USA – MAY 22, 1942
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. 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. About 600 African-American troops were brought to the city to help build airfields.Mr Holyoak says these troops, from the 96th Battalion, US Army Corps of Engineers, were stationed at a base on the city’s western outskirts known as Kelso.This was the site for a large-scale siege lasting eight hours, which was sparked by racial taunts and violence.”After some serial abuse by two white US officers, there was several ringleaders and they decided to machine gun the tents of the white officers”…(read more from source below).
