FORGOTTEN AFRICANS OF THE FORGOTTEN FOURTEENTH
Of all the men who fought in the British Fourteenth ‘Forgotten’ Army in Burma during WWII, its African soldiers have been the most neglected. Approximately 100,000 Africans served during a horrendous campaign against the Japanese but they received little recognition at the time – and even today. The contribution of Indian and Gurkha troops in this multinational force has remained well known but even the Fourteenth Army’s commander, Field Marshal William Slim, failed to mention the African soldiers in a speech to his men at the end of the war.
One of those forgotten soldiers was Private Joseph Ashitey Hammond – a mechanic who served in the Gold Coast Regiment. Despite his technical skills, Hammond also fought extensively on the front line before being a participant in a notorious event against West African veterans that led to Ghana’s independence. Seventy-five years after his military service, he made unexpected headlines across the world when he raised tens of thousands of pounds to assist the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
Now an honoured veteran, Hammond is the only known WWII survivor from the Gold Coast Regiment. Here, he describes fighting for the British Empire, avoiding Japanese snipers, witnessing the birth of a nation and helping people across Africa.
The Gold Coast
Born in 1925, Hammond grew up at a time when Ghana was a British colony known as the Gold Coast. He recalls that relations between the British and Ghanaians were a confusing mixture of oppression and benevolence: “We were colonial subjects and whatever they put across you had to do it. You had no choice – you had to obey because the situation was like a ‘master’ and his ‘boy’. That’s what it was like during Gold Coast times.
“However, we loved the British very much. Nobody thought we were like slaves and during the colonial days it was very good. We had our livings, there was no problem and we were all happy. Things were so cheap and we honestly didn’t realise. I don’t want to be a hypocrite because I agree that they did a lot wrong. Mistakes are inevitable as a human being – you can’t stop it. There were one or two [British people] who were very bad but it’s inevitable with any country.
