{"id":50436,"date":"2023-06-25T14:36:39","date_gmt":"2023-06-25T14:36:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/06\/25\/uk-village-marks-80th-anniversary-of-fight-against-us-army-racism\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:12:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:12:31","slug":"uk-village-marks-80th-anniversary-of-fight-against-us-army-racism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2023\/06\/25\/uk-village-marks-80th-anniversary-of-fight-against-us-army-racism\/","title":{"rendered":"UK village marks 80th anniversary of fight against US Army racism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BAMBER BRIDGE, England \u2014 The village of Bamber Bridge in northwestern England is proud of the blow it struck against racism in the U.S. military during World War II<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When an all-Black truck regiment was stationed there, residents refused to accept the segregation ingrained in the U.S. Army. Ignoring pressure from British and American authorities, pubs welcomed the GIs, local women chatted and danced with them, and English soldiers drank alongside men they saw as allies in the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But simmering tensions between Black soldiers<\/a> and white military police exploded on June 24, 1943, when a dispute outside a pub escalated into a night of gunfire. Private William Crossland was killed and dozens of soldiers from the truck regiment faced court martial. When Crossland\u2019s niece learned about the circumstances of her uncle\u2019s death, she called for a new investigation to uncover how he died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The community has chosen to focus on its stand against segregation as it commemorates the 80th anniversary of what\u2019s now known as the Battle of Bamber Bridge and America reassesses its past treatment of Black men and women in the armed forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a sense of pride that there was no bigotry towards (the soldiers),\u201d said Valerie Fell, who was just 2 in 1943 but whose family ran Ye Olde Hob Inn, the 400-year-old thatched-roof pub where the conflict started. \u201cThey deserved the respect of the uniform that they were wearing.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exporting segregation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Black soldiers accounted for about 10% of the American troops in Britain during the war. Serving in segregated units<\/a> led by white officers, most were relegated to non-combat roles such as driving trucks. U.S. authorities tried to extend those policies beyond their bases, asking pubs and restaurants to separate the races.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A general view shows the Ye Olde Hob Inn in Bamber Bridge near Preston, England, Wednesday, June 7, 2023. (Jon Super\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bamber Bridge, then home to about 6,800 people, wasn\u2019t the only place to resist. In a country then almost entirely white, there was no tradition of segregation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s different about it was the desire of local people to preserve their story, said Alan Rice, co-director of the Institute for Black Atlantic Research at the University of Central Lancashire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re fighting fascism, which these people were, it\u2019s ludicrous, absolutely ludicrous, that the U.S. Army (were) encouraging a form of fascism \u2014 segregation,\u201d Rice said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clinton Smith, head of the Black history group in nearby Preston, wants people to look more closely at what happened. The history \u201cjust can\u2019t be allowed to wither on the vine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Battle of Bamber Bridge<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Despite their friendships with the GIs, villagers weren\u2019t able to head off the violence when Black soldiers, frustrated by their treatment and angry about race riots in Detroit, faced off with military police outfitted with batons and sidearms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On that hot June night, Private Eugene Nunn was sitting at the Hob Inn bar when a white military police officer threatened to arrest him for wearing the wrong uniform. British soldiers and civilians intervened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEveryone was saying, \u2018Leave him alone. He just wants a drink. It\u2019s a hot day,\u2019\u2019’ Fell said as she recounted her mother\u2019s story. \u201cPeople just didn\u2019t understand this viciousness.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Nunn left the pub, the police were waiting. Tempers rose. A bottle smashed against the windshield of the police Jeep. Things escalated and it wasn\u2019t until 4 a.m. that order was restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Military authorities sought severe penalties \u2014 37 Black soldiers were charged with mutiny, riot and unlawful possession of weapons. Some 30 received sentences of between three and 15 years in prison, combined with loss of pay and dishonorable discharges. As the allies prepared for D-Day, many had their sentences shortened so they could be cycled back into the war effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the court martial criticized the white officers for poor leadership, no records indicate they or the military police were disciplined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Longstanding change<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ken Werrell, a U.S. Air Force Academy graduate and retired professor of history at Radford University in Virginia, studied the proceedings and reviewed military records for an article published in 1975. He told The Associated Press the Black soldiers were badly treated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An
An Air Training Corps building is seen in Bamber Bridge near Preston, England, Wednesday, June 7, 2023. The building is the last remaining part of a base where black troops were stationed in the town during WWII and where what is now known as the Battle of Bamber Bridge erupted when on June 24, 1943 white military police officers confronted black soldiers enjoying a night off in a local pub. (Jon Super\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But the broader story is that senior generals, focused on improving morale and performance, quickly ordered changes in the treatment of Black troops. Many of the officers commanding Black units were replaced and the army deployed more racially mixed police patrols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Bamber Bridge affair was more than just a minor incident in World War II,\u201d Werrell wrote. \u201cIt was one of a number of incidents in the Black\u2019s and America\u2019s continuing crusade for freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Harry Truman in 1948 ordered the end of segregation in the military, though that took years to fully achieve. Lloyd Austin, a Black man and retired four-star general in the Army, is now secretary of defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That progress was too late for Crossland, a former railroad worker who was 25 when he died. Court martial evidence said only that he was found gravely wounded, with a bullet near his heart. Officers said they believed he had been caught in cross-fire between two groups of Black soldiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Re-assessing history<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nancy Croslan Adkins, the daughter of one of William\u2019s brothers, said she was never told about the circumstances of her uncle\u2019s death. The family later changed the spelling of its last name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adkins, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, wants to know more about what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving dealt with direct discrimination myself by integrating the school system in North Carolina, and the racial injustice that my parents faced, I would love an investigation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aaron Snipe, the spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in London, said he couldn\u2019t prejudge any military decision, but President Joe Biden\u2019s administration has shown a willingness to \u201cright the wrongs of the past.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this month, the U.S. Navy issued a formal apology to the families of 15 Black sailors who were dishonorably discharged in 1940 after complaining that they were forced to wait tables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Snipe, meanwhile, will pay tribute to the people of Bamber Bridge at an event marking the anniversary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPart of this story is about their unwillingness to accept segregation orders or regulations that were pushed on them,\u201d he said. \u201cThey pushed back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Associated Press writer Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia, and researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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