Thank you.
(Your answer reminds me of what happened the first time I landed in Australia back in the 1980s. There were five US Navy ships in our squadron, approximately 1,500 US Sailors and 4,500 US Marines aboard. We docked at Perth/Fremantle, and there was a crowd of hundreds, maybe as many as a thousand civilians lining the piers to greet us. By orders, we were required to wear our dress uniforms the first day ashore, so all the Sailors and Naval officers were in their Dress Whites, all Marines were in our green “Alpha” uniforms [see below].
As we disembarked, the crowd of people massed toward us, and soon the white and green uniforms were absorbed in throngs of well-wishers* welcoming us to their country. Many were waving Australian flags or American flags or both.
Memorable for me was an older lady in her 60s or 70s who was hugging as many Yanks as she could catch. She grabbed me, gave me a nice hug and whispered in my ear, “Thank you, young man, thank all of you Americans.” While appreciative of her enthusiasm, I was also a bit puzzled. “You’re welcome,” I said to her, “but what did we do?” “What did you do? Why, if it hadn’t been for you Americans, we’d all be speaking Japanese right now! You helped save us in WWII!” she answered.
*Full disclosure, there were also some protesters present, picketing against nuclear weapons, even though we had neither nuclear weapons nor nuclear power on any of our squadron’s ships.)
~
Slartibartfast 