Los Banos Rotary Club History
Castle Pilot Tells Of Cooperation By British Rotarians

Addressing members of the Rotary Club here last week, U.S. Air Force pilot, Major Walter R. Meade, now serving as provost Marshal at Castle Air Force Base, Merced, gave his listeners a very interesting and decidedly educational talk pertaining to his personal experiences while serving with the Air Force at the big base in Kent County, England, during the years 1954-55.
Relating some of the many misunderstandings that arose during the early years of the air force base there, both by Americans and the British, Major Meade told how most of such misunderstandings were cleared up through the close cooperation and efforts of three nearby Rotary Clubs, at Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs.
"One of the most unfortunate things about our relations with the British," he said "is that we presumably speak a common tongue. With no language barrier it is overly easy for us to assume that we thin the same way and have the same habits, customs and mannerisms. Of course that isn't so."
The major particularly cited the differences in the patronage at barrooms or "pubs." To the average Britisher, the pub is his parlor or "front room" which by centuries of custom, is a place of decorum, which he visits with a friend or two, quietly and slowly has a glass or two of ale, or sits alone in quiet relaxation. Quite different, the major explained, from the young American airmen from Texas, Montana or most any place in the U.S.A. He likes noise, he likes friends, and a barroom is a place for partying, and his gesture of goodwill that everyone come and join him is difficult for the Britsher to understand.
An equal barrier to friendly relations, Major Meade explained, is the difference in standards of living in England, where an overpopulated populace must be economical even with foodstuffs. By contrast, the young American, living in England on a very temporary basis and with no particular though of the future, makes up in liberal spending and way of life he left at home.
It is the little differences, he said, that cause the irritations between the two peoples, minor things that at least in the Kent County situation, has been largely cleared up as members of the three England Rotary Clubs met with groups from the Air Base in a series of open forum meetings, where members of the three clubs would sit at a panel, frankly answering questions that were asked as to customs, habits, business tactics, etc., and in turn, ascertaining by the same questioning method, answers to the peculiarities of the Americans they could not understand.
Major Meade said that after several such forums the relationship between the two peoples was vastly improved, that each, on learning of the others habits and customs, found a newborn respect for each other that has added much to England American relationship.
For benefit of local Lions Club members who refer to the Los Banos Rotary as the "old men's club," Major Meade said that in England, members of the Los Banos Rotary Club would be considered as the young, boisterous group, not yet ready for the more somber, quiet dignity that becomes the average Rotarians there. He also commented on our table manners, our habit of reaching for a cigarette immediately following dessert, and of casual conversation during the post-dinner meeting. In England, he said, smokes come only at the very conclusion of the meeting. To do otherwise would denote disrespect for the speaker and for the Rotary president in charge.
Concluding, Major Meade related something of the work we are doing there, of the high caliber of the young men who are stationed in England and throughout Europe, declaring that all in all "the record of our forces in England and in Europe is one that we can all be proud of.
April 5, 1957

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