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00:00When we think of the First World War, the faces we picture in the trenches are white.
00:21But from 1914 onwards, soldiers joined up from across the Empire.
00:27Thousands from the Caribbean paid their own passage to Britain to defend what many of them called the Motherland.
00:38And the British Tommies weren't all the colour that they are in the old films either.
00:45Every soldier has his own individual story, and this is one of them.
00:57In 2006, a young couple in Glasgow found a box of photos, diaries and letters in their attic.
01:12This film tells Arthur Roberts' story using Arthur's own words and the poetry he inspired me to write.
01:25The bands are playing good ol' and you feel as if you're going too.
01:30But when one sees the mothers and the sisters and sweethearts crying as they keep step with their loved ones.
01:37And the fathers walking silent with eyes red and shining with unshed tears.
01:43It makes one feel creepy, especially when the big drum booms and the kettle drums roll.
01:50But somebody must go.
01:54Arthur Roberts enlisted on the 13th of February, 1917.
02:12He was 19.
02:15This is why Arthur Roberts and the king of New England is for the beginning of New England.
02:21Dear aunt, I hope you are drawing the half pay alright.
02:25If you and Lily could spare time you might make me a little cake, say about a pound, half a pound.
02:33Won't cost much.
02:34And it's seldom we get what you call really good cake here.
02:37cake here and this is Arthur which would appear to be him in Bristol and you know beautiful picture
02:49and that's when he's with his mother Laura Dan Roberts and the father is David Roberts he's a
02:55ship steward something happened after Arthur was about seven or eight the family split up
03:04and that's when Arthur came to Glasgow he attended Kentwood higher grade school where he was a very
03:12accomplished scholar he stayed there till he was 18 and when he left there he then became an
03:19apprentice in Harland and Wolfe and Clydeside and he trained to be a fitter when he looks in the
03:27mirror it's his mother's face he sees running into his father's his mother the west country lass his
03:36father the man from the Caribbean he has his nose her eyes his cheekbones a kind of no man's land
03:46somewhere between the two of them and his skin a mix of both colors is a light of his mother
03:54the dark of his father something in his own fixed gaze made him see himself as part ghost as if he
04:04was in the cusp of something about to emerge as if for some seconds of lost time he was a stranger to
04:12himself as if he wasn't quite expecting to see himself in this light met made whole by his father
04:23his mother his mother in his joined up face he's about to go to war one last look in the mirror then
04:32just in case and then off to France with his mother's eyes his father's nose packed into his face for all his
04:43days for all his nights and all his days as well as he's writing Arthur painted watercolors and although
04:58they're not great art there's something pretty special about them I think he wanted to bear witness
05:05I think he wanted to paint the truth we are expecting to go into the front line tonight
05:14suddenly a couple of very lights shot into the air coming down in a big green blaze
05:26I was greatly amazed with the fireworks
05:32when the corporal informed me that I was to take first watch I said what have I to do he said that's
05:43your first time I said yes well said he to stand up on that step and shoot anybody you see who looks
05:51like a German he was walking away when suddenly turning around he said by the bite have you ever
05:58seen a German I told him I come into contact with German barbers and waiters and he muttered becoming
06:07vastly amused if you see anybody call the other chaps at once we have a patrol out tonight and they
06:15won't like being mistaken for Germans happily nothing happened that night and I really wondered what the
06:32people at home were making such a fuss about
06:45on his fourth day at the front without a wash Arthur went off to find a bit of privacy to de-louse himself
07:06what a lovely day it was and how quiet everything was as I meandered along watching the high explosives
07:19bursting high up in the sky my thoughts were as far away from my surroundings as those little lumps of
07:26cotton wool that first dead soldier is a sight that is practically photographed on my brain
07:35the shell had burst in the middle of the trench so that now for several yards there was no trench
07:43near on the sloping side of the crater lay somebody's son
07:49the uniform was almost worn brownish red stain the equipment appeared as if some bigger man had
