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During World War II, thousands of black volunteers from the Caribbean joined the fight against Hitler and Nazi Germany. As this compelling BBC history documentary reveals, they risked their lives and in the process became more determined than ever to fight for racial equality. Now these forgotten war heroes tell their vivid battle stories and describe their experiences in 1940s Britain and beyond.
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00:03My name is Sam Martinez.
00:07I was born in Belize, formerly British Honduras.
00:14And my age is 104 years old and a half.
00:21The Second World War sparked a mass migration of black people to Britain.
00:29My name is Victor Emmanuel Brown.
00:34People ask me, where do you come from?
00:37And the only thing I can think of is, my mother says I came from heaven.
00:46Up to 10,000 men and women from the Caribbean colonies volunteered to come to Britain and defend the empire.
00:55My mother said, the mother country is at war, go son, and if you live it would be a good
01:01thing.
01:03She was right.
01:05The fear was if Hitler got what he wanted, that we would be back in the square one, which is
01:12slavery.
01:20Fellas would come and stroke my head before they got into the aircraft to go and flight for luck.
01:28This brave sacrifice confronted these men and women from the Caribbean with a lifelong challenge.
01:37To be accepted as equal British subjects by the government.
01:42It's like we dropped out of the sky. Nobody knew anything about us. They didn't know we exist.
01:47And the British people.
01:50He also touched my neck to find out if I'm really black. And I thought that was most unusual.
01:57They had a mind that anybody who started came from Africa.
02:01The rumor went around that all these guys, where they come from, they had tails originally.
02:07In the post-war years, nearly half a million West Indians discovered that making a home in Britain wasn't going
02:15to be easy.
02:15When we came out, they just, ooh.
02:19Ooh, never seen this before. They just stared.
02:26I said, don't worry about jobs. Worry about somewhere to live.
02:35These pioneers from the Caribbean have transformed Britain.
02:42It's good to be harmonious, live together, peacefully, and you can't go around.
03:07Every year, on the 11th of November, Britain remembers the men and women who lost their lives fighting in two
03:14world wars.
03:16At monuments across the country, we pay our respects to the fallen heroes.
03:24In November 2014, at the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton, a unique memorial is about to be unveiled.
03:35Today, we unveil the first fully African and Caribbean war memorial.
03:43Ladies and gentlemen, Sam King!
03:51My name is Sam King.
03:53I was born on the 20th of February, 1926, in the former colony of Jamaica.
03:59Your Worshipful Mayor of Lambeth, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for inviting me here.
04:12May God bless this memorial.
04:14May God bless this memorial.
04:18In 1944, Sam King volunteered to join the Royal Air Force and served as a ground crew engineer.
04:26He now lives with his family in South London.
04:36The only national newspaper to report the memorial's unveiling was The Voice, a black newspaper.
04:43The design and construction was organised by a black community group.
04:49Awaiting a final resting place, the monument has now been taken down.
04:58I don't think we are being recognised for contribution.
05:02And many young people don't realise that West Indians volunteered during the war, fought and died.
05:09Why don't we just carry on?
05:14Throughout their lives, these men and women from the Caribbean haven't wavered in their desire to serve Britain.
05:22Since the outbreak of the Second World War.
05:27The fateful hour of 11 has struck, and Britain's final warning to Hitler having been ignored, a state of war
05:34once more exists between Great Britain and Germany.
05:42When Britain declared war on Germany, black people found it extremely difficult to sign up to defend the Empire.
05:49A colour bar restricted men and women from joining the armed forces, unless they were of pure European descent.
05:59As the British government prepared the nation for war, this colour bar remained in place.
06:07When the war started, I was in school and the headmaster used to read the war headline to the school.
06:17Very loud and said Britain is at war, and we indirectly is at war.
06:23And we were worried.
06:25Because the Germans had war machines.
06:29And Britain were not prepared for war.
06:33The Germans were killing people and we were well aware of that.
06:37It was frightening.
06:40In schools throughout Britain's Caribbean colonies, West Indian children were raised with a sense of loyalty,
06:46to king and empire.
06:49At school, the British influence was superb.
06:54And everything was British.
06:58The average schoolboy would know where London is.
07:01They would know what happens in London, they would know where Liverpool is.
07:04Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, London, and all the different big cities.
07:07They knew what each province supplied, where the jobs were.
07:13We were British subjects.
07:15And that was something to be proud of.
07:19They told you Britain was the mother country, and we accept that.
07:23We were the colony, we are at the bottom, and England is at the top, the mother.
07:30My name is Alan Wilmot.
07:33I was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on August 1925.
07:40Every picture here tells a story of my life.
07:43And you can see that I have met some famous people.
