By the end of 1943, there was a venereal disease epidemic in the U.K. A New York Times correspondent reported that VD rates among GIs in England were over 25 percent higher than they were at home, and that perhaps half of the cases were contracted in Piccadilly. Soon the American Red Cross was operating prophylactic stations in its clubs, and the Army finally built up a sufficient supply of condoms. The early ones, supplied by the British, were found to be “too small.”
