The Battle of Bamber Bridge

December 30, 2023 3:10 PM

What happened when English villagers encountered black Americans during World War II?

In the US military, soldiers killed while serving their country are posthumously awarded a gold star. If you look through the archive of gold star veterans who hailed from Virginia and served in World War II, you will come across one William Crosland. There is scant information about him. It says he served in the Air Force, for the 1151st Quartermaster Truck Regiment, and that he died on June 27th, 1943. The cause of his death is given as ‘DNB’ – died non-battle. The official record says he “experienced a critical situation which resulted in loss of life.” Dig a little further and you find that Crosland was posthumously found guilty of riotous behaviour, resisting arrest, and assaulting members of the Military Police, at Bamber Bridge, Lancashire, England.

posted by Sebmojo (13 comments total)

A thread on twitter a while back noted that the WW2-era US military predominantly used Black soldiers to construct bases and provide logistics. They were not put in any positions of responsibility, as was hinted at in the main article by the lack of Black officers at Bamber Bridge.
posted by scruss at 4:47 PM on December 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

This reminds me of the Townsville mutiny, which was also US black servicemen fighting white officers, news of which was also hidden, only uncovered through Lyndon Johnson's archives in 2012.
posted by Ktm1 at 4:57 PM on December 30, 2023 [3 favorites]

I'm also reminded of the Camp Logan Riot in Houston 1917. Earlier generation, on US soil, but similar issues of racism at work.

I thought section 5 of this essay was particularly interesting, talking about the economist's research on how the temporary presence of Black American soldiers in the UK measurably lowered racism in the region for decades after. A small hopeful thing.

The irony of reading a thoughtful essay about racism on Substack.
posted by Nelson at 5:59 PM on December 30, 2023 [9 favorites]

Just a quick note in an otherwise accurate blog post. "Gold Stars" are part of a civilian cultural movement to show support for families who have lost a service member. Similarly, families display a blue star for members actively serving. It isn't an official military award. In later years, the practice gained official recognition by being codified in in 36 U.S.C. § 901, which, again, is a civilian law. Other supportive practices, like states offering gold star license plates and so on are still not part of the military awards system. But still, an interesting post, thank you! I am pretty keyed in on WW2 racial history and I did not know this. Good day for new knowledge. :)
posted by seasparrow at 6:29 PM on December 30, 2023 [4 favorites]

A fascinating read, thanks for sharing!

An episode of Foyle's War alludes to the mentioned different treatment Black American soldiers received in the UK.
posted by atlantica at 8:38 PM on December 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

Similarly the Battle of Manners St in Wellington NZ - started by American soldiers stationed there in WW2 objected to Māori soldiers drinking in servicemen's clubs - resulted in a thousand soldiers (and a few hundred civilians) brawling for several hours, this was the largest of several similar incidents
posted by mbo at 1:12 AM on December 31, 2023 [4 favorites]

Black American jazz musicians visiting Europe for the first time in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s often spoke of those tours providing a welcome relief from the racism back home.
posted by Paul Slade at 1:15 AM on December 31, 2023 [3 favorites]

Was a strong theme in "Paris Blues".

[snip]
Paris Blues is a 1961 American musical romantic drama film directed by Martin Ritt, starring Sidney Poitier as expatriate jazz saxophonist Eddie Cook, and Paul Newman as trombone-playing Ram Bowen.[2][3] ... The film also deals with American racism of the time contrasted with Paris's open acceptance of black people.
posted by aleph at 8:55 AM on December 31, 2023 [2 favorites]

Glad that historians have finally stopped referring to the whole thing as the Bamber Bridge Race Riot or Riot of Bamber Bridge which was always a favorite way of saying "black folks getting uppity and upset when we treated them as less than".
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:45 AM on December 31, 2023

>Similarly the Battle of Manners St in Wellington NZ

I’m a Wellingtonian and I had no idea, thank you for sharing!
posted by jragon at 9:47 AM on December 31, 2023

Very fascinating insight. I only ever heard stories about these kinds of first encounters from my mom, who was a teenager in post-war Germany. They liked them because the gave chocolate and smokes, and even moreso because their presence meant that the war was over.

What she never liked was loud fireworks for New Years Eve because, you know, the noises brought back memories of time spent in bunkers. Sorry ignore this derail please.
posted by flamewise at 1:36 PM on December 31, 2023 [3 favorites]

I will NOT

that was a nice story, and I hope she had an ok ye
posted by Sebmojo at 1:45 PM on December 31, 2023

The Lions Led by Donkeys podcast did an episode on this, if you want to hear it broken down by 1 or 2 people who've been in the modern american military and seen a bit of action.
posted by LegallyBread at 2:09 PM on December 31, 2023