Windrush West Indians

[Antipodean Andy]

Windrush West Indians fought for Britain in war | UK news | The Observer

The arrival of the MV Empire Windrush at Tilbury, Essex, 60 years ago this month, has long been identified as a symbol of the birth of multiculturalism. It is less well known that the majority of the 492 West Indians on board, each of whom paid the £28 10s fare to travel here in search of work, were veterans who fought for Britain in the Second World War.

The contribution of West Indians in the war, and stories of those who later settled in Britain, is the focus of an exhibition opening this week at the Imperial War Museum London. 'From War to Windrush' chronicles the role played by Caribbean people in both world wars, including the discrimination they faced from men on their own side. More than 10,000 West Indians volunteered to leave home and join the fight against Hitler, with thousands more serving as merchant seamen. The RAF gained more recruits from the Caribbean than any other part of the British Empire, with around 400 flying as air crew and 6,000 working as ground staff.

One of the first was Cy Grant, who was shot down over the Netherlands and spent two years as a prisoner of war. Later he set up home in Britain and qualified as a barrister, then became an actor and singer. His was the first black face to be seen regularly on British television, singing the news on the BBC Tonight programme in the Sixties. His RAF flying logbook will be displayed in the exhibition, as will a First World War telegram from King George V expressing sympathy on the death of Walter Tull, the former Tottenham Hotspur footballer who in 1917 became the first black officer in the British army.

But the influx of West Indians made for an explosive cultural collision with US soldiers stationed here. Americans from segregated Southern states, who were used to drinking in 'whites-only' bars, were often incensed to find black men in uniform drinking with white colleagues and even chatting up white women.

The memory of persecution is so sharp for Jamaican-born Allan Wilmot, 83, that more than 60 years later he still avoids going into pubs. 'It was not done where they came from, the Deep South, where they had black and white segregation and talked about "niggers",' said Wilmot, who served for six years in the navy and RAF. 'When they saw us in navy uniforms they used to say, "Goddam, look at those coloured limeys". If they saw us in a pub they tried to throw us out. You couldn't escape it.' The mix of racial bigotry and West Indian pride led to numerous fistfights, he admitted.

Women, however, were more welcoming. 'We were the first black human beings they'd ever seen in person, especially in Ireland, where they looked [at us] like we'd dropped out of the sky. Being a novelty, you had a choice of girls.'

Wilmot, of south London, began the war on a minesweeper in the Caribbean, where German submarines frequently torpedoed supply ships. He served in southern England, Scotland and Ireland, returned to Jamaica briefly, then came back to England for good in November 1947, becoming one of the first six black postmen before launching a career as an actor and singer. He was a founding member of the Southlanders, who enjoyed chart success in the Sixties, and his nephew is the actor and comedian Gary Wilmot.

Wilmot will be at the Imperial War Museum London in Lambeth this week when the exhibition is formally opened. Guests will include Arthur Torrington, secretary of the Windrush Foundation.

Torrington said: 'The majority of the first Windrush passengers were ex-service. They had skills from the war – engineers, mechanics, fitters – but they had to do jobs lower than they were trained for. For the first 20 years there was a lot of resistance and discrimination, culminating in the Notting Hill riots in 1958. After that things began to change.'

[Kyt]

Lest We Forget: The Experiences of World War II Westindian Ex-Service Personnel has a number of stories from black aircrews and ground crews who returned to the Indies, and some came here again on the Windrush, and other ships. To them it was the country they served and so were specifically recruited to return by the British government, who knew they had experience of the country