There was a gritty movie made years ago about Balkan partisans during the Second World War. These partisans were fighters who attacked German patrols and were hunted in turn by the Germans. A key scene was when a female and male partisan were shot by their comrades for taking a time-out for sex when they were supposed to be on guard duty.
I never saw anything like that during my service in the Canadian air force but it was at a time in the 1950s when the RCAF was rebuilding its women’s division. While they were still not offering women a chance to fly at the time, there was a list of trades open to them.
But the ratio of men to women was still as extreme as it is today. In a volunteer military, there are just not enough women joining. And you can well understand the reluctance of the military brass to get involved in the relations between men and women, who are often a long way from home.
I had a couple girl friends from the WDs during my military years. The first gal was a big hit with my mother when I took her to my home in Toronto but the affair waned a bit when she was transferred three provinces away. It was even more strained when she wrote that she was pregnant by some guy at her new base. The hot steamy letters were no longer as tantalizing. After that I was more cautious in relationships among the Women’s Division.
What the brass needs to realize is that being part of the military services rarely constrains the natural urge for sex among men and women. And I would hardly be the only person to object to the solution of the Japanese military in the Second World War, who provided ‘Comfort Women’ to their troops.
But since General Eisenhower reputedly had his bed warmed by his army driver during his time in London during the Second World War, the question always is: Was his superior rank a factor in the relationship?
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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry
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