Lest you forget, my father fought in Burma
An African soldier during World War 2
The following true story is for Memorial Day and is published on the Red Room.
Lest you forget, my father fought in Burma
~ by Chima Michael Ekenyerengozi
May 26, 2011, 3:41 pm
(In memory of my father Sunday Eke, who fought and survived the World War II in Burma)
I have kept my father's identity card of Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF). But I have forgotten everything he told me about the role he and other thousands of Nigerians played as soldiers who fought for the British Empire and the allies in World War II. I do not know if my father won the coveted Burma Star. Marshall Kebby wrote about their exploits in Burma before he passed away over a decade ago. My father never kept a diary and it was after he died on November 19, 1983, that I knew that keeping a diary like Mr. Kebby would have helped me to know more about his past life as a soldier and ambulance driver before I was born.
African soldiers of the Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF) during World War 2
Every Memorial Day reminds me of my father and the other unsung African heroes of the Whiteman's war that the Blackman was forced to fight against Adolf Hitler's Germany and Japan. No war film on World War Two has ever included them, except in 2009 when the BBC News reported about a documentary that revealed that only two in 10 of the soldiers who fought in Burma were white!
Click here to read the complete story.
Releases displayed in Africa/Lagos time 27 May 2011
09:25 President Obama Announces Presidential Delegation to the Federal Republic of Nigeria to Attend the Inauguration of His Excellency Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
26 May 2011
13:00 Globacom Selects PT's Powerful SEGway(TM) Signalling Solution to Enable Network Expansion in Nigeria
25 May 2011
20:44 Message du Dr Jean Ping, Président de la Commission de l'Union Africaine à l'occasion de la commémoration de la Journée de l'Afrique / Mercredi 25 mai 2011, Addis Abeba
Comments