07:46I have met the Queen four times.
07:50This is when we were invited to St. James Palace by Prince Charles.
08:01Alan Wilmot's first brush with military life came at an early age.
08:06I was five years of age when the HMS Wood came to Jamaica.
08:10I can remember it was such a big battleship that it couldn't enter Kingston Harbour.
08:19Alan's father, Captain Charles Wilmot, was one of the first black skippers on the Inter-Island cargo boats.
08:25As one of Jamaica's most famous seamen, Charles was invited to take his family on board HMS Hood.
08:33I had a sailor suit all made for the occasion.
08:37I wanted the officer's uniform, and they ran out of costumes.
08:42And I decided, well, I will accept a rating uniform, but I must have an officer's cap.
08:53I was very, very proud of my father.
08:55You know, the adulation, everybody, hello, captain, hello, captain.
08:59And I said to myself, well, yes, that will be me.
09:05Four years before Britain entered the war, all eyes turned to Africa.
09:11In October 1935, Benito Mussolini, the leader of fascist Italy, invaded Abyssinia, known today as Ethiopia.
09:23It was one of only two nations in Africa that wasn't ruled by one of Europe's imperial powers.
09:33Across the barren hills and fever-laden valleys of northern Abyssinia, the invader is sweeping forward, crushing the Abyssinian resistance
09:40under the steel tread of his mechanised army.
09:48The Abyssinian people stood little chance.
09:52I remember my grandmother, I would be about 11 then, cried when she learned that Ethiopia was invaded by the
10:04Italians.
10:05We thought, from African background, that the Italians were wicked.
10:11The racial battle lines of World War II were being drawn.
10:16At the time, nothing could be done about it.
10:20You could only sympathise.
10:22You felt that Ethiopans were your brothers.
10:29Black people across the world were confronted by the threat of fascism.
10:35They were also finding out about the German leader.
10:40Well, when you talk about him, you're talking about the devil.
10:45In the summer of 1936, just months after Abyssinia fell to the Italians, the Olympic Games were held in Berlin.
10:58The Olympic is for the honour and glory of sports.
11:01That's the oath you take.
11:03The honour and glory of sports.
11:06But this did not happen.
11:11Islas assumed that they were a master race and they would win everything.
11:21And Jesse Owens just runs through them.
11:25So they might be good.
11:27But Owens wins in 10.3!
11:29But they're not that good.
11:32By the end of the Games, the American athlete Jesse Owens had won four gold medals.
11:38From what I heard at the time, as a boy, because he was a black man, Hitler refused to shake
11:44his hand.
11:46The rumour spread across the globe.
11:50What a silly man.
11:52What a silly man to refuse to shake his hand, to congratulate him on something that he'd done.
11:59The truth about the Hitler-Owens handshake is disputed to this day.
12:04But back then, people in the West Indies believed the incident was a signal of Hitler's intentions.
12:12The fear was if Hitler got what he wanted, that we'll be back in the square one, which is slavery.
12:21That was our attitude.
12:24Hitler was immediately an enemy.
12:30Some Islanders used music to poke fun at the Fuhrer.
12:39Calypso has African roots and became popular in Trinidad in the 19th century.
12:45He sang a beautiful song against Hitler, saying that he can do what he done but leave the British Empire
12:54alone.
12:54It's important to us.
12:56In Trinidad, we must have our Calypso.
13:01Hitler, boy, change your mind.
13:03If you that cause he checks on Poland or Brian, Britain has given Poland a guarantee.
13:09Hitler's aggression must be stopped entirely.
13:12I think the Calypso might be similar to the tongue crier in an English village.
13:20Sports, politics, anything that happens in the island.
13:24Local gossips, you have to take the Mickey out of some personality.
13:30Hitler's diplomacy got to cease, claiming people and asking for peace.
13:35He's a cold-blooded murderer, a worthless barbarian, but this is the last of that madman Austrian.
13:52As Hitler's blitzkrieg smashed across Europe, the Germans also had a devastating weapon lurking beneath the sea.
14:01Nazi U-boats brought a new danger to the West Indies.
14:08Nazi submarines strike their first blows in the Caribbean.
14:11Oil tankers are hit by torpedoes fired at point-blank range.
14:17To fuel her war effort, Britain relied on oil.
14:22And one of the largest oil refineries in the British Empire was in Trinidad.
14:29When the war started, U-boats were well placed.
14:33They were all over the place just waiting for the call.
14:37And once war was declared, they went into operation.
14:43The Caribbean became a perilous war zone.
14:48The British ships are being sunk right left and centre.
14:59To defend the vital supply routes through the Caribbean Sea, Britain needed more manpower.
