Typical Aussie.

Cousin John listened to the guard's account of Australian military history, then quietly revealed that he had served in the Second World War with the US Army Air Force in Burma. "Yanks weren't in Burma," the guard snapped.

I hoped cousin John didn't understand what this boofhead was saying. But he understood all right, and insisted that indeed the Yanks were in Burma, that he was one of them, and that he'd flown in support of a legendary British officer named Colonel Orde Wingate. "Never happened," insisted the guard. "Yanks weren't in Burma."

I can't remember how the conversation ended, but I ushered cousin John and his wife Carol away, telling them there was much more to see. Twenty years on, I bristle with shame and anger as I recall the encounter.