BM in your country's history - Specifically WWII

Hi everyone,

I had a very interesting day at work yesterday. I am doing some research on the history of a part of my city. During WWII, we had many American army bases all over the country - and several around my city.

In the area of the city that I am researching, there was an emormous USA ordinance store. As it turns out, the thing was constructed and run by the AA corps/groups (whatever they're called).

I read many interesting things about this time, and found some wonderful photos of the AA men doing their job. There was also some very sad stories regarding the discrimination at the time, both from the USA and Australia.

At the time, Australia had the White Australia Policy, and there was significant pressure from the Aus government to disallow these troops to work in our country. Towards the end of the war, most AA were shipped to other pacific islands and were not allowed to take Rec leave in Aus, like the white USA troops.

There is an AA war cemetary up north in my state, and surely more than a few little darker and curlier children from around that time.

Of course, I was aware there were Americans around during that time, and logic tells me that there probably were Black troops there - but it was a bit surreal to me that here is a photo of AA troops in the rural burbs of my tiny city 60 years ago.

Do you have any interesting histories of BM in your country, that most people wouldn't know about?
BM - were your father's or grandfather's active during WWII?

 

My grandfather was in the Army during WWII, not sure in what capacity he served though.

 

I saw a book about AA soldiers in Oz during WWII. If I find it I will let you know. I also read a article from Ebony magazine. In the 1966 issue it mentioned the AA soldiers in Oz.

 

FEHG,there are a lot of websites on Black soldiers during WWII.

 

Yeah,even though the Australian government was racist ,the white citizens in Australia usually treated the Black american troops good.They even teamed up with Black american troops to fight against white american troops during fights.Also,black american troops courted alot of Australian women,and the white american troops really couldnt do anything about it.Australian women would cross over into the "black" side of town and attend the Black jazz clubs.

 

Thanks for your thoughtful responses, boys.

***********800080]http://home.st.net.au/~dunn/usarmy/africanamerican.htm[/COLOR]

This is my current primary reference. We are also using a lot of State Archive stuff. But, we have people doing this for us. So, we just get the finalised data.

Obviously it is of some personal interest to me - but I can write it off as work - so am spending some time doing my own research

We may, through our work, have the capacity to implement some heritage markers, etc in the area. I will see what I can get happening here.

Malikom - I have had so many mixed reviews on what the general population was behaving like in terms of the white australia policy, that I figure it's probably not either as good or as bad as people think. Either way - it's safe to say that people were at least apathetic - as that legislation lasted into the sixties...

Saty - you should check it out. Could be interesting to find out his historical records of where he served.

Soulthinker - Thanks for the tips. Actually - I think you may have mentioned that issue of Ebony to me in an old school post...maybe 2007 I will probably do a little more research. Your scope of knowledge far outweighs my own - so any tips or pointers are always greatly appreciated!

I have also read that they think there might have been a BM on the first fleet out to Australia - but there are no records as to who he was. In this case - Australia has a long and very multi-layered black history. It is interesting to challenge your own perceptions of home, place and identity.

 

My Grandad was in the Land Army in the WWII as a Colour Sargeant (not colour as in skin) unfortunately none of his war stories and i can assure you there were many involved any black serviceman, also pictures of him while he was out in the field seem to confirm that he did not really come into contact either, he was what you would call a Desert Rat.

But i found this interesting piece about Black servicemen coming to Britain and the stipulation by Churchill and so on, the last paragraph redeems us a little as a nation then.

The story of Negro soldiers in World War II has been told before by people more qualified than I. One particular little corner of this historical documentation is less well known than the larger story, however. Beginning in 1942 black soldiers found themselves in England in such large numbers that it has been estimated the black population of Britain swelled ten times the number it had been before their arrival. World War II changed or began the changing of the face of many aspects of culture in America, but what about elsewhere. In some instances, black soldiers in England during World War II were the first people African heritage with dark skin that many had ever seen. That's a hard thing to believe now, and while there were certainly not great numbers of British men and women and children who'd never actually seen a black person in person before, they did exist in pockets. How did the British react to this influx? With amazing adaptability, in part because the black American soldiers did not look down upon certain British customs and ways of life.

