Heroes Among Us: Incident at Bamber Bridge 

Brits not putting up with this shit makes me feel good.

US Army: Tries to enforce segregation. People of Great Britain: *WE DON'T DO THAT HERE!*

I am proud to be British and a veteran. Racism has never been part of my life. I've had close friends, colleagues and neighbours of different nationality, religion or colour. I know the UK has done wrongs and made mistakes in the past, but that doesn't change who I am and how I respect all others.

The British said 'The yanks are fine but it's a shame they took those white fellas over with them.' Apparently the USA created a lot of aggro by trying to introduce racial segregation into Australia, New Zealand as well as the UK. The Aussies, the Kiwis and the Britons all resisted this.

My mum told me about the story, people from bamber bridge were mostly poor at the time, and didn't like how they treated the black gi s they couldn't understand why they would treat them in that way ,I still live near by today

Just like how Jesse Owens the African American 1936 4x Olympic gold medalist said “Hitler didn’t snub me-it was [Roosevelt] who snubbed me. The president didn’t even send me a telegram.”

Wow, I drove past Bamber Bridge yesterday. Next time I'll call in at the pub and raise a glass to these people.

Lots of Italian prisoners of war that were held in Britain chose to settle in Britain after the war was over . Many settled in Scotland and opened up ice- cream Parlours ! We have some fantastic ice- cream shops to this very day . Nardini's are my favourite

Yes!!!!! I live near Bamber Bridge and know that pub, good for us up north watching this video makes me proud that my forefathers stuck up for these soldiers we all own them a debt of gratitude

I know if that was me, I wouldn’t come back to the US after the war. I would make my home where I was wanted. And many blacks decided to live in France or England after the war. Like they were saying, mom I’ll come and visit you every Thanksgiving and Christmas but I am an ex pat now!

The town of Bamber Bridge is in Lancashire, my home County in England. Lancashire has a long tradition of anti-racism. The Lancashire cotton industry was the most powerful producer of cotton goods in the World during Victorian times, buying most of its raw cotton from the USA. During the American civil war, Lancashire cotton workers took a powerful stand against slavery and boycotted all cotton from the Confederate States. This severely restricted the income of the Confederate government throughout the war years. In Manchester, my home city, there stands a twice life size statue of Abraham Lincoln, presented by his Government in recognition of the solidarity shown to the Union by the people of Lancashire in banning Confederate cotton in opposition to slavery. I am in no way surprised that my fellow Lancastrians in Bamber Bridge took a stand in solidarity with those young black soldiers against the racist policies of the segregationist military during WW2. Shoulder to shoulder against racism going back to the Civil War years.

Neville Shute, the author, reported a conversation with a white Englishman living in an rural area near where a new airfield was being built by the black US Pioneer troops. Shute asked the Englishman what he thought of the Americans. The local said, "Oh; I like them fine!: but I'm not keen on these white ones that have been brought over to work on the 'planes.". Apparently, the black troops were polite, well-mannered, generous, and liked mending things: a local only had to mention in passing that their electric iron, doorbell, window sash-cord, or whatever, was broken, and one of the black soldiers would fix it, or polish it, or build a new one.

It seems that equality is only a reality if enough people of conscience demand it. This is a great video.

I was raised in the 80s in Lostock Hall very close to Bamber Bridge (within walking distance) and I found out about this only 5 years ago. I went to school with kids from Bamber Bridge and this was never mentioned. The locals in Bamber Bridge stood up to the racist American army and it makes me proud to be from that area; the people or Preston, Lostock Hall, Bamber Bridge may not have been on the surface the friendliest people on Earth but when you got to know them they were loyal friends and I tell you something they would not stand for injustice on the streets back in the 80s in whatever form, it was quickly nipped in the bud if it ever reared its' ugly head.

How embarrassing for the US

They pay homage to this in the film “Yanks.” The love interest of Richard Gere in that film says, “This is not Alabama.” The people of Lancashire knew the difference between right and wrong.

The Land of Freedom & Democracy, of Equality for All, regardless of ethnicity .. The UK! 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

I wish those brave soldiers had been allowed to stay here. Shame on you America.

Replied with "black troops only" 😂😂 i love that!

THERE WAS ALSO CIVILIAN VILLAGES AND BRITISH SOLDIERS IN THAT STREET BATTLE, HELPING THE BLACK TROOPS. THE BATTLE LASTED 5 HOURS WITH THE MPS FORCED BACK TO THE BASE. AND THEN THEY CALL US RACIST.

