Minh Tuan-based on the real story during WW1

During World War I, many French soldiers joined British units to fight against the Germans.

So in a platoon of British soldiers, there was a French soldier named Jack, 20 years old, who had just joined the British platoon for 6 months.

This French soldier, Jack, is very hard-working and has very good military training. He achieved excellent marks in all military exercises, such as shooting, rolling, crawling, climbing over walls, digging fortifications, assault, hiding, throwing grenades, fighting hand-to-hand with guns equipped with bayonets, fighting with daggers, fighting with bare hands, etc,,.

In all of those training subjects, Jack received good marks. The platoon leader and his British colleagues were very satisfied with French soldier Jack.

There is only one drawback: Jack’s English is too poor.

After 6 months of training, Jack was good at all military subjects, but in English he barely improved at all.

Mr. Jack speaks English not at all fluently, and has very poor listening-understanding.

For example, when asked “What is your name?”, he answered “I’m French”.

And “Are you French?” then he replied, “My name is Jack.”

And when asked him “how long have you been in the army”, he answered “I’m 20 years old”.

British colleagues always complain about Jack’s terrible English ability:

“-Oh my god, I’m completely at a loss with this.”

Most of our British teammates had to use sign language, body language to talk to Jack.

Then, one day, the platoon received an urgent telegram from the Division, that the Division Commander Major General would visit the platoon the next day.

The Platoon Commander and the whole unit felt very excited and honored, because the Major General of the Division Commander was a talented commander, respected by the entire British army, and also by the opposing German army, because he commanded many battles and defeated the German army in many.

Although the German army lost many battles to him, they respected him very much because of his skillful leadership.

The Platoon Commander reviewed all the work of the unit, and felt very satisfied and assured that if the Major General came to visit, everything would probably go smoothly.

Suddenly, the Platoon Commander remembered that when the Major General visited the units, often after reviewing the combat skills training of the units on the field, he often had intimate meetings and asked questions about the units soldiers, and give gifts to soldiers.

The Platoon Commander suddenly remembered the French soldier Jack. His English was very poor. If the Major General happened to ask about the French soldier, would the French soldier understand and answer correctly in English?

Well, that’s really worrying, because if the French soldier can’t answer the Major General’s questions in English, it means the training and education of the unit is not good, and maybe the unit will be dismissed, maybe Major Generals are underestimated the unit, criticized, or warned unit  throughout the army, because if a soldier does not understand the commander’s orders in English, that soldier cannot carry out the orders, and there is can be charged with “Disobedience to superiors” and can be tried by a military court.

This is terrible.

What should I do now?

The Platoon Commander immediately called French soldier Jack over, and asked the French soldier to review some basic English sentences.

The Platoon Commander spoke both French, English, and sign language to explain tomorrow’s situation to the French soldier as follows:

– Tomorrow, the Major General of the Division Commander will visit our unit. He will have an informal meeting with the soldiers in our unit, and maybe he will ask questions about a few soldiers, and give gifts to the soldiers. If he randomly meets you and asks you questions, you must try to answer his questions in English correctly. Otherwise it’s very terrible. If you can’t answer in English, and answer incorrectly, I may lose my position, and the entire unit may be warned throughout the army for not training and properly training soldiers. So, now I’m going to ask you some basic questions, try to remember and answer them correctly. OK?

-OK, yes sir.

-What’s your name?

-Yes sir, my name is Jack.

-Oh, very good. You have improved a lot. How old are you?

-Yes sir, 6 months.

-Oh my god, I asked how old you were, not how long you had been in the army. I asked again: “How old are you?”

-Yes sir, 20.

-OK, that’s good. You seem to be making a lot of progress. I asked again. How long have you been in the army?

-Yes, sir, 20.

-Oh my God. I have changed the question already. I asked you “how old are you“, not “how long ago he joined the army“. Wow, this is so terrible. If this happens tomorrow, the whole unit will be disciplined. It’s truly “totally hopeless”. I asked again: “How old are you?”

-Yes, 20.

-OK, that’s good. “How long have you been in the army?”

-Yes, 6 months.

-OK, that’s good. It seems like you’ve made a lot of progress. I asked the last question: “Do you see that we will definitely defeat the Germans?”

-Yes, what? Yes sir, I don’t understand.

-Oh my God, the Major General always asks the last question: “Do you think we will be sure that we will win against the German army?”, to encourage the fighting spirit of the British army and our Allied army. Okay, you don’t need to understand this sentence. You just need to remember that when the Major asks the last question, you just need to answer briefly: “Yes, that’s right.” Yes, that’s definitely it will be.” Do you hear that?

-Yes, sir, I hear you clearly.

After that, the Platoon Leader asked Jack throughout the night to self-practice basic question and answer patterns as above, especially the last sentence, to show his fighting spirit, and decisive victory of the British and Allied armies over the German army.

Before leaving Jack to practice English alone, the Platoon Leader asked the last question:

– Do you think we will definitely defeat the Germans?

-Yes, that’s right. Yes, that’s definitely the case.

-Oh, the Platoon Leader breathed a sigh of relief, looking very satisfied.- Oh, very good. It seems like you’ve improved your English a lot. Very good. I feel a bit reassured. Wish you luck tomorrow. Well, you’re not the only one who’s must be lucky. Wishing all of our unit good luck tomorrow.