07:59just hung it on the body it was a massive tangled buckles and straps the whole of the victim's back
08:07had been almost blown out from the hips the body might have belonged to another man altogether
08:15I flung myself down helplessly I made genuine efforts to regain my self-control
08:31I succeeded at length
08:38I set off again
08:42when I came to the fateful spot again which appeared to happen very quickly
08:48I inwardly tightened my self-determination and quickened my pace
08:53then
08:55I took one sudden look over my shoulder
08:58there was the crater
09:04where the corpse was gone
09:10completely vanished
09:14there's that shuttered sick moment when you must look again though you know you shouldn't
09:25when you turn fast a flash of distress for one last look
09:31and dear God you cannot credit your eyes
09:34there was a crater
09:37but the corpse had gone
09:39completely vanished
09:40only eyes in mud
09:42staring at eternity
09:44but you will carry it
09:47the dead weight
09:48your nerves strung
09:50your senses dazed
09:52on your back
09:54for the rest of your days
09:56Arthur's unit was on rotation
10:04you couldn't spend long in the front line trenches
10:07it was too hard
10:08most soldiers would do about 10 days a month in the trenches
10:14and only three days of that right on the front line
10:16today went as well as can be expected
10:22I saw an observation balloon catch fire through heat
10:26I don't know if the observers escaped
10:29spent a lazy day today
10:36received a letter of bad news from home
10:40I am now back in the trenches
10:51Jerry's shelling like mad
10:56we go to the front line tonight
11:02and over the top in the morning
11:03my thoughts are mixed and unsettled
11:12a prison
11:12and I can't say I'm feeling too brave
11:16but it has to be done
11:18so the sooner the better
11:19the shelling is getting on my nerves
11:22the trenches soon were so badly shelled
11:27that in places
11:28we were walking in the open
11:29where big shell holes had taken the place
11:31of that bit of the trench
11:32in the still surviving lakes of trench
11:35the dead men were often so numerous
11:37it was impossible to proceed without walking on them
11:40in whispers
11:46we were sorted into our proper sections
11:48waiting for the command from our officer
11:51who was constantly gazing at his dress watch
11:53I wondered
11:54was I in the thoughts of somebody at that precise moment?
12:00I began to dream
12:01of what might be
12:03would a great chance come my way?
12:09if so
12:09would I make the best of it?
12:13of course I would
12:13I am a man now
12:16a real man
12:17thought I
12:18then in a flash
12:27I saw again
12:28our front line
12:29and its occupants
12:30oh my god
12:33would the supports
12:35who would follow in our tracks
12:36find me
12:36mangled
12:37and torn
12:38this waiting
12:40this waiting
12:41is worse than a hundred days
12:43forward men
12:53that order saved me
12:56I'd been allowed to breed for too long
13:00it might sound strange but
13:05during my
13:06active service days
13:08my one worry was
13:10I was frightened
13:12I should become afraid
13:15you were frightened
13:18that you would become afraid
13:19and that fear would strip it all away
13:23your uniform
13:24the boots
13:26the patriotism
13:28your unit
13:29the bravery
13:30the sense of omission
13:32and waiting up ahead
13:34on the front line
13:36fear itself
13:37quaking
13:39and trembling
13:40all legs
13:41and ankles
13:43till you were feared
13:45stripped of everything
13:47naked
13:49as the day you emerged
13:50a small boy
13:52out of the womb
13:53with no sense
13:55slipping out of that cocoon
13:57of the fire
13:58or the trenches
14:00or the stench
14:02that men would kill
14:04and kill again
14:06that lives
14:07would count for night
14:09under the watchful
14:11eye of the moon
14:12the enemy pestered us
14:18with slow but annoying fire
14:20as we plunged on
14:22one of our section
14:23who was walking at my left
14:24suddenly collapsed
14:25a splinter had hit him
14:27in the abdomen
14:29strict orders
14:31had been issued
14:31before the battle
14:32nobody
14:33but stretcher bearers
14:34was to stop for the wounded
14:35we therefore
14:37after a sympathetic glance
14:40pushed on
14:42besides
14:44it might be anybody's turn next
14:46it was now morning
14:55we were now exposed
14:57to the German machine gunners
14:58in a short time
15:01officers were without men
15:03and men were without officers
15:05we were fed up
15:09I for one had got to the stage
15:11I cared a little what happened
15:13the last issue of food rations
15:16I'd received
15:17had been three days before
15:18it was during one of Jerry's
15:21short sharp
15:22vicious bombardments
15:24that I lost the party
15:25or perhaps the party lost me
15:27I didn't know
15:29I didn't care
