‘Militarily stupid to insult your allies’ — and other advice from 1942

“Don’t try to tell the British that America won the last war or make wise-cracks about the war debts or about British defeats in this war,” came the sage advice from the U.S. War Department in 1942.

A then-seven-page pamphlet, issued to American GIs about to travel overseas to Britain, was intended to ease any friction between the young servicemen and the local populace.

According to…