Wow fascinating story,, what a shame that they were not treated with respect but was interesting to hear the contrast to usa and how uk welcomed them

I was 2 years old when this occured and me and my 2 older brothers (Ian & Derick) and Mum were living on Station Road next to the Police Station, father was overseas in the RN. Apparently when mother heard the guns being fired we were all bundled under the bed and she believed we were safe because of the Police being next door. As we grew up in the "Brig" we were aware of what happened that night and we believed that the shot GI was buried in St Mary's, Brownage Churchyard. We went to the Methodist School near the "Yanky Camp" in Mounsey Road and have happy memories of the GIs visiting the school at playtime and giving us treats like chocolate powder and chewing gum. I joined the Royal Navy when I was 17 so didn't see much of "Brig" after 1959.

I have lived close to Bamber Bridge for 20 years and was unaware of this incident. We should do more to publicise all of our history, both good and bad. Oh, and Ye Old Hob Inn is still in the village as a pub!

Over 40 years ago I met a Black WWII vet named Hebert who served in Australia. He and his wife were both retired from Los Angeles City Schools. He told me of an incident where Black GI's were segregated from white locals by the Army. This lead to several confrontations. I wish I could remember more of the details. He said it turned into a riot that involved hand-grenades being tossed from moving vehicles. Not sure if this was poetic license or not, but it made for a great story. His point was that none of this was reported outside of Australia and that the Army kept it suppressed.

Electric Beard Reactions channel deserves a mention for bringing me here.! Oh, you’ve gained a subscriber from Blighty 🇬🇧

I was at Ye Olde Hobs Inn. One local resident told about the incident. A stray bullet hit the second house from the pub to the upper floor ceiling.

There was a documentary a while back containing interviews with a number of the famous British musicians from the 60s&70s. They all had the same story of growing up in 40s and 50s post war Britain, listening to the blues music that had been introduced en masse by these American servicemen. Very interesting!

Britain’s ways been than America when it comes to morals and living standards. It is what it is.

I lived in Bamber Bridge and my old home is in one of the photos. I have taken part in a number of historic walks telling the story of that event. To find out more you should contact the local museum in Leyland near to Bamber Bridge. There are a number of untold stories to be told about the camp and that night. I was not there (to young), but my family hear the shooting all night and told me the stories. One of a little boy playing in the hallway in his home about 1/2 a mile away, his mother bent down to pick him up for some food and a bullet smashed trough the front door window, just missing his mother and hit the stair rail and then the wall.

Seems like everyday I learn a little more about how much America hated us. Just learned about the sunken black towns yesterday.

When I saw this, I got tears in my eyes. This video also shows how prejudices are built up during a certain time since many of them who emigrated from Britain ended up as racists. All is based on the crazy idea that we can sell and buy people, and those ideas should be left behind us for long. But the fact of how we treat indigenous people still speaks for itself. It seems that we still have a long way to go, sorry to say!

Learie Constantine the black cricketer lived in Nelson in Lancashire for over 20 years, eventually getting a peerage and using the town within his title. Lancastrians have the best sense of humour in Britain.

Great video. I've been listening to the audiobook of "Facing The Mountain" by Daniel James Brown, about the couragous 442nd Independent Combat Regiment, the Japanese Americans interred in US concentration camps, and the (also courageous) concentious objectors who refused to go along with the racist government policies. A very good book. I reccomend it to anyone who cares about democracy and the difference between how it is and how much better it should be and can be.

its been said many times, when Americas around friendly fire always gets higher :/ its a shame. a great people and nation yet so very blind then and now

As I recall it was our Marines that stormed the Slavers' Fortress at Lomboko thereby ending the transatlantic slave trade The US government was outraged and declared war on Britain but when President Martin van Buren told them that they would have to impose an Income Tax to pay for it they immediately withdrew the declaration.

I thought you might be interested in the details of my latest play: The Battle of Bamber Bridge This is a dramatic retelling of the events that occurred on the evening of 24th June 1943 when in the sleepy village of Bamber Bridge just outside Preston in NW England, a battle raged for several hours between White American Military Police and Black American soldiers. By the end, Private William Crossland lay fatally wounded, shot in the back and 17 other Black American soldiers were injured. At the court-martial, the Black soldiers were accused of mutiny and 27 were sentenced to up to 10 years of hard labour. The battle was hushed up for fear it would weaken morale. The locals welcomed the Black Soldiers and accepted them as ordinary human beings whereas the deeply racist Military Police...that's what the story is all about! As part of the official commemoration, we performed a shortened version of a new play which portrays the events leading up to the Battle as well as the Battle itself. This commemoration took place in Bamber Bridge last Saturday, 80 years to the day after it happened. We all know how expensive putting on a theatre show can be, even though this was for one performance only it cost around £4,900 because of our insane insistence that actors and crew should be paid for their work! We got audience reaction to the show and will use that as well as visual and audio recordings to secure Arts Council funding for a full run of the show later this year. We also collected £230 in donations which have been paid into the Kickstarter but that still leaves us at less than 50% of the £2,000 we hope to raise and we only have 5 days left for it to run! if you could spare a moment to take a look, help publicise the Kickstarter or even make a small donation, then I'd be very grateful! There are more details on our Kickstarter campaign site: kck.st/3NtlOD5 Thanks!

