COMRADES IN ARMS

Men and women offer us an unknown view of World War II. The quality of the 'head shots' approaches the vivacity of Rosie the Riveter. Using in addition archival footage and enacted segments, we are presented with the stories of gay Britons as they lived during WWII. One interviewee, a young student in bomb torn London reveals how many American male soldiers were interested in casual gay sex.

Everyone stressed how discretion was the order of the day. This seemed especially true for the women in the services as well as the gay male who spent the war building railroads as a prisoner of the Japanese. One woman comments that discretion was so essential, that the ability to find a lover "was a tribute to human perseverance". - (PL)