15:09They were all over the place.
15:09In October 1939, the colonial office had announced that anybody born in the colonies could sign up to fight.
15:19In practice, the armed forces were reluctant to change their selection criteria.
15:25But some West Indian sailors did slip through the net and found themselves on the front lines of the U
15:32-boat war in the Caribbean.
15:40In 1941, Alan Wilmot volunteered to join the Royal Navy.
15:45You were a part of the British Empire. The British Empire was in trouble.
15:49They asked for volunteers.
15:52And you felt, well, this was a double thing.
15:56You are helping them and at the same time you are helping yourselves.
16:00Because if you survived the war, at least you would have a trade or a start in life.
16:06Alan was 15 years old.
16:10Being young, you didn't realise the danger until you were actually there.
16:15You hear the guns fire and then realise that this ain't no joke.
16:25Alan served as ship steward on board the Royal Navy minesweeper, HMS Hawken.
16:34In the ocean, you have the sea lanes and the submarines used to lay the mines there.
16:40So we had to go and clear the passages as much as we can and escort the convoys.
16:49On the ocean, in the nights, it is very, very dark and you can see nothing.
16:56And the U-boats, they were there enjoying themselves.
17:04You live from day to day.
17:06You wake up in the morning, you say, well, thank God I'm still alive.
17:11Until you hear the alarm goes now.
17:14And there, nobody tells you what is happening.
17:17You only hear the alarm goes and you take up your position.
17:24Hitler's U-boats were a constant menace to British ships.
17:27Not just in the Caribbean Sea, but across the Atlantic Ocean.
17:36In January 1942, two young Jamaicans were sailing through the North Atlantic
17:42on the Merchant Navy oil tanker, Rafast.
17:47We did everything together. We'd go swimming together. We played football together.
17:52We became very close.
17:55After 16.
17:57We were definitely best friends.
18:01Victor Brown and Winston Murphy were the only black men in the Rafast's 42-strong crew.
18:10As far as the Ministry of Shipping was concerned, it was not desirable to mix coloured and white races in
18:18the same department on board ship.
18:23But by early 1942, the Ministry had begun to recruit African and West Indian seamen, like Winston and Victor, into
18:31the Merchant Navy.
18:33It was freezing, freezing, freezing cold in the middle of January.
18:37In off Nova Scotia, you can imagine what it's like.
18:42Victor and I were sitting in the saloon and we were this big bang.
18:52You can feel it, you see, the old ship shakes.
18:57We rushed out on deck and we looked and we could see the periscope sticking out of the water.
19:04And we realised then that we'd been torpedoed.
19:08So I grabbed the ship's dinner bell and rang it all the way to the bridge.
19:13Everybody started running to the midship because that's where the two big lifeboats were.
19:22The submarine command sent a torpedo into the port side.
19:30The lifeboat on the port side had no chance.
19:35The ship listed and, as far as we know, all the crew on that side perished.
19:44On our side, which was the starboard, the ice had frozen up all the ropes.
19:52Nobody had any means of cutting the lifeboat away from the ship.
19:58And if we had left it, the ship would eventually have dragged the lifeboat down with it and we'd all
20:04be...
20:07Victor was a carefree chap.
20:10He was strong and tough and he found an axe on the deck.
20:19And I picked it up.
20:20Wham!
20:21And the boat fell in the water and drifted away from the ship.
20:25Hadn't he chopped that rope, we would never have got cleared the boat.
20:37The ship doesn't sink straight away.
20:41It goes slowly.
20:43And eventually, it turned like that.
20:46This old ship turned like that.
20:47And just gradually go down smooth, you know. It's quite the picture.
20:58Winston, Victor and the rest of the survivors were now stranded in a lifeboat in the freezing waters of the
21:05North Atlantic.
21:07It was rough.
21:10The waves were mountains high.
21:18When the ship pulled up to rescue us, my hands were so cold, I thought that I'd never be able
21:24to hold on to the net, to climb aboard.
21:29One fellow, his hands felt freeze.
21:32So he just dropped in the water.
21:35Couldn't do anything more for him.
21:37You couldn't pick him up.
21:39Couldn't do anything.
21:40That was it.
21:42The death toll for black merchant seamen was high.
21:46Of the 15,000 who signed up, 5,000 perished.
21:53Seventy years on, Winston has never forgotten his rescue by the HMS Maliagos.
21:59When we got aboard, immediately they provided us with tea and coffee.
22:05And every morning since I retired, every morning, I remember the Maliagos and those cups of coffee that we had
22:14when we were rescued.
22:22Victor Browne and Winston Murphy are now 94 years old.
22:27These childhood friends haven't seen each other for more than a decade.
