FORGOTTEN HERO OF 2 WORLD WARS
Soldier from Trinidad who served Britain with skill and great courage
FEARLESS George Roberts would sprint towards enemy hand grenades during the First World War and hurl them back.
He volunteered for the fire service during the Second World War and records show he continually risked his life to save many others as infernos raged in London during the Blitz.
His amazing story is one of a series being brought to light in a new book.
George was born in Trinidad in 1891 but enlisted in the British Army which he saw as his mother country.
He took part in some of the fiercest fighting, seeing action at the Somme, Loos and the Dardanelles.
It was reported at the time that he could throw “extraordinary” distances.
He was among the British Army’s first black soldiers. The rifleman, who served with the Middlesex Regiment, was wounded more than once.
He settled in Britain after the war, living in South East London. At almost 50, he was too old to fight in the Second World War, so joined the fire service in the capital when the Nazi bombs began causing mayhem in 1940.
The section leader’s efforts as a fire officer led to him being awarded the British Empire Medal.
George, who in 1931 was a founding member of British civil rights movement the League of Coloured Peoples, died aged 80 in 1970. A blue plaque was unveiled in his honour in 2016 in Southwark where he lived. He is featured in Under Fire, Black Britain in Wartime 1939-45 written by Stephen Bourne. The story of Jamaicanborn Fernando Henriques is also told in the book.
He was informed at an RAF recruiting centre in 1938 black people were not welcome.
Undeterred, he chose to defend his country in another way, by joining the fire brigade.
Fernando later said: “My experience at the recruiting centre in Central London was traumatic. An RAF sergeant told me quite bluntly that ‘ w**s’, that is
BIG DAY Ramsay and Lilian marry in 1943 people of non-European descent, were not considered officer material.
“That of course was in 1939. A year later, as Britain became pressed, the situation became quite different.”
The book, published by History Press, also tells the story of Ramsay and Lilian Bader. British- born Ramsay was a mixed-race soldier in the 147th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, while Lilian joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force.
Ramsay said: “I didn’t feel too much prejudice because we were all fighting for the same cause.”
He said of the D-Day landings: “We felt very sick, having not experienced this type of heavy swell which you get in the Channel, and the terrible loss of life, seeing floating bodies who had been hit by shells from the enemy.”
An RAF sergeant told me bluntly that ‘w**s’, were not considered officer material
FERNANDO HENRIQUES ON REACTION AS HE ATTEMPTED TO JOIN UP IN 1938