# Seeking a source for a half-remembered WWII anecdote **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 20, 2026, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-a-source-for-a-half-remembered-wwii-anecdote/1028604 "2026-03-20T06:09:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Thumper668](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thumper668/32/20803_2.png) [@Thumper668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thumper668)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-a-source-for-a-half-remembered-wwii-anecdote/1028604/41 "2026-03-31T12:25:30Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > One point they made was that when eating in public, Americans would switch their fork to the right hand for some eating This was actually part of the overseas briefings a lot of us got during the cold war. At the time we were encouraged to travel in civilian clothes, let our hair grow longer and eat like a European. The fork stays in the left hand and you don’t put down the knife after cutting your food. Of course we still all stood out like sore thumbs, but this actually happened. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-a-source-for-a-half-remembered-wwii-anecdote/1028604/42 "2026-03-31T12:45:58Z")
> [@Thumper668](#): > > At the time we were encouraged to travel in civilian clothes, let our hair grow longer and eat like a European. Things like this always amuse me. Back in the mid-2000s, when the US was fully involved in Afghanistan and Iraq, they had a similar rule for military members travelling on commercial airlines. But one time, when I was boarding the plane, the airline kind of screwed them. The airline had a special boarding group for military personnel, and when they called it, they added the “And we thank you for your service!” line in the announcement, cleverly identifying all the “civilians” who were boarding as military. ---
**Author:** ![Thumper668](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thumper668/32/20803_2.png) [@Thumper668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thumper668)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-a-source-for-a-half-remembered-wwii-anecdote/1028604/43 "2026-03-31T12:51:39Z")
In the late 80s the memory of Robby Stethem and TWA flight 847 was still fresh. [Robert Stethem - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Stethem) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-a-source-for-a-half-remembered-wwii-anecdote/1028604/44 "2026-03-31T15:29:09Z")
> [@Dark\_Sponge](#): > > It seems like having an American accent (or not being able to speak French/German at all) would have been a bigger giveaway. (WWII soldier) Where’s the terlet at, sigh voose playt? ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-a-source-for-a-half-remembered-wwii-anecdote/1028604/45 "2026-03-31T16:12:30Z")
It was probably NAVEDTRA 14067, the same training course the USNSCC (Sea cadets) used to advance to O3. You can view it online here: > **[Seaman NAVEDTRA 14067.pdf](https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2aj_3dBYXSEeE9CVnU5QTBjdms/view?resourcekey=0-PhoIB49sycRqRynNEDhAGA)** > > Google Drive file. There’s nothing about how to get on behind enemy lines, though - it’s all Marlinspike seamanship, how to maintain a watch, naval gunnery stuff - all things you would expect a young sailor to know to function on a ship, as would be expected for an E-3 seaman. A situation where one would find themselves behind enemy lines would be implausibly remote to be worth spending time on in that manual. I think Smapti is conflating it with something else. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-a-source-for-a-half-remembered-wwii-anecdote/1028604/46 "2026-03-31T16:16:20Z")
I don’t doubt the accuracy of your memory, but there are so many holes in the story that I can only surmise that it was developed as a cautionary tale for young seamen to remind them to blend in. (The 12-year old in me still snickers a bit: _he said SEAMEN!_) ---
**Author:** ![Thumper668](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thumper668/32/20803_2.png) [@Thumper668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thumper668)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-a-source-for-a-half-remembered-wwii-anecdote/1028604/47 "2026-03-31T16:17:26Z")
Sorry to be pedantic, but I think you mean E-3. (And it’s cool to see someone has heard of USNSCC. I was in Compton Division in Perth Amboy, NJ from 1982 until I graduated high school in 1986.) ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-a-source-for-a-half-remembered-wwii-anecdote/1028604/48 "2026-03-31T16:22:18Z")
> [@Thumper668](#): > > Sorry to be pedantic, but I think you mean E-3. Yes, E-3, typo! Also I just remembered that NAVEDTRA 14014A was considered an acceptable substitute, and that one was specific to Airmen. There MIGHT be something in there about survival behind enemy lines. Available here if anyone wants to dig through it: > **[airman.pdf](https://maritime.org/doc/pdf/airman.pdf)** > > 10.58 MB My best friend was a cadet in the Greats Lakes Division here in Cleveland in the 90s. I was interested, but being hearing impaired, going through the Navy Bootcamp (“Orientation”) would have been problematic so I never pursued it. But being a military buff I read through all of his manuals thoroughly. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-a-source-for-a-half-remembered-wwii-anecdote/1028604/49 "2026-03-31T19:05:24Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > > [@LSLGuy](#): > > > > Churchill’s V for Victory has the palm of the hand towards the signer and the back of the hand towards the audience. > > He did it that way, but it’s not clear to me if he understood that, that way round , it’s the British equivalent of the US middle finger I always understood the caption on that photo was … “I lost my cigar.” ---
**Author:** ![JWT\_Kottekoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-a-source-for-a-half-remembered-wwii-anecdote/1028604/50 "2026-03-31T19:44:11Z")
This thread reminds me of the scene in “The Great Escape” where two of the escapees are boarding a bus. Two Nazis are questioning people. Our heros produce their well-forged documents and do very well conversing with the Nazis in German and French. As they board the bus, one of the Nazis says “Good Luck” and the American says “Thank you,” sealing their fate as two of the 50 or so escapees who were later executed. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-a-source-for-a-half-remembered-wwii-anecdote/1028604/51 "2026-03-31T19:51:29Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > I always understood the caption on that photo was … “I lost my cigar.” That would be the posed photo by Karsh, who got him to look particularly belligerent by snatching his cigar from his mouth: > **[Winston Churchill](https://karsh.org/photographs/winston-churchill/)** > > 1941 © Yousuf Karsh ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-a-source-for-a-half-remembered-wwii-anecdote/1028604/52 "2026-03-31T21:18:18Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > That would be the posed photo by Karsh, Fun fact - that photo - one of the originals - was hanging in the Otttawa Chateau Laurier. It was stolen and replaced with a reproduction and nobody noticed for a while… [https://thewalrus.ca/churchill-portrait/](https://thewalrus.ca/churchill-portrait/) > **[Churchill photo stolen in Canada discovered in Italy](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd0511gyme3o)** > > The theft from a hotel, which occurred sometime around Christmas 2022, took months for anyone to discover. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2026, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-a-source-for-a-half-remembered-wwii-anecdote/1028604/53 "2026-04-03T01:56:38Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > got back to the UK, and were being transported by the lorry-load to their reception centre, they couldn’t believe how many passers-by - especially women - were greeting them with the V-sign Simila story for Australian POW in south east asia. The formed the belief that the surrounding population was unfriendly, because they’d seen covert “FU” signs from people – even women. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2026, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-a-source-for-a-half-remembered-wwii-anecdote/1028604/54 "2026-04-03T11:22:08Z")
> [@JWT\_Kottekoe](#): > > one of the Nazis says “Good Luck” and the **American** says “Thank you,” British. Gordon Jackson and Patrick McGoohan, two great British actors. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/o0wNl66tT3Q/hqdefault.jpg "The Great Escape - "Good Luck!"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0wNl66tT3Q) ---
**Author:** ![JWT\_Kottekoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2026, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-a-source-for-a-half-remembered-wwii-anecdote/1028604/55 "2026-04-03T17:09:49Z")
Peter, thanks for the correction and for the link. What a great movie! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-a-source-for-a-half-remembered-wwii-anecdote/1028604.md?page=2)