22:34Victor has travelled from his home in Morecambe Bay to Nottingham for a reunion with Winston.
22:46I cannot believe it.
22:49Good Lord.
22:51I cannot believe it.
22:54Good Lord.
22:55Good Lord.
22:55Good Lord.
22:55Oh, you're big.
22:56Oh, it's good to see you.
22:58Oh, Winston.
23:00You've changed so much, I wouldn't have recognised you on the road.
23:04Well, I've forgotten my stick.
23:07You don't walk with a stick as well, do you?
23:10You have changed.
23:12Chasing women is what does it.
23:17I've still got the ship's bell that I grabbed and ran all the way to the lifeboat where you rescued
23:26our lives by the chopping of the rope.
23:30And in the lifeboat, I can recall you were tough.
23:35Funnily enough, when I looked back over the years, I didn't have any fear at all.
23:40And delighted that you were still around, because most of the people of our age have disappeared.
23:49Well, I never probably mentioned it to you, but it has always been my ambition to live at least to
23:56105, at which age I was hoping to be shot by a jealous husband.
24:03Oh, well, you were always famous for the ladies. I can remember that, you see.
24:09It's almost like a miracle, because I never, ever thought that we'd live long enough to meet again after all
24:17the years we'd been separated.
24:18When I'm alone, with only dreams of you, that won't come true, what will I do?
24:34Fantastic.
24:38Fantastic.
24:38Oh, it's good to see you. So good to see you.
24:49At the start of the war, the Royal Air Force only recruited people who were of pure European descent.
24:59I think they were concerned about how people who were not Caucasian would mix with Caucasian people.
25:08But I think as the toll of the early years of the war manifested itself, they changed the attitude.
25:20By November 1940, hundreds of British airmen had been killed in the Battle of Britain.
25:26And the defeat of the Luftwaffe had created an opportunity to attack the German home front.
25:34Now, the RAF cast its recruitment net wide.
25:38The Air Ministry told the Colonial Office it would accept aircrew volunteers from the colonies,
25:44on condition that the coloured men were really skilled and suitable to associate with British airmen.
25:54In January of 1941, the Daily Gleaner of the Jamaican leading newspaper carried out advertisements
26:04asking for young men to volunteer for aircrew in the Royal Air Force.
26:11I just fancied the intrigue of getting up there and flying and doing everything that I could do in an
26:22aircraft.
26:245,000 West Indian volunteers were put through a rigorous selection process.
26:30500 were selected as the Caribbean's brightest and best.
26:36I hated the Germans. I hated Hitler.
26:42And there was a strong feeling that I would like to take part in bringing them down.
26:50In 1942, the Commander-in-Chief of the RAF's Fighter Command visited the Caribbean.
26:57Wing Commander Sholto Douglas wanted to inspire the West Indian pilots.
27:02My father made a speech to the people of the West Indies,
27:08really to encourage them in their role in World War II.
27:15Britain and the West Indies fight together to resist evil.
27:21It is not impossible that the men who destroyed the enemy in the skies today
27:27will rebuild the world of tomorrow.
27:33Ricky Richardson and Roy Augier answered the Empire's call and joined the RAF's Bomber Command.
27:42People wanted to fly with me because in Scotland, if a dark person crosses your door on New Year's Day,
27:52that's luck.
27:54And fellows would come and stroke my head before they got into the aircraft to go and flight for luck.
28:05You know beforehand that you are at risk.
28:09So you concentrate on doing everything you can to save your life.
28:18Ricky and Roy's Commander-in-Chief was Arthur Harris, also known as Bomber Harris.
28:24He developed a devastating military tactic known as the Thousand Bomber Raid.
28:33In order to get the bombers over the target in time, the squadrons had to line up in very precise
28:43positions before we set out over the channel to go over Germany.
28:48We went out. 840 aircraft from different squadrons. We had Lancasters, we had Halifaxes, and so on.
29:01And before we hit the enemy coast, they started shooting us down.
29:07And by the time we got to the enemy coast, I had logged 30 aircraft shutdown.
29:15And we carried through and finished the exercise.
29:19Got back.
29:22And the Air Ministry reports the next day, we lost 96 aircraft.
29:29The average loss was we have about 20 to 25 aircraft on a squadron.
29:38You go on an operation, you lose maybe four or five aircraft.
29:45Of the 500 West Indians who joined the RAF's aircrew, 219 lost their lives in combat.
29:54And 103 were awarded medals for bravery.
30:00I didn't think about the possibility of being shot down.
30:04I was concerned with saving my life and the life of the crew.
30:12And that's it.
