1942 US Army violence in Antrim, Co. Antrim

[James James]

"An outburst of US Army violence occurred in Co. Antrim in September 1942 when white troops and black soldiers clashed causing the death of an American GI."

https://wartimeni.com/article/us-army-violence-in-antrim-co-antrim/

[James James]

https://www.doncio.navy.mil/CHIPS/ArticleDetails.aspx?ID=10068

"USS Mason All-Black Crew Overcomes Racism to Save WWII Convoy"

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"Veterans remembered only one place where they felt like Americans and not second class citizens: Belfast, Northern Ireland, where they had pulled in to refuel and resupply after their first convoy."

"They danced with Irish girls and downed pints down at the pub with local blokes."

"And they reveled in a new nickname: not, "N---rs" or even "Tan Yanks," but simply "Yanks," like any other American servicemen."

"A lady apologized because the sun wasn't shining. ..."

"We couldn't believe it. ..."        "The people were so nice to us."

"We had to go 3,000 miles from home to be treated like humans," said Dufau."

"It was like being liberated, agreed Peters."

[James James]

https://youtu.be/9YEJmZ2dyE0

https://www.americanheritage.com/uss-mason-battles-u-boats-and-bigots



"The experience in England was especially galling for the men because it followed a particularly warm reception in Belfast, Northern Ireland, their first port of call. In fact it was their Irish experience that first drew me into the USS Mason story."

"In 1992 I was directing a documentary called Home Away From Home: The Yanks in Ireland, about the three hundred thousand American men and women who served in the north of Ireland during World War II. Destroyer-escort sailors played a significant part in this story. They had found a friendly reception and rest from the Battle of the Atlantic in the ports of Derry and Belfast and Bangor. Derry was the headquarters for the destroyer escorts, and people there still remember the sailors fondly. While making the film, I came across a newspaper article written by Thomas W. Young, who sailed on the Mason as the first black war correspondent on a Navy warship. In the clipping one sailor is quoted as saying about the Irish welcome,... "Funny how I had to come all the way across the ocean to a foreign country before I got to enjoy the feeling of being an American."

"Bill Bland, seaman, first class, summed up the experience: "Here we were, all young. We were scared. We were coming from a country where we couldn't even go to the movie show in some places. We get to Ireland and the people call us Yanks. Not Tan Yanks, like we were called in other places. Yanks. Just like they called the white sailors, and it was good."

"Two months later members of the USS Mason Association returned to Belfast for a tribute arranged by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board. The City Council hosted a dinner for them, and they attended a ceremony marking the economic revival of the very harbor they had sailed into so many years before. Queen Elizabeth was then visiting Belfast for the first time in twenty-five years, to open the new Lagan bridge. As the queen was greeted by dignitaries, she noticed the group of black Americans wearing USS Mason caps standing just behind the official party. The queen came over to them. I explained that these men had helped keep open the supply lines to Britain during the war. She replied that she remembered very well the U.S. Navy's contribution to victory. She moved down the line greeting the men and thanking them for their bravery and sacrifice."

"Prince Philip spoke to the men as one mariner to another, asking about the size of the ship, how many knots she could do, and what assignments she had had. An early-to-bed plan later fell through when the musician Van Morrison, a guest in the group's hotel, invited them to attend his concert that evening."

"It was as good as meeting the queen!" said the wife of one of the men."

[James James]

https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/2019/01/11/the-white-and-black-ship/