or engaged with Americans to any great degree, gaining their impressions of the US and American culture largely from legends of the Old West, tales of Prohibition-era gangsters, and the movies. Similarly, many of the American soldiers were young men, some of them from small towns or rural areas, who had not previously traveled abroad. 

We'll explore how the shared quest for victory and the wartime encounter, in spite of cultural difference that were sometimes experienced as puzzling, and occasionally as abrading or even shocking, ultimately reshaped mutual assumptions and cemented the 'special relationship' between the two nations, a bond which has endured to the present day.

MEMBERS LOGIN FOR $5.00 REGISTRATION. To become a member, visit the Britsburgh membership page.

PROGRAMME:

6:30 - 7:00 p.m.:  American & British light refreshments from the 1940s era (served in the Cathedral of Learning Commons Room  -
                            1st Floor, Cathedral of Learning) included

7:00 - 8:00 p.m.:  Presentation

8:00 - 8:30 p.m.:  Discussion and Q&A

Please join the Britsburgh History Society and the English Nationality Room Committee as we explore this fascinating topic in the lead up to the 75th Anniversary of D-Day. The presentation will be given by Kim Szczypinski, Study Abroad Coordinator at Duquesne University, where she has lead and taught study tours abroad about the First World War. She is on Britsburgh’s Board of Directors and Chairs the English Nationality Room Committee.

Light refreshments included. On street parking is available as is parking in the University of Pittsburgh-owned garage beneath the lawn of Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum adjacent to the Cathedral of Learning. On street metered parking is free after 6:00 p.m.

Tickets: Members, Veterans & Students $5;  Non-Members $12

For more information about the English Nationality Room and the the Nationality Rooms Program, see: https://www.nationalityrooms.pitt.edu/

For more information about this event, contact Kim Szczypinski of Britsburgh's History Society at: kimberly2859@msn.com.

Explore fascinating British-themed topics with the guidance of experts and enjoy the company and conversation of fellow enthusiasts as a member of one of Britsburgh Societies: Britsburgh Arts Society, the Britsburgh Beer Society, the Britsburgh History Society, the Britsburgh Literary Society and the Britsburgh Tea Society. If you are not already a member, I would like to invite you to consider becoming a Britsburgh Society member. 

THE BRITSBURGH TEAM