Foreigners!

Forgive me if this subject has allready been covered.
Reading the conversations on Polish civilians working for BAOR reminded me of people I came across over the years.
In Hereford we had a Cypriot
In the early 60's we had a Bombardier clerk who was Armenian.
In the 10th Hussars there was a Sikh from Malaya (who insisted on wearing a turban).
In Colchester there was a Hong Kong Chinese and a South African.
My Ferret driver in Hohne was from Rhodesia.
Our MT Sgt at one time was Polish.
We had a Sgt who had a German name, German accent and came from Berlin.
We had a Canadian with rank of Gunner (RA ) working as a barman in our Sgts Mess -
and I must have known at least twenty GREAT Fijians -(who could forget them?)
But I'm sure somebody can top that !
Baz

In 61 when I enlisted, it wasn't at all unusual to have German War vets in the Cdn. Army. I remember we had one lad in the RCA from British Guiana (correct spelling?). A lot of musicians in the various bands from Holland. A Chinese fella who was a 2 PPCLI veteran of the Korean war. He said he use to be very nervous on night patrols, really didn't want a family reunion. We had one French lad in the Sigs Sqn in Germany who was avoiding the French draft. One of our German vets when on exercise (he was born in the Ukraine) in Celle was asked to interpret for a German lady who was enquiring about our kitchen slops for the farm. Oscar finished talking to her, says to her, " you came from such and such village in the Ukraine. She says how'd you know. Oscar says, " I went to school with you". Big excitement, ends up her husband knew Oscar to. Last saw Oscar in 75 in Israeli Occupied Sinai desert. Now that was an interesting conversation.

Well I was myself one of those foreigners.But in the REME we had a Black Chinese,with a Chinese surname who was born in London and spoke with a Cockney accent.

Black Chinese??? If I'm following that correctly, was he African-Chinese? Interesting combination. Of course, if he was born in London and spoke with a Cockney accent (so, I assume, he was from East London) that would be logical. It would just be his appearance that would be at odds with how he spoke.

Sitting on this side of the Great Pond I sometimes watch the BBC News and it's always kind of funny, for lack of a better way of putting it, to see a "man-on-the-street" interview with someone who is clearly South Asian and the accent is Midlands, or Scouse or Yorkshire or East London or what-have-you.

Of course, if one is raised in a particular region, or lived there since a young child, naturally one speaks in the dialect or accent of that area, regardless of ones cultural/ethnic background, so my reaction says more about my perceptions than it does about anything to do with the individual in question.

Looking back at who all was in the Canadian Armed Forces when I was growing up, I really don't recall too much variety to be honest. About as exotic as it got was having Quebecois (French-Canadians) and maybe a smattering of First Nations (native/Indian/aboriginals...pick your Politically Correct term) and some of those one couldn't always tell as if they were Haida (West Coast) or from parts of Ontario/Maritimes, they look quite European. If they were from up north (rare) or the Prairies they had a very "Indian" look about them.

One family we were quite friendly with had a hell of a time. He was, of course, Canadian as was the wife but his ethnic background was Slavic or something. Not sure what hers was. But both looked very "Native" and the kids definitely did!!! Even knowing the history I had a hard time not seeing the kids as Native, and they weren't!

Blimey Gallahad, Black Chinese ? That must've been weird. At least the one I knew was Standard Issue !
(Speaking of weird, one of our Irish Rangers neighbours had a German wife who spoke with a Belfast accent. Now THAT was weird !)

Baz.

One day I was on the Ostende-Dover ferry ,and standing on deck was this fellow wearing a black blazer with a REME Crest. Glad to see a fellow corps man , I approached him only to discover that he did not understand a single word of english....... he was from Belgium.