Danny,
From a more modern perspective, I well remember the Arab man who took time out to show me how to wear the traditional dress I had just bought correctly. The French foreign legion bloke at Sarejevo, who went halves on a Ham roll when I was trying to fix No 2 "donk" which decided it did not want to start. I believe that many British servicemen saw a "different" side to the people nominated by our political leaders as "non friendly"! Your post shows it's not a new phenomena.
Smudge
