8September2008
Why I love America
Posted under places beginning with: N; Tennessee; Nashville.
This post was written by John Fortescue of Northampton, England.
I am an Englishman, who has only recently visited America. I am getting rather sick of how America and Americans are portrayed in my country. And I would like to tell a few positive stories to show why I am pro American. When I was a child several American servicemen and their Families, were billeted in the village where I lived. This was in the early to mid fifties and we were still suffering a lot of shortages from world war two. These Americans in our village mixed in with all of the village social events, and supplied quite a few of us village families with groceries and other household goods that were unavailable to most English families at the time, as well as bringing comic books and candy and chewing gum for us kids.
When I was older I was into music and I was given most of the latest American release rock n’ roll and country and western records. My first wife’s sister was married to an American soldier Roy B Dial from Clarksville, Tennessee and Roy really got me into country music in the early sixties. Since then I have made quite a successful career of singing and playing country music. In April of this year I finally got to visit the U.S.A. to stay with Roy and to get to sing and play in Nashville, which I consider my spiritual home. On the journey to Nashville my son, who traveled with me, had to change flights in Atlanta, Georgia. Waiting to board the same flight as us were several American Soldiers in desert camouflage. As the flight was called the steward at the desk asked everyone to let the soldiers board first as they were returning from tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then he asked all of us passengers to give them a round of applause as they boarded the plane, and everyone stood and clapped, my son and I were both as proud to join in with this applause as if we were Americans. This would never happen in the U.K. our troops are just not respected enough. In Peterborough, a town not far from where I live, Airmen based nearby were advised not to wear uniforms into town because of abuse by local idiots.
When we finally arrived in Nashville, we found that Roy, my brother in law, had been rushed to hospital with kidney failure. Although he was only in hospital a couple of days, he wasn’t well enough to show us around like he wanted to. But we weren’t stuck in any way, as all of Roy’s neighbours in Clarksville rallied around and showed us the local sights and ran us to and from Nashville on several occasions. I hope you can publish this, to show that any anti American feeling in the U.K. is only held by a minority.
