Colin Douglas is the author of The Caribbean and the Second World War, published by Lawrence Wishart.
Six weeks after the start of the Second World War, the British government lifted the colour bar on military recruitment. But the announcement, on 19 October 1939, made clear that the change in policy would last only for the duration of the war. The air force recruited six thousand West Indians. The army and navy, however, claimed that Black people could not meet their high standards for entry.
Connie Mark, who joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service in Jamaica (the women’s branch of the army) remembered the attacks: ‘If a boat was torpedoed (as happened off St Lucia) when you were expecting oil, then the island would be short of oil … I had a friend who went to England to take her piano finals … and when she was coming back her ship was torpedoed.’
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