U.S. forces paid Italian workers with pistols visibly displayed on the pay table

Evidence

Army officer Fred Glenn remembers that when he arrived in Vicenza shortly after the return of U.S. forces in 1955, most Americans were “standoffish.” Few wanted to live off base, and other than some Italian Americans, “very few bothered to learn the language.” From time to time, Glenn was the officer in charge of payroll for the local workers. When handing cash to the waiting Italians, “We were required to have a pistol highly, highly visible,” he says. “In fact, on the pay table.” He thought the rule was “outrageous.” — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 898

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• SHARE: A striking, specific anecdote a military-history-minded friend would appreciate; also SEED material for an essay on how bases treat host populations.
• SEED: Angle: the ‘pay table pistol’ as a synecdoche of the armed coercion that quietly underlies even peaceful base-host relations.

Related

• Americans displayed pistols while paying Italian base workers (similarity 0.81)