At the same time, the political machinery headed by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was decidedly more ambivalent. In fact, Churchill's World War II Cabinet had at first attempted to halt the arrival of black American soldiers, and when that didn't work they accepted the American rules of segregation of black soldiers from white soldiers. (One wonders what would have happened if Churchill had suggested segregation based on blood color.) To his credit, the British Secretary of War James Grigg was the only member of Churchill's Cabinet to openly suggest that perhaps segregating American soldiers was no better than the Jim Crow laws that dominated the racist southern United States. Nevertheless, the official stance of the British government while black soldiers joined to fight World War II to save their pasty asses was that citizens should "avoid becoming too friendly" with black GI's.


Another little known fact about the history of black servicemen in England is that they routinely found themselves involved in scrapes, fights and fracases with their white brethren. In fact, the general consensus is that a fight broke out between black and white American soldiers almost five times a week in that cold winter that tied 1943 to 1944. Perhaps surprisingly, the people of England-rightfully ignoring the idiotic declarations of their leaders-tended to back up the stories of the black soldiers more than often than that of white soldiers. Perhaps the most notorious story of the brief sojourn of black soldiers in England during World War II has to do with the story of Leroy Henry. Like countless black men before him, Leroy Henry had been convicted and sentenced to execution on charges of raping a white woman. The utter lack of evidence to back up this contention was trumpeted so loudly by a British newspaper that came to Henry's defense that General Dwight Eisenhower was eventually forced to step in and overrule the verdict.

 

1- Many African-American units pulled supply/support duties during ww2 (so I wouldn't doubt the occasional supply base being manned by black troops), however there were 'front-line' air units (Tuskegee Airmen), tank units and various light-infantry units, that served in a combat capacity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_African_Americans#World_War_II[

2- As for that 'white australia' policy, institutionalized racism doesn't get much more blunt than that. Pretty sad actually.

 

Large numbers of foreign soldiers fough with France in every war. These would have come from the overseas territories, particularly west and North Africa. Indeed if you look at the headstones in the war cemetries, you will notice not just the different names but also their religion. Just like in most other countries, official policy was ambivalent about these soldiers. But in France too the ordinary person got on quiet well with them. and there was a lot of contact between then and local populatiom - including white women.

 

MEHG, I would be glad to send any info I've know on the Black soldiers stationed in Oz. I thank those researchers who brought this info to the surface so you be aware of its history.

 

I thought everybody knew about that?
Yes. It is crazy to me - but that's just the way things were.
I am thankful that Australia has quickly developed into the rainbow it is. I think it's a fairly tolerant place, but others disagree - so perhaps it's a matter of persepctive.

Francie and Sarah - thanks for the info and tips.

Soulthinker - absolutely. The personal interests and dedication of many people have made the world, at the least, a more interesting place and, at the most, a better place. I look forward to any pointers you can give me...but don't go to any bother.

It would be great if I can use my work to score a little memorial or something...actually, on second thoughts, the local community may already have put one up - but anyway....

 

Alot of American BM in Britian in WW2 actually had kids with many British women.After the war the black troops were forced to leave them behind and return to America.The mulattos(and their mothers) were looked down upon by British society and alot of the children ended up being abandoned and put in orphanages.
Many of the children set out on journeys to find their fathers/family members in America.There was a documentary about this....

 

Following WW1 and France retook control of Alsace Lorraine and also occupied Germanys rich industruial Rhineland. France's Gernrals send a lot of lots African colonial soldiers to the Rhine. As many German males had been killed in the war, German women were quick to mix with these African soldiers. Some people claim that this was intentional on the part of French military, as they knew ofl German ideas of racial purity.

 

Sarah23,in my country there was a lot of news of that occupation of French African soldiers and German women. The Southern politicians are upset about it and so was the future Nazi party. In 1937 the Nazis had a secret campaign to sterilize the children of those soldiers.