30:15Like the RAF, the Royal Navy and the Merchant Navy, the British Army had begun the war, reluctant to relax
30:23the colour bar.
30:25But in 1944, a Caribbean regiment was finally raised.
30:30Over 1,000 men received training, but they never saw action.
30:34The need for more helpers is very great today.
30:40And I would like to think that many hundreds were able to offer their services to the country.
30:50And to follow the example of those who I see before me today.
30:56The Army also made it clear that any women recruited from the Caribbean must be white.
31:02The colonial office was concerned that this policy was sapping morale in the West Indies.
31:09In 1943, it asked the War Office to recruit black Caribbean women into the female branch of the Army, the
31:17Auxiliary Territorial Service.
31:19It said the numbers could be very small. All that matters is the gesture.
31:26The Secretary of State for War, James Grigg, relented and 30 black women were recruited.
31:33But he warned, I don't like it.
31:36And I think it's quite possible that the 30 will go back to their own place very sour.
31:43The Air Ministry was more easily persuaded.
31:47It believed it is clear that there is a strong desire on the part of the women in a West
31:52Indian colony to serve overseas.
31:55And 80 West Indian women came to Britain to join the Women's Auxiliary Air Force.
32:05Thousands of West Indians also came to Britain to support the civilian war effort.
32:12My name is Sam Martinez.
32:17I was born in Belize, formerly British Honduras, 1910, 18th of February.
32:26And my age is 104 years old and a half.
32:34We arrived into Scotland on the 26th of November 1942.
32:41800 men were divided all over Scotland, different camps.
32:50We were working in the forest immediately because there was no hanging up during the war.
32:57Get going. Get working. No time for skylarking.
33:06The forestry workers were necessary for the war effort.
33:11We are Britishers.
33:14Our country is British Crown Colony.
33:18And we come to help our mother country.
33:21In those days, that's what we think.
33:24And we still think so today.
33:30Despite the reluctance to relax the colour bar, in public, the British government presented an image of racial harmony in
33:38wartime Britain.
33:49During the war years, we in this country have seen many new faces.
33:53What about these people, for example, who are making their way to Broadcasting House in London?
33:58Do you know what part of the world they come from?
34:00Are they from West Indies?
34:01Are they from West Indies?
34:01In 1944, this Ministry of Information film was screened across the country.
34:07If I could navigate you on a magic carpet, we'd find West Indians at their stations all over the country.
34:14Friendships are being made between people who, before the war, knew little or nothing about each other.
34:18And we find it impossible to believe that these friendships will just fade out when the war is won.
34:24The experimental integration of 500 West Indians into the RAF was a success.
34:31And so, in 1944, the Air Ministry, still desperate for manpower, launched another recruitment drive.
34:38By the end of the war, five and a half thousand West Indian men had come to Britain to serve
34:45as RAF ground crew.
34:47Britain have always dared to stretch your hands out to help.
34:52They have done in the West Indies.
34:55They have done all over the world.
35:01And it's time we start doing a bit of paying back.
35:08This was a mass migration of black people to Britain.
35:14We went to a beach in Scarborough, and I have never seen so many people in my life.
35:23So we went out, big-headed as ever.
35:27I took one dive in that water, and since then I've never been back in.
35:33It was ruddy coal.
35:38I'll tell you that.
35:40When I landed on the 9th of November, 1944, in Greenock's Cuttle, into four inches of snow, it was shocking.
35:51And it stayed on the ground for two weeks.
35:54I thought I was going to die.
35:57We didn't know there were poor people.
35:59As far as you are concerned, Britain was a rich place.
36:03Everybody here was rich.
36:06The average man in England was living in rented places.
36:11Most of the houses didn't have a bathroom inside and toilet inside.
36:18Materially, England was worse off than what we thought.
36:22All the buildings were a dark color and all that.
36:27And the clothes, even the clothes, the people here have on a dark suit and all that.
36:31And coming from a place where everything is color, you know.
36:35It looked very, very dim to us.
36:39It was dropped.
36:40They haven't painted the place for a long time, of course, because there was a war run.
36:45About 20% of Britain were destroyed.
36:48Even Buckingham Palace were bombed.
36:51There were bombsite all over the place.
36:55Being British, you feel that, well, yes, you're coming home.
36:59But when we came here, it's like we dropped out of the sky.
37:02Nobody knew anything about us.
37:04They didn't know we exist.
37:11In those days, English people had never seen black people.
37:16I can remember getting on a bus, sitting down.
37:20And after traveling about a few miles, I felt someone put their hands on my head.
37:30Feeling my hair.
37:31When I look around, I had a smile of a gentleman.
37:36And he was trying to see if my hair was real.
37:40I mean, and then, not only that, he also touched my neck.
37:47To find out if I'm really black.
37:50And I thought that was most unusual.
37:54Up to today, I cannot understand why.
37:58They had a mind that anybody who started came from Africa.
38:02The rumor went around that all these guys, where they come from, they had tails, originally.
38:09But coming to Europe, they got the tails cut off.
38:12But the stump was still there.
38:14So if we go to a dance hall, you're dancing with a girl, a local girl, you could feel her
38:19hand going down.
38:21See, because our friends, you know, discuss about them.
38:25And she said, oh, take that opportunity and see if you can feel for the stump.
38:30Whatever the color was, we were one nation.
38:33We were British.
38:35The same as the Englishman was.
38:38I think they accepted us because we were in the Royal Air Force uniform.
38:42But there was a war, man.
38:44People haven't got time for prejudice when bombs dropping all over the place and you helping.
38:51But the white Americans, they came here with the racist business.
38:56And the whole scene changed.
38:59In early 1944, one and a half million American soldiers were based in Britain, preparing for D-Day.
39:08The British government's Ministry of Information made this film to introduce them to the country.
39:15Now, let's be frank about it.
39:17There are colored soldiers as well as white here, and there are less social restrictions in this country.
39:23Look, that might not happen at home, but the point is, we're not at home.
39:32We're not at home.
39:33To some Americans, if you were black, you shouldn't be dancing with an English girl.
39:37Especially the Americans from the South.
39:41Oh, they'll walk up to you and say, what you doing here? Get out of here.
39:46And you say, I pay my money to come in here.
39:49We West Indians, we don't mess about. We don't mess about. It's something in us.
39:55We have a resistance. From slavery days, we have a resistance.
40:02There will be some fisticups, fights, simple words.
40:07Just punches and, you know, sticks and bricks and all that.
40:11You get on the table, you know, or chill or anything like that.
40:18The British women always react on our side because most of them didn't like the Americans at all, their attitude.
40:27If they know their trouble, they will walk up to you and tell you, listen, there's some trouble over there.
40:35The British man, he'll do the same. He will try and stop it, nip it in the bud.
40:42Black GIs were segregated from white American soldiers.
40:46They were used to discrimination and less likely to defend themselves.
40:51We got friendly with the black Americans.
40:54And we might be in a pub having a drink with some local girls and all that.
40:59And you have three or four white Americans come to the door.
41:03And they come to the door, hey, nigger, get out of here.
41:06Right? Well, when you tell a West Indian or Jamaican about nigger, it's like you're putting a red cloth before
41:13a bull.
41:13And we used to go, hey, why?
41:16And then after a while, the white Americans, they realize that keep away from these British black fellows.
41:24They are different. They don't know about discrimination and they'll fight like that.
41:29Because a black American couldn't think of even hitting a white American in the fence.
41:35That wasn't done.
41:37And when they see these West Indians, like myself, rushing them, they got such a shock.
41:44Were you involved in some of those fights yourself?
41:51I think I would say I had a small altercation in those days.
41:56It would be polite to you.
42:07The British government was now forced to tackle a thorny issue.
42:11What to do with the thousands of Caribbean people who'd come to help the war effort.
42:17The Secretary of State for Air had some good news for the lumberjacks from Belize.
42:22Harold Macmillan came to our hostel and he says, you boys will be repatriated such a time.
42:31But those that want to go home can go.
42:37And the others who want to stay can stay.
42:41And no one can send them home because this is your country as well as mine.
42:49Those are Macmillan in the world.
42:51But despite their contributions to the war effort, the British government encouraged thousands of Caribbean servicemen and women to return
42:59home.
43:01I wanted to stay to the Royal Air Force, but they said, no, you're from the colony of Jamaica, you
43:07ought to go back to the colony.
43:09And for Jake Jacobs, this meant leaving his wartime sweetheart.
43:13And I was waving.
43:15And he was leaning out of the window, I could see him.
43:19Yes, I went back home to Trinidad.
43:22I'll keep writing.
43:24Whether I'll come back, I don't know.
43:27That's the end.
43:30Returning to the West Indies after serving as RAF aircrew was the chance to make a new start.
43:37Many, like Ricky Richardson, embarked upon professional careers.
43:42Roy Augier became a distinguished academic and was knighted in 1996.
43:51And RAF navigator Errol Barrow carved out a new life in Britain.
43:58After the war, he enrolled on a law course at the London School of Economics.
44:04Catherine Campbell's father was a lecturer there.
44:08The London School of Economics was at that time known for its left-wing politics.
44:14Errol studied there and went on to study law and become a barrister.
44:19But all of this was laying the groundwork for his return to Barbados.