...And not much have changed since then in the US. Too sad.

We are still striving to rule out racism in the UK and that’s why I’m a member of the WAWi project here in Birmingham UK 🇬🇧

When the motown groups came to perform in the uk in the 60's they were dumbfounded how free it was here.

I live in Brig, yet this is news to me. Thanks!

What I find amazing is the fact that US MPs had the authority (I am assuming) to use firearms on British Sovereign territory. Couldn't happen now but shouldn't have happened then either. Also, would be interesting to hear about the resident British Serviceman who stood up for them. I doubt their evidence was even considered or allowed by the court marshal. A story I will endeavour to do more research on. It was common knowledge in Great Britain that Black Troops were welcome, after all, our empire was involved fully in the war effort, troops of differing races and creeds were common in certain areas. It is interesting to note that more than a million Sikh's fought for the British Empire in two world wars. They along with all who share our true democracy, are welcome here.

My Grandmother told me " When the yanks arrived they were so polite and respectful , just a shame their white friends weren't " In her area black US servicemen arrived months before any white GI's

Never heard of this before. Yet Bamber bridge is close to me. I've even stayed at a friends there and never heard of this. Shock.

WOW DUDE YOU GUYS ARE FUCKING AMAZING!!! I AM CRYING AND I THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART.

I lived in Preston, not far from Bamber Bridge, and this is just Lancashire for you

If this is true, I am stunned. Unbelievable. An absolute disgrace, and this story makes me proud to be British (considering much negative press lately - the British, not me!)

and this nation want to teach. the humanity whats good and what's bad

I have only recently learned of these events and i'me at a loss that it has been buried for so long, We as a nation have been tarnished as racists of late. I really hope people see that here in the uk we treat as we find . Who you are not where you are from.

I would not say all welcomed I would say more welcomed and no segregation - I am from the UK and if you listen to stories of arriving in the UK welcome is not a word that springs to mind even without official segregation. Nonetheless this is an excellent example of how common sense overrode racism and the fact that they had signs saying "Blacks Only" is a thing that is not well known and should be taught in the history curriculum. I spoke to a friend of mine from Bamber Bridge and he had no idea of this historic event and had not been taught in his local history lessons. He is in his 50s.

Very appreciative of this.

Wow, I never knew about this incident. Why hasn't there been a movie made about this?

See this is the kind of stuff that white America does not want the rest of Americans to know about. The history is deep wide and hard and I feel we all should know the facts as to some of the reasons blacks have always had to fight for what we have gotten

Never knew this... definitely a movie topic!

This is amazing.

US MP's: landlord you must enforce segregation! Landlord: Ok, your barred their not so get out US MP's: If you do that we will arrest one of them Landlord: good luck with that sunshine MP's hears someone clear their throat behind them and turn around to see an entire village stood rolling their sleeves up. Makes you proud to be British 🙂

The racism thing has been pressed upon the uk lately and some Brits think they have to say sorry about it. Inherent racism has never been a big thing here, it’s all about sticking with the underdog and not being told what to do by outsiders..this is why the uk has won wars and are proud people. Never tell a true Brit what to do.

I know Bamber Bridge - how dare the American authorities tell us to who to let in our pubs. Cheeky bastards. Good for the pubs to say black soldiers only!

Just out of interest did any black Americans stay in the UK after the war?

My last name is Bamber....am i connected to the Bamber Bridge incident? Please let me know.

My pride for my my country is outstanding where we blindly followed USA until it came to their inherrent racialism we were fighting! Bamber Bridge was never taught in their education system, like it proudly was in OURS

You don't march into our gaff and tell us what to do, even if you're an ally.

Bamber bridge isn't a town it's a village not far from Preston.

