Australian Girls versus American Girls

This controversial story could get an author shot.

By Ernie Herr (hopefully this is too small of a print to see)

 

This lovely Australian girl from Sydney, Jean Stratton by \name, made the author's visit there an affair to remember.

 

  

 

   When it comes to sweethearts, who were the best? Was it the Australian girls or the American girls? And there were those who chimed in claiming it was English or maybe the French. When the American service- men made such a fuss over the Aussie girls, American girls wanted to know what the Aussie girls had that the American girls didn't. The GI's were quick to respond, "Nothing but they have it here."  Well, of course that's the smart answer if a guy ever had any intention of going back to the States, but was it the true answer. Some sixty years later, maybe it is time to examine the question again.
 

    And, of course, the truth could be just a matter of opinion, depending upon your luck at the time. Well, maybe I was just lucky but in my visits to the Australian ports of Sydney and Brisbane, I found the Australian girls quite unusual in very pleasant ways.  Hard to believe but Australian girls didn't wait for you to open doors for them, they opened the door for you. Try waiting at the door for an American girl to open it.

    

   Nor did they expect you to buy them presents or to take them places, your company was enough. You really didn't have to spend a dime on them. This made a lot of points with American GI's, especially sailors since they were usually low in funds especially after having a few of those great Australian beers. Okay, yes some guys were just plain cheap but seaman were only getting 21 bucks a month so what did you expect?

  

    Big criticism of American girls was heard from the British and French sailors during our ship's short stay in Norfolk, Virginia. The American girls were just a pain in the neck. You had to spend too much money on them and they were very hard to please. You had to treat them like a princess. This is what we heard but had found that girls in foreign ports seemed to like us, the American sailor. Little wonder, we were treating them like princesses, and they seemed to like it. This was just the custom in America. Were we spoiling the girls? I guess so. Were the foreign men happy about the way we were treating their women? Not at all.

      Carrying a carton of cigarettes ashore was pretty common for most American sailors even for the non-smokers and it didn't take long before they were dispensed. Not only were the Aussie girls picking up the smoking habit but the Aussie soldiers and sailors also were quick to put their hand out.  But, cigarettes bought a lot of good will. Little did we dream that we might be giving a poor Aussies a dose of lung cancer. This was the furthest thing on our minds.
      So, were the Aussie girls more amorous than the American girls? Well no, they seemed about equal in that score but the American girls seemed more geared to getting a guy to think about marriage. Here the Aussie girls come out winners. They seemed to be less manipulative, less demanding and less likely to complain if the evening didn't turn out as planned. They just seemed much easier to please. So, what about the English and French girls. Well, someone else will have to answer that question as I never made it over to those shores.     Did get to meet and dance with French girls in the French colony in New Caledonia. The French girls were exceptionally nice but heavily chaperoned (I wonder why?). For this reason, we poor sailors did not manage to find out how amorous they may have been. And, we sailors of Destroyer Squadron 21 were just a one night stand. By the following day, we were out of there and back up to the Solomons, where the Japanese Navy was waiting for us and with little affection.
    How about the Tahitian girls? We did manage to get there and come up with an opinion. According to the Hollywood movies, they were supposed to be the best; best looking, most amorous and most pleasant to be with. (Saw this on: "Mutiny on the Bounty.") After a long trip from Panama to the Society Islands we would find out if there was any truth to this. Were the girls pretty? Again, I'd have to give them high marks but not really sharp featured. They had beautiful long hair and nice teeth but they were a bit sun blotched but plenty acceptable for a bit of romance. Bad news on that score though as our ship's doctor came out with the bad news that a strain of gonorrhea was running wild there that did not respond to treatment. Even though I was just nineteen, I gave that some serious thought. It was safe to shake hands though.       We didn't get to Tahiti but we got to Bora Bora, about ninety miles north and supposed to be every bit as inviting. I spent only about a half of a day on shore so I don't qualify as an authority on the subject but I can give you an idea of how they were.  Were they amorous? They sure were. I had read earlier that they thought that the English sailors on the Bounty were all quite handsome. Well, I guess we should be able to pass as British and look just as handsome, or close enough.
 

 After exploring the wonderful island of Bora Bora and having contact (visual) with the wonderful islanders, I was heading back toward our ship by myself when a lovely young native girl gave me the greeting, "Hello Boy." She was sitting on the porch of a rather nice cottage and was eating a large banana. Not realizing that she might have mistaken me for being English and thought me handsome, I didn't realize the possible opportunity that was being presented.

       If I could inject a little fiction into my story, I might come up with some great romance. But since I have pledged to document only the truth, this bit of my story has a rather dismal ending. I went back to the ship and left her standing. Had she spoke English, maybe this story could have turned out differently.
     Getting back to the American girls, I can remember a young lady on the West coast (probably Los Angeles or San Diego) who tried to finagle my navy pea coat off of me when I had to go and open my big mouth and tell her that I had just made chief petty officer and would be getting a new uniform. She tried in the worst way to get my coat.      But when passing through Chicago after just getting out of boot camp and heading for a ship assignment in Bath, Maine, a girl a little older than I, took me in tow, buying me dinner and loading me down with magazines all at her expense as she saw me off on my train to Maine. Sixty years later, I can still remember her kindness to a teenager who had never been away from home and was starting his navy career with a shaved head. How can you ever thank such wonderful people? In retrospect, the Aussies, Americans, French and Tahitian girls all score quite well. I guess I'm just a sucker for girls.