Monday 13 February 2012

A rather astonishing news item from over here.
Secret documents lift lid on WWII mutiny by US troops in north Queensland
An Australian historian has uncovered hidden documents which reveal that African American troops used machine guns to attack their white officers in a siege on a US base in north Queensland in 1942.
Information about the Townsville mutiny has never been released to the public.
But the story began to come to light when James Cook University's Ray Holyoak first began researching why US congressman Lyndon B Johnson visited Townsville for three days back in 1942.
What he discovered was evidence detailing one of the biggest uprisings within the US military.
"For 70 years there's been a rumour in Townsville that there was a mutiny among African-American servicemen. In the last year and a half I've found the primary documentation evidence that that did occur in 1942," Mr Holyoak told AM.
During World War II, Townsville was a crucial base for campaigns into the Pacific, including the Battle of the Coral Sea. ...(more)

2 Comments:

Blogger Matthew Adams said...

In Brisbane we had the battle of Brisbane between Australian troops and American troops (the Americans were getting all the girls). American forces and Queensland don't seem to mix well.

Maybe it's the heat and humidity?

13 February 2012 at 20:55:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Faff said...

Surprises me that this was so limited when you look at the way African American troops were treated by white officers.

14 February 2012 at 08:06:00 GMT-5  

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