The forgotten African heroes of World War II
At the age of 19, Christopher Kagwa was taken from his home in Uganda, East Africa, to fight in a distant war he knew nothing about.
More than 70 years later, the memories of fighting for the British Colonial Government in World War II are still fresh.
Sgt. Kagwa, formerly of the King's African Rifles, is one of Uganda's few living veterans of the world's bloodiest conflict.
He told CNN: "We were very scared of the white men. We didn't know anything about them, all we used to hear about was King George, and that made us really frightened when they said they'd come for us and take us to where they are.
"In the year 1939 we were told King George was going to come for us in a few days to go fight in Germany against Hitler and Mussolini, so after a few days a truck came calling us.
"When it came we got in and were taken to the barracks. In the barracks we did not even know what a gun looked like let alone how to fire one. We were totally ignorant, but they still took us to the frontline."
In his book, Fighting For Britain: African Soldiers in the Second World War, historian David Killingray says more than half a million African troops served with the British forces between 1939 and 1945, 289,530 of them with the King's African Rifles from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Malawi.
He describes it as the largest single movement of African men overseas since the slave trade. Their contribution is often forgotten by the wider world.
Sgt Kagwa and his friend Masulum Museker, along with thousands of their countrymen, were shipped to the jungles of Burma....
Read entire article at CNN
More than 70 years later, the memories of fighting for the British Colonial Government in World War II are still fresh.
Sgt. Kagwa, formerly of the King's African Rifles, is one of Uganda's few living veterans of the world's bloodiest conflict.
He told CNN: "We were very scared of the white men. We didn't know anything about them, all we used to hear about was King George, and that made us really frightened when they said they'd come for us and take us to where they are.
"In the year 1939 we were told King George was going to come for us in a few days to go fight in Germany against Hitler and Mussolini, so after a few days a truck came calling us.
"When it came we got in and were taken to the barracks. In the barracks we did not even know what a gun looked like let alone how to fire one. We were totally ignorant, but they still took us to the frontline."
In his book, Fighting For Britain: African Soldiers in the Second World War, historian David Killingray says more than half a million African troops served with the British forces between 1939 and 1945, 289,530 of them with the King's African Rifles from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Malawi.
He describes it as the largest single movement of African men overseas since the slave trade. Their contribution is often forgotten by the wider world.
Sgt Kagwa and his friend Masulum Museker, along with thousands of their countrymen, were shipped to the jungles of Burma....