http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-39927255 Magazine The struggles of war babies fathered by black GIs 21 May 2017 From the sectionMagazine These are external links and will open in a new window Share this with Facebook Share this with Twitter Share this with Messenger Share this with Email Share Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES Treating children with electroconvulsive therapy The human cannonball's last flight We should have listened to the broken teenagers I acted as a man to get work - until I was accused of rape About 100,000 black GIs were stationed in the UK during the war. Inevitably there were love affairs, but US laws usually prevented black servicemen from marrying. So what happened to the children they fathered? Fiona Clampin met two such children in Dorset, now in their seventies, who have not given up hope of tracing their fathers. A bottle of champagne has sat on a shelf in Carole Travers's wardrobe for the past 20 years. Wedged between boxes and covered with clothes, it'll be opened only when Carole finds her father. "There's an outside chance he might still be alive," she reflects. "I've got so many bits of information, but to know the real truth would mean the world to me - to know that I did belong to somebody." The possibility of Carole tracking down her father becomes more and more remote by the day. Born towards the end of World War Two, Carole, now 72, was the result of a relationship between her white mother and a married African-American or mixed-race soldier stationed in Poole, in Dorset. Whereas some "brown babies" (as the children of black GIs were known in the press) were put up for adoption, Carole's mother, Eleanor Reid, decided to keep her child. The only problem was, she was already married, with a daughter, to a Scot with pale skin and red hair. "I had black hair and dark skin," says Carole. "Something obviously wasn't right." Image copyrightCAROLE TRAVERS Image captionCarole Travers with a friend The difference between Carole and her half-siblings only dawned on the young girl at the age of six, when she overheard her parents having an argument. "Does she know? Well, it's about time she did," said her stepfather, in Carole's retelling of the story. She remembers how her mother sat her down at the kitchen table and told Carole the truth about her background. "I was chuffed I was different," she says. "I used to tell my friends, 'My dad's an America,' without really knowing what that meant." In 1950s Dorset there were very few mixed-race or black children, and having one out of wedlock carried a huge stigma. Although Carole doesn't remember any specific racist remarks, she recalls the stares. Parents would shush their children when she and her family got on the bus. Carole says her "blackness" was considered cute when she was a child, but as she grew up she became more aware of her difference. "I remember once being in a club and there was a comedian who started making jokes about black people. I'm stood there and I'm thinking: 'Everyone's looking at me,'" she says. "I always felt inferior. As a teenager, I would stand back, I thought that nobody would ever want to know me because of my colour. "I was going out with one boy, and his mother found out about me. She put a stop to it because she remarked that if we had kids, they would be 'coloured'." Image copyrightWEYMOUTH REFERENCE LIBRARY Image captionGIs at work in Weymouth harbour Seventy-two-year-old John Stockley, another child of an African-American GI stationed further down the Dorset coast in Weymouth, does remember the racial abuse in striking detail. John was called names to such an extent that at the age of seven he decided he would try to turn his skin pale to be like his classmates. "I worked out that if I drank milk of magnesia [a laxative] and ate chalk I would make myself go white," he chuckles. "I think I drank over half the bottle! You can imagine the effect. It wasn't good and it tasted disgusting." Jump media player Media player help Out of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue. Media captionJohn Stockley spoke to Woman's Hour about trying to fit in In one playground incident a boy insulted him with the N-word and called him "dirty", but when John thrashed him he found himself summoned to the school office. "It was a winter's day in the early 1950s," John explains. "I was playing football and I collided with another guy. By this time I was quite fiery, I wouldn't take it, and a blow was struck. I made his nose bleed. To this day I can see the blood on the snow. "My mother lived less than 100 yards from the school, and she was summoned to the office with me. I remember her shaking next to me, holding my hand. The secretary told her what had happened and he said to my mother: 'You have to remember, Mrs Stockley, these people cannot be educated.' That puts my hackles up now." Listen to Dr Deborah Prior's interview on Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4 Listen to Carole Travers and John Stockley in full Like Carole, John Stockley wanted to protect his mother by keeping quiet. "I could see it was going to upset her if I asked too many questions, and upset her was the last thing I was going to do," he says. He would take his chance occasionally, although his mother would always evade his enquiries. But John remembers with characteristic clarity the last time he brought up the subject of his real father. Listen to Fiona Clampin's report on Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4.
THis story however significant seems kind of dated. Being biracial in the UK in the 1940s and '50s is nothing like it is today.
Yes,it happens in UK,France,Italy,Germany and anywhere Black GI's are stationed. They are between 73 and 70 years old. It will take a DNA test to find out who are their father. They will be lucky if the children or grandchildren of those soldiers find out.
