This is a call for help. For over 40 years, Audrey Dewjee in the UK has dedicated herself to uncovering and preserving the history of West Indian men who joined the Royal Air Force as ground crew. Believing that their contributions had been largely overlooked, she took it upon herself to ensure they would not be forgotten. Audrey has created a database of their names as a lasting tribute to their service in an effort to preserve their memory for future generations.

Audrey needs some help to finalise this database and fill in some missing gaps for Bajan recruits – Can you help?

West Indian RAF Ground Crew who signed up to serve during World War II

6,500 men signed up in the Caribbean and around 5,500 actually came to Britain. The war ended before the rest could be brought over.

Audrey has now found most of the names the West Indian RAF Ground Crew recruits who signed up to serve during World War II. There are still some gaps.

Below is a Barbados Government Notice for the Recruitment of RAF Ground Staff that appeared in The Barbados Observer on the 20^th November 1943:

The Barbados Government Notice for the Recruitment of RAF Ground Staff that appeared in The Barbados Observer on the 20^th November 1943 has been transcribed below for easier reading:

Three main contingents of West Indian RAF ground crew recruits came to Britain the:

• first contingent consisting of 2,000 men arrived in June 1944,
• second contingent consisting of 2,000 men in November 1944 and
• third contingent consisting of 1,500 men in March 1945.

The recruits from Barbados came in the first and third of these contingents. The second contingent consisted solely of men from Jamaica.

Each airman was allocated a service number, and RAF records state that numbers 716000 to 716590 were allocated to men who enlisted in Barbados. However, numbers 716000 to 716499 were assigned to recruits from British Guiana (now Guyana), who had been sent to Barbados to be attested by RAF recruiters who were based on the island.

The service numbers for Bajan men in the first contingent ran from 716500 to 716590 (a total of 91 recruits).

On arrival in Britain the recruits in the first contingent were sent to RAF Hunmanby Moor at Filey in Yorkshire for 12 weeks of basic training. This included topics such as: as aircraft recognition, physical training, military drill and weapons instruction. This initial training was followed by deployment to operational stations across Britain.

RAF Hunmanby Moor prior to World War II had been a Butlin’s Holiday Camp that had been requestioned. For more information about the West Indian RAF recruits time at RAF Hunmanby Moor, see: The Forgotten 4,000: West Indian Airmen at RAF Hunmanby Moor, Filey.

The service numbers issued to Bajan men who came to Britain in the third contingent ran from 728000 to 728089 (a further 90 recruits). Any of these men, who arrived in Britain in March 1945, were sent to RAF Melksham in Wiltshire for their 12 weeks of basic training, followed by deployment to operational stations across Britain.

As no passenger lists seem to have survived for these two contingents, it is not certain that every single one of the men named on the lists below actually came to Britain. For example, some may have been sick at the time the contingents sailed and so got left behind. The war ended in Europe in May 1945, before the remaining 1,000 men could be sent to Britain.

It is reasonable to suppose that almost all of the men in the first list of service numbers came to Britain, but it is not so certain that all the men in the later group did so.

Audrey has been trying to discover the names of all the men from Barbados to fit with their service numbers. There are still a few gaps and she wonders if you or someone you may know can help fill in any of the missing names?

The records show that most of the men were allocated RAF service numbers in alphabetical order, which gives a clue to the starting letters of missing names.

The list of RAF service numbers and names of Bajan RAF Ground Crew recruits that have already discovered are as follows:

Barbados Contingent 1 – Arrived Britain June 1944 and sent to: RAF Hunmanby Moor, Filey, Yorkshire

RAF Service Numbers 716000 to 716590 were allocated to men who enlisted in Barbados. RAF Service Numbers 716000 to 716499 were assigned to recruits from British Guiana (now Guyana), who came to Barbados to be attested by RAF recruiters. The table below is for Bajan recruits and is from 716500 to 716590.

Summary of missing records of Bajans from Contingent 1:

Barbados Contingent 3 – Arrived Britain March 1945 and sent to: RAF Melksham, Wiltshire

Summary of missing records of Bajans from Contingent 3:

Some airmen who returned to Barbados

Warren Alleyne

William Warren Alleyne served as a wireless operator and later a telegraphist. He remained in the RAF after the war, only retiring and returning home in 1966, the year Barbados became independent.

He used his leisure time in Britain to further his studies of history and after his return he published several books, including Barbados At War 1939-1945 and Historic Bridgetown.

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According to an obituary in the Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, ‘the Barbados Archives became his second home’. He researched and published many articles on Bajan history, and was a valued member and supporter of the Barbados National Trust.

In 2008 Warren was featured on one of a set of four stamps commemorating WW2, issued by the Barbados Postal Service.

Some airmen who settled in Britain

Mervin Denton Ishmael

Mervin Denton Ishmael, born in Bridgetown in 1925, was one of those who settled in Britain. After leaving the RAF in 1948, he studied at Leicester School of Commerce and the London School of Economics and by 1959 he had become Britain’s first black personnel manager, at a foundry in Bilston in the West Midlands. He subsequently became a college lecturer and community leader who worked hard to promote racial equality

For his many community services, Mervin Ishmael was awarded the MBE in the 1977 New Year’s Honours list. An obituary in The Guardian lists his achievements, and records his abiding love for Barbados and his passion for cricket. He died in Birmingham on 28^th November 1999.

Fred Walcott

Ulric Fred Gibson Walcott (known as Fred), born in St. James in 1919, was another Bajan ex-airman who was awarded the MBE. After the war he settled in Bristol where he worked as an engineer. He was a founding member of the Colonial Association set up between 1948 and 1949 to help newcomers settle in the city, and was later appointed a Justice of the Peace. He received his MBE in January 2002, for services to community life and racial equality in Bristol. Fred died in 2010, aged 90.

Athiel Lushington King

Athiel Lushington King, born in St. Philip in 1923, served as a radar technician in the RAF. After the war he worked in the civil service and local government, studying for his ‘A’ levels in his spare time because he wished to be a dentist.

He was offered a place at University College Hospital in 1964, at the age of 41. He established his dental practice in Wallington, Surrey, in 1970 and continued to practice there for the next 30 years. From 1980 he taught dental students at UCH.

Athiel died in Taunton, Somerset, in 2015, aged 92. His obituary appeared in The British Dental Journal in January 2017.

Missing records of Bajans in Contingent 1 that arrived in Britain in June 1944:

Missing records of Bajans in Contingent 3 that arrived in Britain in March 1945:

We hope you’ll be able to help us in our quest to help Audrey Dewjee name the unknown Bajan RAF Ground Crew recruits of Contingent 1 that arrived in Britain in June 1944 and of Contingent 3 that arrived in Britain in March 1945.