44:25In 1961, Errol Barrow became the Premier of Barbados.
44:30And when the country secured independence in 1966, he became Prime Minister of the New Nation.
44:41Errol and I, to celebrate the friendship between our two countries, we decided to jump into the pool together, holding
44:50the flags of our respective nations.
44:5412 of Britain's former crown colonies in the Caribbean have now won their independence.
45:01Today, Errol is remembered as the father of Barbados, a shining example of the RAF's West Indian officer class.
45:11People would actually come out of their homes and stand on their doorsteps or stand out in the street and
45:19say,
45:20Morning, Prime Minister. How are you doing today, Prime Minister?
45:24And he was obviously greatly loved by the people who'd voted for him.
45:33But for thousands of sailors and RAF ground crew, the return to the Caribbean wasn't successful.
45:42Well, I thought I was a bigger man than I was.
45:46The island was too small for me.
45:50I went back to my job hoping I'd get promotion, but didn't get it.
46:00And I decided, well, enough is enough. I think I'll return back to England.
46:06Nearly all of us that wanted to get back to England, you know, with the idea that it would be
46:12a better life than staying in Jamaica.
46:14There were few jobs in the Caribbean, but war-torn Britain needed workers to help rebuild its cities.
46:21Arrivals at Tilbury, the Empire Windrush brings to Britain 500 Jamaicans.
46:25Many are ex-servicemen who know England. They serve this country well.
46:37London is the place for me. London, this lovely city. You can go to France or America, India, Asia or
46:49Australia, but you must come back to London City.
46:54Well, about two weeks before the Empire Windrush came to Jamaica, there was a notice in the local newspaper, the
47:03gleaner, to say,
47:05Tickets for England, £28.10, sailing on the 24th of May 1948. In those days, £28.10, the average man
47:15didn't have that. That's equivalent to about three cows.
47:18But my father disposed of some cows and I had the money and I booked the ticket.
47:25I arrived in England on the 22nd of June and it changed my life.
47:29How have you come to England to seek a job? And what sort of job do you want? Any type,
47:36so long as I get a good pay?
47:39492 of us, eight women. In the West Indies, you didn't have a job. To get jobs was not easy.
47:46And people were coming up, will I have a job in England?
47:49I said, don't worry about jobs. Worry about somewhere to live. And the 232 of them had nowhere to go
47:58when they came off the boat.
48:01So they took them to Capham Deep Shelter. And the nearest labour exchange was Cold Harbour Lane, Brixton. That's how
48:08my people came to be in Brixton.
48:10And they all had jobs. Within a month, everybody had jobs and left their shelter.
48:16Well, believe me, I am speaking broad-mindedly. I am glad to know my mother country. I've been travelling to
48:26countries years ago, but this is the place I wanted to go. London, that's the place for me.
48:33Anyone that had done service, they would find a job for them.
48:38And I went to the post office. I went to the post office. I found little jobs at little nightclubs.
48:45I went back into the Raleigh Afford. I helped build pre-fubs. That was my first job.
48:56Over the next 30 years, nearly half a million West Indians settled in Britain.
49:03But finding a job wasn't the only thing on their minds.
49:07For Jake, this was his chance to get married to Mary.
49:12We got married in the little register office close to the lady where I was staying.
49:19To a lot of the girls' surprise that Mary used to work with, whether they were disappointed, I don't know.
49:25But when we came out, they just, ooh.
49:31Mouths open.
49:34People looking.
49:36Ooh, never seen this before.
49:40It just went dumb.
49:42Unusual. It was unusual.
49:44They just stared.
49:46Like thousands of mixed-race couples who married in post-war Britain, Jake and Mary discovered that finding a home
49:53was a struggle.
49:55I'd learned that as soon as Jake appeared, doors closed.
50:01Do they come to the door?
50:03Yes, can I help you?
50:05I'm sorry, we've got no room.
50:08I can walk away.
50:10A minute after Mary knocked that very door, yes, you can come in.
50:18That's what's the difference.
50:20If we go together, on no uncertain manner, the answer is no.
50:28You haven't got a chance in hell.
50:30No.
50:31And it wasn't funny, it was awful.
50:33It was awful.
50:35It was awful.
50:36I spent days and days crying.
50:43In those days, there were signs all over the place.
50:47No blacks, no Irish, no dogs.
50:52No Irish, no colored, no dogs.
50:55Very hurtful.
50:56But it helped us realize we had to club together and buy property.
51:02By 1951, we were the first black people to buy a house in Campbell.
51:07And from there, we spread all over the place.
51:11We had to.
51:13Because our people were coming in hundreds,
51:16and the host nation were not letting them have a room.
