l am one of those forgotten African soldiers, now 99 years old;
83 years ago I served first and foremost as a mechanic in repairing. American jeeps in the jungles of Burma"
l am one of those forgotten African soldiers, now 99 years old;
83 years ago I served first and foremost as a mechanic in repairing. American jeeps in the jungles of Burma"
Meet Warrant Officer Class 1 Ashitey Hammond, a Second World War veteran who as a sixteen year old boy left the shores or the Gold coast, to fight in the jungles of India and Burma. He and many other West African soldiers, left home and family to fight a war that was not theirs to fight in the first place but fought because they believed they had a duty to defend the British Empire. Hammond himself says: "I am a soldier of the Gold Coast. I belong to the Allied Forces. I have been trained. I have been selected. Should I not do my part?"
With disarming honesty, wit and humour, Hammond shares the extraordinary journey of his life, spanning from his childhood in Osu, through the Burma Campaign to witnessing the tumultuous emergence or modern Ghana and as a prominent player of Ghana's formative years with Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
In this book, the immense contribution of Africans in WW2, largely unknown and untold, is brougnt to life through Hammond's accounts of the courage and bravery of these "forgotten" soldiers who suffered through the horrors and harrowing experiences of war.
Hammond's story is one of resilience, unwavering determination, hope and belief in the strength of the human spirit. It is a story of a hero, and of a man who has always dedicated his life to humanitarian causes. This is a book worth having on your bookshelf.