After speaking, the Platoon Leader left, leaving Jack alone to practice his English himself.

Mr. Jack was no less worried than the Platoon Leader, so he worked very hard to stay up all night to practice remembering and fluently answering simple English conversations as mentioned above.

The next day, a convoy of several cars belonging to the Major General of the Division arrived at the unit, shiny black cars, with a 2-star “Major General” flag hanging on the hood, the flag was red, the stars were yellow, looking very majestic.

Several security guards rode a few cars in front and behind the Major General’s car, spreading out to protect all four sides, looking very serious and tense.

The whole unit stood in neat rows, the military band played the British military song: “Soldiers of the Queen” to welcome the Major General.

The Major General seemed satisfied, his chest was full of medals, he stood reviewing the unit, and then stood on the stage, watching the platoon practice on the field.

The entire platoon spread out, entered combat positions on the field, and began basic exercises, marching, carrying heavy loads, attacking, assaulting, retreating, hiding, crawling, cutting ropes of barbed wire, climbing walls, overcoming obstacles, shooting, fighting with bayonets, daggers, bare hands, throwing grenades, moving wounded people,,,.

All is perfect.

The whole unit enthusiastically practiced and performed, it felt real, like they were actually fighting the Germans.

The Major General and the accompanying group were very satisfied and applauded warmly.

In the afternoon, the whole platoon gathered again, stood to attention in ranks, and let the Major General review the unit, ask questions, and give gifts to the soldiers.

The soldiers’ faces were still covered in dust and gun smoke from the morning of training.

The Platoon Commander stood nervously in the front row, glanced slightly at the French soldier standing in the third row, behind, and hoped that the Major General would not ask about that French soldier.

The Major General shook hands with a few British soldiers standing in the front row, asked questions, patted shoulders, smiled brightly, and congratulated the healthy, happy, and optimistic soldiers. And the last question, the Major General always asked like the Platoon Commander taught the French soldier yesterday:

– Do you think we will definitely defeat the Germans?

-Yes, that’s right, it’s definitely like that, the British soldiers answered sharply and briefly.

The Major General seemed very satisfied.

The Platoon Commander was very satisfied, and he turned his head to glance at the French soldier behind him, in the third row, full of encouragement. His eyes seemed to say to the French soldier:

“See, Is it true? Mr. Major General always asked the last question like that. Try to remember it, and if asked, answer correctly.”

The French soldier also seemed very reassured, he had memorized this answer since last night, and now, he muttered it again, and felt very reassured.

“Oh, English is not too difficult, I can answer this question, it’s very simple. There’s nothing to worry about,” the French soldier said to himself.

However, because he was very intentional about remembering the last answer, the French soldier seemed to start remembering the other answers haphazardly, disorderly.

At that time, the French soldier began to review the easier answers, but his memory began to appear confused.

He remembered the conversations the platoon leader taught him yesterday:

-“What is your name?-Yes, my name is Jack”. Oh, that’s right, I remember right. “How old are you? – Yes, 6 months.” Oh, no, I remembered wrong. “Yes, 20”, oh, that’s right. “How long have you been in the army? – Yes, 6 months.” Oh! That right. But where does the phrase “how old are you?”. “How old are you” – Yes, 20”. Oh! That right. Great, I remember now. “How old are you? – Yes, 6 months.” Oh, I was wrong again.

The French soldier tried to remember the above conversations correctly, so he began to get confused, and began to remember things haphazardly, disorderly when the Major General gradually approached the French soldier.

The Platoon Commander also seemed nervous and glanced at the French soldier, and clearly realized that the French soldier was busy mentally rehearse the conversations.

The Lieutenant Commander secretly signaled to the French soldier to calm down, relax, standing still, should not was too tense like that.

But the French soldier didn’t seem to pay attention to the platoon leader’s signal. The French soldier is trying to rearrange the conversation into its correct order.

And, the French soldier started to really panic when the Major General came in front of him and asked in a smiling, gentle voice:

-Hello. What’s your name?

-Yes, sir, Jack.

Oh, I answered correctly, the French soldier breathed a sigh of relief. The Platoon Leader standing nearby also breathed a sigh of relief.

-How long have you been in the army?

-Yes sir, yes sir, yes, maybe,,,20.

-Ha, the Major General was a bit surprised, opened his mouth, and looked at the French soldier.

Nearby, the platoon leader heard that, felt his arms and legs fall apart, his face turned pale, he was sweating, he blinked and signaled repeatedly to the French soldier.

But the French soldier didn’t care about anything, he was in a “senseless, inanimate” state, empty, only answering and listening automatically, not having time to hear, not having time to think, not paying attention to the surroundings around. Around him was an empty desert, only he and the Major General existed. He is the only one who has to deal with this terrifying loneliness.

The Major General calmed down a bit, then he calmly asked:

-How old are you?

-Yes, sir, yes,,,, 6 months.

At this moment, the Major General’s face began to turn red. His cheek twitched automatically, it seemed he could no longer control himself.

He continued to ask, but not the same question that the Platoon Leader taught yesterday, and also not the last question that the Major General asked the other British soldiers just now, but:

-Do you think I’m crazy?

-Yes, sir, that’s right. Definitely.

The French soldier felt satisfied and smiled contentedly when he thought he had answered correctly the last and most difficult question.

Please imagine the situation of that British soldier unit after that.///