51:19So we had to buy it.
51:21So it developed automatically.
51:23It turned out to be a good thing.
51:26By the way, a property in those days might be 2,500.
51:30Today, it's a lot of money, man.
51:44As the West Indians settled down with families, homes and jobs,
51:48Caribbean culture became woven into the fabric of British life.
51:53I am a mole and I live in a hole.
51:56In 1950, Alan Wilmot joined a black vocal quartet called the Southlanders.
52:03Before we came on the scene,
52:05anything in black entertainment in this country was American.
52:10I am a mole and I live in a hole.
52:14I am a mole and I live in a hole.
52:17We were the first non-American group in this country.
52:21And of course, others have followed since.
52:27Victor Brown became a stage star
52:30when he doubled up with Chester Harriot
52:32in the variety act, Harriot & Evans.
52:35I met up with Chess and we worked together for about 20 years after that.
52:41And everything was all right.
52:43We never quite made the top,
52:46but we did quite well.
52:51We did quite well.
52:55In a famous London ballroom, a West Indian get-together.
52:59A Caribbean carnival, they called it, I believe.
53:03Britain's West Indian communities began to celebrate their Caribbean heritage.
53:09In the West Indies, each year, a community of a carnival get everybody working together.
53:17The Notting Hill Carnival began in 1964 with the aim of unifying London's increasingly diverse population.
53:24It soon became the largest street festival in Europe.
53:29As a West Indian, we must contribute something that people can see that we are here.
53:35We must have our carnival, my God.
53:37You get rid of carnival, you get rid of Trinidadians.
53:41After many difficult years of struggle, conflict and riots,
53:45the carnival has become a symbol of racial integration.
53:50It's a vivid celebration of Caribbean culture in Britain.
53:54But the pioneers' wartime experience has largely been forgotten.
54:05Caribbean veterans are now making a public statement about their contribution to Britain's war effort.
54:17For the last three years, local cadets have been joining the West Indian veterans to march through Brixton, to Windrush
54:24Square.
54:25The parade usually takes place a month before Remembrance Day.
54:30The march passed in Brixton create realisation that there was a body of dignified men who served in the British
54:37forces.
54:38They march through the streets of Brixton, celebrating the lives of people who served in the British forces.
54:48Hold!
54:50Hold out the veterans and the flag bearers!
54:53Hey! Stand out!
54:55Ease!
54:57Stand easy!
54:59Ladies and gentlemen,
55:01welcome to the annual March Pass of West Indian Association of Service Personnel.
55:08It is indeed a pleasure that so many of you woke up so early in the morning to come and
55:13participate in this parade.
55:17West Indian's Ex-Servicemen Association, now known as WASP, protect the rights of men of colour who join the British
55:24forces.
55:25They give them pride, they give them dignity.
55:28Well, it was a thing for collective recognition.
55:32If we didn't form that association, the public wouldn't know the participation of Black West Indians who served the British
55:43Empire in their hour of need.
55:47Of our heroes we should be proud, calling their names out loud.
55:55When the whole world had gone to war, Africans and Caribbeans held even the score.
56:04The British government came and asked us to help the mother country.
56:12And many volunteered right away to rid this world of tyranny.
56:21I did not want my children to grow up in a colony.
56:25I thought they would have a better chance growing up in England, and so far it worked.
56:31I didn't dream that I would remain in England that long.
56:36But you come here for 10 years, and you're gone 50 or 70 years.
56:42Because you get so much absorbed in the country, that when you go back to your own country, you're a
56:49foreigner.
56:51And here, you more or less know your way around.
56:55So, you remain here for a while.
57:00The Caribbean pioneers from the Second World War have created an enduring multicultural legacy.
57:11It's a long way ahead, but we're getting to the stage where people are not so class and colour conscious
57:22as they were 50 years ago.
57:25It's going to be all right.
57:27It's going to be all right.
57:29It's going to be all right.
57:29All people aspire for the best things for themselves and their families.
57:34And as a family, we have done well, thanks to the country.
57:42I love my country, and I love Scotland.
57:47Between my children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, I think there are about 21 of us.
57:56It's good to be harmonious, live together peacefully, and you can't go around.
58:20And you can see Black and British A Forgotten History streaming on BBC iPlayer now.
58:25Next on, BBC4 paying tribute to the black nurses, the women who saved the NHS.
58:32Because of them, freedom survives.
58:36And if I knew they were changing the, they don't know what they say again.
58:37But I came to be with digivolous of jean-layer people.
58:38And indeed, it zones that HOMETAR한다opardiskory for themselves.
58:39And so people can hear a certain button they might see the seas ia be!
58:41But they haven't been there before they can.
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