Derek Nudd's Blog - Posts Tagged "racism"

Black Yanks: Defending Leroy Henry in D-Day Britain by Kate Werran

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A while ago I took part in a segment of Michael Portillo's Hidden History of Britain series, about US serviceman Leroy Henry's capital sentence for rape and subsequent exoneration. The day made a strong impression on me so I am glad Kate Werran has gone into the case so much more thoroughly than I could.
To summarise, Henry was one of the million and a half US soldiers awaiting the word to embark for Normandy in May 1944. He was also Black. After an evening socialising in a nearby pub he went looking for female company, and knew where to find it - a woman he had met before in the village of Combe Down. Two things wrecked his night: this time she asked for more money than he had on him, causing a dispute, and her husband was at home and came looking for her. After arrest and a coerced 'confession' he was convicted of rape and sentenced to death. A public outcry followed which gained national prominence. General Eisenhower (who was a bit busy at the time) reviewed the evidence and quashed Henry's sentence.
So what of the book? Werran has dug deeply to uncover as much as possible about the man, the incident and its consequences. She covers in detail the events of the night, his arrest, interrogation and trial. Remarkably she has found evidence about the man's appearance, personality and character to round out the tale. The story draws out the sense of injustice due to American forces having exclusive right to try and punish their servicemen in the UK while their legal process left something to be desired.
It goes further by putting the event into the context of Britain's state after nearly five years of war, Anglo-American relations (not as warm as propaganda would have us believe), American (and British) race relations, and the looming prospect of D-Day.
A minor point: while giving due credit to newspaper proprietors and some to editors, Werran doesn't mention any journalists or columnists - the likes of Hannen Swaffer may have had more influence on events than their ultimate bosses.
Definitely one for the bookshelf.



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