15:30simply got my head below cover
15:32and waited
15:34he lost the party
15:38or the party lost him
15:40and the list of losses came
15:42almost nightly
15:43how already he'd lost his smile
15:45his grace
15:46how at night
15:47or under the morning mist
15:49he lost face
15:50how for miles
15:52he plodded
15:53making his list
15:54of losses
15:54he knew the faces of loss
15:57as intimately
15:58as his own
15:59he knew
16:00lossy's husky voice
16:01its strange frown
16:03he knew the way
16:04its hair fell out
16:06the way loss fell down
16:07he knew loss
16:09he'd been in lossy's town
16:10next thing I mind
16:19is my section officer
16:20giving me a good drink of rum
16:22and the next thing
16:31he was half lying
16:33against a wagon in the rain
16:34and who knew
16:35where he came from
16:37or to where he would go
16:38after the third battle
16:42of wipers
16:43they were soon dispersed
16:45and he kept that loss close
16:47lest he should ever forget
16:49we rested today
17:04a memorial service
17:06took place in the village
17:07in honour of the men
17:08who fell in action
17:09I wrote home
17:11a new pair of boots
17:14was supplied to me
17:14this afternoon
17:15Arthur suffered
17:19from trench foot
17:20where the foot
17:21begins to rot
17:22although it caused him
17:24problems
17:24for the rest of his life
17:26it was never bad enough
17:28to get him out
17:28of the army
17:29we were paraded today
17:33to hear the sentence
17:34of five deserters
17:35one got death
17:37four got fifteen years
17:40today's been fairly quiet
17:44but Jerry usually manages
17:46to catch one or two
17:47with one of his whizbangs
17:49one of our Lance Corporals
17:51cut a whizbang
17:52he fell on the food rations
17:54covering him with blood
17:55so now we can't eat him
17:58today was very wet
18:04I got my first love letter today
18:07but I'm glad to say
18:10Mr. Cupid missed me
18:11I was at a rough and tumble dance
18:17this evening
18:18no ladies were there
18:23of course
18:23it was the first dance
18:26I've had since been in France
18:28this is the last day of 1917
18:36I hope next year
18:40will bring peace
18:41I'm sitting by myself
18:44in a dark hut
18:45waiting for the new year
18:46he knew the colour of loss
19:02his park benches
19:04he knew the smell of loss
19:05took him to the trenches
19:07he knew the glaket glazes
19:09the lost sun's faces
19:11he knew loss was not choosy
19:13it could pick anyone
19:14he knew grief keeps a different clock
19:17that to loss
19:18morning or evening
19:19were the same
19:20that he could find loss
19:22stalk still
19:23lame
19:24or that he could run behind
19:25in the rain
19:26he knew it could jog ahead
19:28in real time
19:29he knew loss is game
19:31it's hiding places
19:32he knew he wasn't the only one
19:35counting down
19:36he knew loss
19:37he'd been in lossy's town
19:39I have to appear before the OC
19:45in the morning
19:45on the charge of willfully destroying
19:47a pair of boots
19:48I can safely swear
19:52I have done nothing
19:53of the sort
19:54I was under arrest
19:59I was marched to the OC's office
20:01willful destruction of property
20:06it's a serious offence
20:08the OC says to me
20:09will you accept my punishment
20:12I instantly refused
20:13the OC then gave me the option
20:16of his punishment
20:17or a court-martial
20:19I chose a court-martial
20:22I was marched to the guard room
20:27to await my trial
20:28and during my confinement
20:31I worked on my case
20:33about 4.45pm
20:35the police came to take me
20:36to the office again
20:37the OC now informs me
20:40that there is not enough evidence
20:41to convict me
20:42and I have escaped his punishment
20:44by a bold stroke
20:45my sheet is still clean
20:49but it was a close shave
20:51I'm fairly in the limelight
20:55over the whole case
20:56all the boys are congratulating me
20:57the corporal who charged me
21:00is wild
21:02and he will catch me if possible
21:04but I'm wide awake
21:07trust me
21:09he'd watched the lost ships
21:12sail down the Clyde
21:14and listened to the noises
21:16from childhood loss
21:17the bells and the jingles
21:19and midnight owls
21:21and for years
21:22after the war
21:23it seemed that all the losses
21:25followed him
21:26in their old dead boots
21:28and the losses still to come
21:30walked ahead
21:32in their old dead boots
21:34and everywhere around him
21:36was a thud of loss
21:39heavy footed with trench feet
21:41thickly coated in mud
21:43seeking the drowsy
21:45the exhausted
21:46the run down
21:48he knew loss
21:50he'd been in lossy's town
21:52when this bloody war is over
21:58no more soldiering for me
22:03when I've got my civvy clothes on
22:09oh how happy I will be
22:15the diary stops in 1918
22:18when the war ended
22:21Arthur came back to Glasgow
22:22to Harland and Wolfe
