Ladies from Hell

The first European infantry outfits to join the United Nations’ South Korean fighting forces went ashore at Pusan last week. They were the 1st Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and the 1st Battalion of the Middlesex (London) Regiment, both British army regulars. The Argylls wore tam o’shanters, bush tunics, jungle-green shorts. Only the regimental pipers wore the traditional kilt, which in World War I earned for the Scots the nickname “Ladies from Hell.”

Skirling loudly at the dockside, the Scottish pipers momentarily silenced a U.S. Army Negro band of welcome, but when the British soldiers shouted down from ‘the docks, “Swing it, swing it,” the U.S. band burst into a jive version of the St. Louis Blues. The Britons cheered. Many of them were World War II veterans; all had just completed 16 months’ training in Hong Kong over hilly country almost identical with that of Korea. Said Sergeant George Morrison, sniffing the paddies: “It even smells the same.” Attached to an American unit, the Tommies pronounced American rations “very good,” but complained of the coffee. “Can’t drink it,” said one Londoner. “When is tea coming up?” The British will use their own weapons and ammunition except for the U.S. 3.5-inch bazooka. At week’s end the Ladies from Hell were at the fighting front.