This is an entry in a year-long project to post-blog the demobilisation experience for British servicemen at the end of the Second World War. See here for an introduction to the project and here for a brief overview of the demobilisation process.
A writer from the lower deck to the Manchester Guardian comments on the "fantastic nonsense" that has been suggested about the recent incident when a group of naval ratings in New York refused to sail on RMS Queen Mary until decent accommodation and adequate toilet facilities were provided. "There was no violence nor threat of violence" during the demonstration, he insists: "no man left the pier, and there was no necessity to send out patrols to round up stragglers on Broadway or anywhere else. The men did not engage in undignified boasting. They returned to the ship not simply because an officer told them "not to be silly" but only because their demands were met ...
The demonstration would not have been necessary if several hundred written requests for interviews with commanding officers to state complaints had not been ignored.
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