22:24to finish his apprenticeship
22:26to help build the ships
22:28that made Glasgow famous
22:29it was a place of steel
22:46rivets and nails
22:48men swinging their hammers
22:50in violent air
22:51fighting the work
22:53the river was gunmetal grey
22:56stretching away
22:57under a lead sky
22:59and when the ship
23:01slipped into the Clyde
23:03grown men cried
23:05it was a place of memory
23:09dreams and journeys
23:11men sailing down the water
23:13away for their sons and daughters
23:15waving goodbye
23:17forever and a day
23:19to the Firth
23:21to the Forth
23:22over the Red Bridge
23:23over the Luggy Water
23:25over the Caron River
23:27the wind blowing your hair
23:29into the Irish Sea
23:31the river holds the grey seals
23:34the carp
23:35the perch
23:36the eels
23:37the harbour porpoise
23:39the sense of purpose
23:41the dawning of a new day
23:43in July 1919
23:58the peace march
23:59didn't contain
24:00any black troops
24:01but started a process
24:03that deliberately or not
24:04wiped out the memory
24:06of the black contribution
24:07to Britain's victory
24:08in the war
24:09when this bloody war
24:16is over
24:17no more
24:20soldiering
24:21for me
24:22when I get
24:25my heavy
24:26clothes on
24:28oh how
24:30happy
24:31I will be
24:33we know
24:35Arthur
24:36experienced racism
24:37at the shipyard
24:38he got called
24:39black bastard
24:40and nigger
24:41he just kept his head down
24:43and got on with his job
24:45in 1919
24:53there were race riots
24:54in seven port cities
24:55across Britain
24:56including Glasgow
24:58as men
24:59returning from war
25:00faced unemployment
25:02and looked around
25:03for someone to blame
25:04five men were killed
25:06in the riots
25:07the government reaction
25:09to populist racism
25:10was to introduce
25:12immigration laws
25:13in 1919
25:16they extended
25:17the Alien Restriction Act
25:19in 1925
25:21they passed
25:22the special restriction
25:23colored alien semen
25:25order
25:25in practice
25:27this meant
25:28that anyone black
25:29had to produce
25:30papers
25:31proving their right
25:32to be here
25:33loss
25:43like the loss
25:44he felt
25:45when he waved goodbye
25:45to his mother
25:46loss
25:47like the loss
25:48he felt
25:48when he wrote
25:49to his father
25:50loss
25:51like the limbo
25:52loss
25:53caught between
25:54two cultures
25:55loss
25:56like the loss
25:57when the lance
25:58corporal
25:58died
25:59at dinner
25:59loss
26:01like the loss
26:02when he nearly
26:03crossed over
26:04loss
26:05like love lost
26:06like lost loves
26:08he knew loss
26:09he didn't need
26:10to write it down
26:11he'd been in
26:12Lossie's old
26:14sad town
26:15we don't know much
26:23about Arthur's life
26:24after the war
26:24we know he fell in love
26:26with Jesse Finnegan
26:27and they lived
26:28together for 20 years
26:30they got married
26:32a year before
26:33Jesse died
26:34in 1957
26:35in 1979
26:40Arthur moved himself
26:42into a care home
26:43in Glasgow
26:44he was a ladies man
26:49definitely
26:50he used to show me
26:52his photographs
26:53when he was in the army
26:54one of the times
26:55I said to him
26:56oh I said
26:57if I was the same
26:58age as you
26:59at that age
26:59I said
27:00I would have
27:00been fair taken
27:02with you
27:02and he went
27:03aye
27:03and I would have
27:04been fair taken
27:05with you as well
27:06but he was
27:07he was
27:08he was everything
27:09you would imagine
27:11and a lovely man
27:13he really was
27:14he never says goodbye
27:16or anything like that
27:17he just slept away
27:18I just told his hand
27:19and then
27:20I knew he'd be
27:21just listening
27:22and looking at his chest
27:23that he had actually
27:24passed away
27:25and it was very
27:27very peaceful
27:28very
27:28although I'm going to start crying
27:30thinking about him
27:31very peaceful
27:37he touched my heart
27:40so much
27:41remembering Sunday
27:45a day when paradoxically
27:47he felt forgotten
27:48not like that Monday
27:50when his shop steward
27:52called him
27:53a black bastard
27:54or Tuesday
27:56when he watched them
27:57fish the suicides
27:58out the Clyde
27:59not like Wednesday
28:01when Koopa's arrow
28:03sailed over his head
28:05or Thursday
28:06when Alison
28:07warmed up olive oil
28:09massaging his trench feet
28:11not like Friday
28:13when he blanked
28:14his dark face
28:15from the victory parade
28:16or Saturday
28:18when he danced alone
28:19in his room
28:20with a Zimmer
28:21but remembering Sunday
28:23when no one
28:25remembered him
28:26and he hardly
28:27remembered himself
28:28oh how happy
28:35I will be
28:36no more standing
28:40to attention
28:42no more asking
28:45for a pass
28:47you can tell
28:50the sergeant major
28:53to shove those passes
28:56up his arms
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