[4V50 Gary]

From the memoirs of an American Army sergeant in England during WW II.

"Everybody tries for a pass every night these days. As usual, most of us NCO do wihtout and let the boys have them. We only get so many for the outfit and we know the ropes too well to have to have a pass to go out. All we do is tell the guard we're going and when we'll be back. Only risk is very slight of running into some eager beaver MP who wants to check your pass, or getting fouled up some way & being late for bedcheck.

"But Hinkel & I went in togehter last night & for once thought our luck had run out. Both of us were well in our cups & for some reason Hinkel went crazy wild. we came out of the pub to head back for camp & he got to singing & yelling & kicking things over & stopping civilians & shouting at them & I couldn't do a damn thing with him.

"I saw a squad of MPs down the street & knew we were in trouble if Hinkel didn't quiet down. They're usually pretty good & don't really want to haul you in but if you're drunk and disorderly they have to. But I've used a bold front with them before & had it work, so even though we didn't have [passes & if they checked we'd be in trouble, I decided it was better to to risk it than to go on trying to quiet Hinkel down. I already wasn't getting anywhere with that.

"I took him by the arm and marched him down to them, told them we'd both had too much to drink, were about to be late, and we'd appreciate it if they run us out of camp. They didn't ask to see our passes. But durned if I'm not going to take a muzzle along for Hinkel next time."