Erection date: 22/6/2017
{On the vertical obelisk:}
In memory of the service men and women from Africa and the Caribbean who served alongside the forces of the British Commonwealth and her allies during WWI and WWII.
Remembering the forgotten.
{On the top of the horizontal obelisk:}
Remembered
Africa and its diaspora has been part of Britain's military history since Roman times from the North African legion stationed at Hadrian's Wall in the third century to the descendants of the Windrush generation. This fallen stone is in honour of those service personnel from Africa and the Caribbean who aided the United Kingdom in both world wars on sea on land and in the sky.
Merchant Navy
African and Caribbean Merchant Navy Seaman {sic} 1914 – 1945, Nigerian Marine Department 1914 – 1918, SS Mendi 1917, Trinidad Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve 1939 – 1945.
African Carrier, Labour, Pioneer and Native Military Corps.
Over 2,000,000 men 1914 – 1945, provided in the two world wars from Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe
West African Frontier Force and Royal West African Frontier Force Gambia Regiment 1914 – 1918, Gold Coast Regiment 1914 – 1918, Nigeria Regiment 1914 – 1918, Sierra Leone Regiment 1914 – 1918, 11th and 12th (African) and 81st and 82nd (West African) Divisions of the British Army 1941 – 1945
Military Service: Togoland, Cameroon and East African Campaigns in WWI and East African and Burma Campaigns in WWII
Malawi KAR Battalions 1914 – 1945, Kenya KAR Battalions 1914 – 1945, Uganda KAR Battalions 1914 – 1945, Somaliland Camel Corps/Scouts 1914 – 1945, Somaliland KAR Battalions 1939 – 1945
{On the front of the horizontal obelisk:}
Tanzania KAR Battalions 1017 – 1945, Northern Rhodesia Police/Northern Rhodesia Regiment 1914 – 1945, Rhodesia Native Regiment/Rhodesian African Rifles 1914 – 1945, Sudan Defence Force 1939 – 1945, 11th and 12th (African) and 11th (East African) Divisions of the British Army 1941 – 1945
Military Service: East African Campaigns in WWI and WWII invasion of Madagascar, Western Desert, Italian and Burma Campaigns in WWII West India Regiment and British West Indies Regiment
Drafted from the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British Guiana, British Honduras, Grenada, Jamaica, the Leeward Islands, St Lucia, St Vincent and Trinidad and Tobago
Military Service: Western Front, Cameroon, East African and Palestine Campaigns
Air Crew and Ground Crew
African and Caribbean pilots and ground crew of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force 1917 – 1945
West Indies Auxiliary Territorial Services
Caribbean women in the women's branch of the British Army 1943 – 1945 Caribbean Regiment Caribbean branch of the British Army including the Bermuda Militia Artillery and Infantry 1944 -1945.
Military Service: Italian Campaign Egypt
And to all the forgotten
Unveiled on Windrush Day. A very simple design, we think the horizontal obelisk may represent the fallen.
Site: African and Caribbean Armed Forces (1 memorial)
SW2, Effra Road, Windrush Square
Originally intended to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of WW1 and the contribution made by Caribbean people; and to be placed at Tilbury Docks (where the Windrush landed). But the remit expanded to include both world wars and those from Africa as well as the Caribbean, so this Brixton location was chosen.
Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk
