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Among the cautions expressed by our Commanding Officer and his Staff was to be sure to always carry our .45-caliber Colt Automatic when we went into the city of Shanghai. They related that although it appeared to be a very civilized city, there were gangs of Chinese who were ready and willing to prey upon anyone that they felt they could waylay and obtain something of value. The appearence of our guns would usually keep them at bay but we were told that if our holstered arms did not accomplish this, by all means, we should draw them, cock them and fire a warning shot as a minumim action. Fortunately, I never had to shoot anyone although several times I was glad that I had the capability to do so.
It appeared that the City Police only directed traffic. The keeping of the peace seemed to fall upon our Military Police (MPs) and Shore Patrol (SPs). Even though they did a fine job of picking up American personnel who had over imbibed, they could not cover the whole city. American Officers with their "Modern Peacemakers" seemed to be a deputy force without portfolio.