Posted on 12/06/2015 5:02:49 PM PST by PotatoHeadMick
This was no ordinary Saturday night punch-up outside a pub.
At the height of World War Two, with the country gripped in a life or death fight for freedom against fascism and dictatorship, dozens of local drinkers fought alongside black soldiers against white Military Police officers harassing them outside a Lancashire pub.
It was just one extraordinary example of the active support shown by ordinary Britons for the thousands of black American troops stationed amongst them during the war - in stark contrast to the vicious racist abuse they received from their fellow countrymen.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I wonder how many Africans returned after the war?
Exactly. I was being generous by saying it was no better.
Right. But the Brits are better people because they weren’t racist?
Are you at all familiar with their attitude toward the countries they colonized?
I was stationed in Ft Campbell in early 70’s & no black soldier there had any room to call a white soldier racist.
Most of the "Overpaid, Oversexed, Over here" rhetoric was post war. At the time, many Brits welcomed having an American soldier/airman in the family.
They put food on the table. This is no small matter, by the time the Americans showed up, most Brits had not seen any real fruit in months for example. Children actually thought bananas were something adults made up like fairy tales. Their dozen or so high speed reefer ships that carried fruit had been converted into troop transports.
Families had to get by on 1 pound of meat a week, if it was available. An American "dating" your daughter/sister kept the family from going hungry by bringing Spam and rations outside the severe British rationing system.
Take a good look at rockers from the British invasion of the 60's (Beatles, Rolling Stones)here if you want an example of this. They're tiny, typically under 5' 6".
Daddy said when they landed in Liverpool in 1944, they were given a small booklet on proper etiquette in England.
One was to not complain about their coffee.
Another was just because they were mild mannered it didn’t mean they were not really tough. It then gave a brief history of British military courage.
Well sure they were responsible for pretty much everything that happened in the colonies until 1776 but it’s a bit of stretch to blame them for slavery, if the Brits get the blame for slavery they get the credit for Washington and Benjamin Franklin too.
The Americans were perfectly free to ban slavery after independence, indeed it was not long after US independence that slavery and the slave trade was outlawed in the British empire while it continued long after in the US.
You can blame the Brits for many things, as you can guess from my name I could blame them for quite a bit, but American slavery? Meh, not so much.
There were far more slaves taken to the Caribbean where the Brits had their sugar plantations and made the most money of any of the colonies in the western Hemisphere. Weren’t many Americans in places like Jamaica where slaveholding was widespread.
The Brits outlawed slavery, the US didn’t for another fifty years or so, look I am not defending the Brits but Americans criticising the British for their role in slavery? Let’s just say it’s not the best line of argument to take if the moral high ground is your key position.
While I do not doubt that there are anecdotal stories regarding just about everything, I do know that black soldiers were not always treated well by Britons or anyone else in Europe. There are plenty of anecdotal stories about that as well.
The city of London (during WWII)may well be the place where you might see less racial issues, as London has been a melting pot for all of the British conquests and protectorates, but not so much in the countryside villages and towns.
I think it’s best that the British remember their slavery past and accept that we in the US bought slaves from their traders. We did not engage in that part of the process.
I get very tired of their snooty chin in the sky crappola.
My ancestors were driven out of Ireland about 150 years ago by a deliberate policy of genocidal mass starvation.So the Brits should be careful when they talk about respect for those who are “different”.
Check out my name, I need no history lessons.
His assessment of these troops was mixed, although he generally held the NCO's in high regard. The rank-and-file did their jobs, and during the Ardennes offensive, they put in long hours and faced pretty awful driving conditions in trucks that had gotten the living crap pounded out of them since they arrived. They endured the same chances of getting killed by artillery and small arms fire - and what was left of the Luftwaffe in daylight - as any other support troops. Traffic accidents and road hazards (of which there were many) took them out too, which is something many people don't stop to consider.
I'll just say that in his estimation they were certainly neither angels nor boy scouts, and were generally very prone to wandering off, enjoying the local entertainments, and taking their time returning. Some of the goings on could go bad, and those times still revolted this man a quarter of a century later. Essentially, everyone more or less endured each others' presence for the duration.
There was, incidentally, a "caste system" during and after the war that unofficially looked down on the officers of these units, and that was another issue that didn't get talked about.
Mr. niteowl77
My comment wasn't directed at you but,rather,at the Brits who insist on bring up the past.
Fascinating, thanks for that, I am particularly interested in your “caste system” comment, how did one become an officer in these units? Was it regarded as punishment?
I think your description of the soldiers can pretty much be used to describe any soldiers, anywhere at any time in history, wouldn’t you agree?
Going through AIT in the late 60’s I had black platoon sgt and a black senior drill instructor. Both treated me good. I ran into them a couple years later in Vietnam. They were truly nice people. I just do not recall racism during that era.
It is true that Britain certainly had a great deal to do with the slave trade. One of their immortal heroes was Sir John Hawkins, scourge of the Spanish. He was a slave trader. The pride of Hull, Yorkshire is that their representative was William Wilberforce. He gained the end of slavery by Britain.
What is not said though, is that the industrial worker in Britain at one time, was a virtual slave. His/her health was a cruel disgrace. The credit for better things to come is usually given to the reformers. Our respective societies have come a long way. Pray to God we do not lose it.
(Nice story about your daddy, yarddog). I lived close to a big US Army Base at South Ruislip. Middlesex.
/bingo
As the old saying goes, the British were always willing to fight to the last American life.
71 years ago.
Brits are living in the past,as usual.
There are a lot of anecdotes about GI's in the UK. Members of the first units noted that BBC comedy was different, that the jokes seemed to come with "a long fuse". Later on as the PX system got its act together they addressed complaints that, for example, English condoms were way too small. [True story.]
Officials on both sides really wanted the folks to get along so there was an official program to urge British households to invite U.S. servicemen over socially. In one case an upper class lady called a nearby base and asked them to send someone but "make sure it wasn't anyone Jewish". On the big day when a bunch of black soldiers showed up the lady said "Heavens, there must be some mistake!" and the unit leader said "Oh no ma'am, the Colonel didn't make no mistake."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.