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Remembered Today:

British West Indies regt


john w.

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Was the British West Indies Regiment profile officers white, rank and file black?

see posting in soldiers...

John

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Absolutely correct, John.

I recall that there are posts somewhere on this Forum about the disproportionate number of black soldiers executed from this Regiment.

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John

Sorry, can't remember exactly where/when the earlier postings were, but I seem to think it was in one of our various SAD debates. I certainly have it in mind that someone was making the point that there was a high proportion of death sentences passed on black soldiers that were actually carried out, in comparison with other units. No doubt, this resulted from probably even poorer representation at the courts martial and an inherent racism.

One of my war memorial researchees was an officer with the 1st battlion. Not much seems to be around, from the usual sources, about the regiment - probably because they were not a front-line unit. I'm afraid I havnt dug very deep as my guy died in hospital rather than something "more interesting".

John

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Can anyone come up with any more on the death penalties and black soldiers, Im only aware of the one on the Western Front, Herbert Morris... Hubert Clarke from the same regiment was executed in the Middle East.. any more?

John

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None that I know of; with 6-8 battalions of BWIR men in France at various times between 1916-18, then only one execution makes them well below the average compared to other units (such as the West Yorks, eg).

If you want my material on BWIR John W. then let me know by email.

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