Thanks

As a white British man. I'm so proud of the local people of Bamber Bridge and how they all stood up to the terrible racist bullying of the American MP's on that occasion. The locals insistence to side with those black American soldiers makes me feel so proud. I heard also, the main reason those 27 'convictions' were quashed was due to the level of outrage shown by the British people to the American diplomatic service here in the UK. There can never be any excuse for racism of any kind, anywhere in the 21st century. 🙋‍♂

It's extremely sad that black Americans ( my people) do absolutely nothing to tell our own stories, our history in this country. We let the greater society tell our story which only leads to them telling the " we shall overcome story" stories.

Hating on black men all the way in England??? White Americans would try to segregate black men from Aliens on Mars if they could!

among us

Go back to WW1, the US shipped over Black combat units, that command wouldn't use. The French, desperate for men took them. They ended the war with many individual awards and unit citations. Will the US ever catch up?

The irony of the whole thing is fighting for a country abroad while that same country despised you.

Who on earth put a thumbs down??

9L where u at

Wonder how much one of those signs would be worth now?

I can recall a short US Army information movie of the time in which a prominent white actor cautioned (presumably white) American troops to be careful about racial talk while in the UK. Apparently, he explained carefully, Brits couldn't quite grasp that black people weren't equals.

When the imposter is sus

Capitalising "black" over and over is making me cringe and is just bad grammar. Remember it was treating races differently that they were fighting against and that we are all condemning here.

People say things like "We shouldn't see skin colour" But it's stupid to say tha, of course we should, and we do, but that doesn't mean anything. Black is black and white is white, but at the end of the day we are all human. Seeing race isnot the problem, judging based on it is the issue. In the UK we never had slavery, it was outlawed in (1772?) officially, but the sale of slaves was outlawed in 1066. Because there was no segregation we are more united as a nation.

How awful

Turn around buffalo soldier, your enemy is behind you.

Whew! 'Merica got some esplainin to do!.... 👀

Black SOLDIERS in England at first found it friendly but notice that young women would always try to look at the back of them. Finally one asked one of the ladies what were they looking at and the girl said the white g.i.s told the black soldiers had tails like monkeys and they were trying to see it. The black soldier told them it ain't true the "tail" is in the front and pulled it out. There were a number of black soldiers with English wives as time went on because they didn't have the rascist views of Americans at the time and were thankful those men came to help win the war. A lot of them also married French, German,and Italian women and stayed in Europe at wars end where life was much better for them.

This is a good little documentary highlighting the differences in attitude between England where the slave trade had been illegal for nearly a thousand years and the US where large sections of the population wish it was still legal. Only thing that spoiled it for me was the subtitles and the strange but common habit these days of capitalising the word black, but not white.....weirdly in a documentary pointing out shameful differences in the attitude towards races. Can anyone explain why this is OK?

The English didn't see skin colour they saw brave young men who had come thousands of miles to help us fight Hitler. A belated thank you to them.

Please teach this in schools it might go some way to stopping the lefty English hating kids that us English ain’t that bad 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

EVIL- EVIL- EVIL!

Wow🤔🥺🙄😰

Up the North😁🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿💪🏻🐎🥊🍻👑

So I’m guessing not much has changed in the good old boys home of the USA land of the free sometimes depends who you are.

'murica

This story made me cry, both my Grandads joined-up as soon as possible and fought to oppose the racist Nazi. It's difficult for Americans to realise what us Brits went through, my Grandmothers remembered seeing the bombs being dropped from German planes, my home town still has gaps in the street where the bombs landed, the US never suffered any direct attack. Just Imagine hearing German planes flying over your house. I'm white and British, we had an awful history of sailing around the world taking what we want....but by the second world war the Labour and Liberal political parties had got a foot-hold...we realised that all men and women are created equal, unlike the current Tory Bastards lead by Boris. It's now a time for great change, my daughter is 18; she and all her friends have shifted their views on how people are "classified": Sons and daughters of rich people still living off money made years ago through violence and cruelty....balanced by normal people. Eton, St Pauls, Winchester, Cambridge, Oxford.....all awful prigs.....just pigs at the trough. Sexuality and race, colour, wealth...hopefully they won't come into it within a few years. Cheers x

I wonder how many of you have noticed that the word "black" in subtitles is written with capital letter while "white" isn't? Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think that implying one group's superiority over another is an effective way to combat racism.

Should have never got involved in their wars. Europe had more acceptance including France but eventually the bigotry settled in when the damm americans enforced their racial code. The british didn't want black soldiers socializing with their daughters. This is the type of history that should be a movie.

And w still believe that the us helped win the war. It was the red army. They won the war. And i wish i knew which race ww the most racist in the exploration if us territory. The Anglos or the Saxons. Those are the ones who spread the hatred. Cuz all other raced right om Europe suffered racism. Italians Greeks Asians