“I noted an unwavering peculiarity about the Russians: we always had to go to them; never would they come to visit us or even meet us halfway.”

Source: A Soldier Reports (1976), p. 19.
Context: Russians and vodka, I soon learned, were virtually synonymous. Twice I accompanied my division commander, General Craig, with his Russian opposite beyond the Elbe. Since General Craig was an abstainer, his aides had to exercise considerable ingenuity to dispose of the vodka from his glass in nearby flower pots. The Russian general several times did the same. I noted an unwavering peculiarity about the Russians: we always had to go to them; never would they come to visit us or even meet us halfway.

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William Westmoreland 32
United States Army general 1914–2005

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