Music

Achtung Achtung, welcome to We Have Ways of Making You Talk with me, Al Murray and James Holland

and well Jim, we have a special guest today.

Funnily enough, I'm off to this part of the world next year for my new program.

So who have we got anyway?

We've got Mark Johnson who is former soldier, charity worker, historian, writer, and he's written a book called Caribbean Volunteers at War,

The Forgotten Story of the RAF's Tuskegee Eman.

And you know, some of these things is that you just don't think about it too much that lots of Caribbean citizens volunteered for the RAF and flew with Bomber Command and other parts of the RAF.

And very heroically too, it has to be said.

And perhaps there is a perception that sort of Caribbean interaction between the UK and the Caribbean began with the win rush rather than was bit preceded by actual sort of martial involvement in the war effort.

So anyway, so who are we talking to Jim?

Yeah, we've got Mark Johnson.

So Mark is great to see you.

Welcome Mark.

Thanks very much.

What would happen to be here?

In fact, it's an interesting point you make out about the win rush because a lot of people don't realise that on that famous voyage,

there were I think it's 60 former Caribbean RAF servicemen and women returning to the UK to live, having served already, having served in the UK and over Europe.

And had technical training of course which made them valuable as workers.

Absolutely, absolutely.

So the win rush isn't a sort of year zero moment.

There's reasons people are coming and one of the reasons they've been to the UK before, they've been trained by the UK, they maybe understand the UK or think they do to an extent, certainly during wartime.

...