In this special Shots! documentary, we explore the stories of some of the black soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice on the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944.
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00:00 (gentle music)
00:02 The Normandy landings were unparalleled,
00:08 one of the most significant war operations in history.
00:11 Ultimately, the invasion put the Allies on course
00:14 to defeat the Nazis in Western Europe for good.
00:17 D-Day was the largest air, land, and seaborne invasion ever.
00:23 Thousands of soldiers from all corners of the earth
00:26 played their part, and it should come as no surprise
00:29 that the invasion force included soldiers
00:31 of every color and creed on the same beaches in Normandy
00:35 as the British and Americans.
00:37 From the British Indian Army
00:39 to the African American Air Balloon Battalion,
00:42 even Native Americans all played their part
00:45 in the gargantuan effort to form a beachhead in France
00:48 in June, 1944.
00:50 In the UK, there are just a few hundred veterans left,
00:56 fewer who can still tell their own stories
00:58 in their own words, and even fewer than that
01:01 when it comes to minority veterans
01:03 whose service hasn't been as well recorded
01:06 in the history books.
01:07 - You've got your cap on.
01:10 I should have brought my snow gloves.
01:13 (men laughing)
01:14 - Oh, yeah.
01:15 - I went on Russian convoys, so I wore my white ones.
01:17 - You wore the white ones.
01:18 - Yeah.
01:19 (men laughing)
01:20 - Oh, very good.
01:21 - My wife was very worried.
01:21 - This year marks D-Day's 80th anniversary,
01:26 and in this Shots TV special,
01:28 we tell the incredible stories of two
01:30 of the unsung heroes of Normandy.
01:33 Featuring interviews with historians and relatives,
01:36 these are the forgotten soldiers of D-Day.
01:39 - Marie Costa, I've lived in Portsmouth
01:46 since 1969, November.
01:49 Yes, I, well, I came across Sidney Cornell
01:55 when we started the Portsmouth Black History Group,
02:00 which is now, which is designed to highlight
02:05 the contributions and the effect
02:09 that African and Caribbeans made on Portsmouth society,
02:13 economically, socially, culturally,
02:17 which is not written down anywhere and referred to.
02:20 So coming across someone like Sidney,
02:23 and most of the Caribbean people,
02:26 especially them, who came over and fought
02:29 during the war, are not recognized.
02:32 Their names are English or European,
02:36 therefore it's not easy to actually find out
02:39 who they are that they're black.
02:41 But I'm sure that's not all.
02:43 I'm sure some of it is that their contributions
02:47 of especially the people from the colonies
02:49 are just neglected, and it was centered
02:52 around the white British people
02:57 and the Europeans and the Americans even,
03:02 who were involved in the war,
03:03 rather than those who were part of the war
03:07 and yet neglected.
03:09 - And so in regards of Sidney's bravery
03:13 and what he actually did during the war,
03:16 what kind of person does that make him,
03:18 maybe, would you say?
03:19 - I don't know what kind of a foolish person he is.
03:23 If you've been shot once, you think,
03:25 I won't be doing it again, let someone else
03:27 take their turn.
03:28 But he didn't give up.
03:30 He kept on going.
03:31 Four times he was shot, and he was killed
03:35 the final time.
03:36 I can only say that he was very brave,
03:41 which is noted by his seniors
03:46 in a commemoration of his effort,
03:49 which read, "Very many acts of gallantry
03:54 have been performed by members of the battalion,
03:57 but for sustained courage,
04:00 nothing surpasses Cornell's efforts."
04:04 This is a citation on his behalf.
04:08 So that is courage, and I admire him,
04:12 and obviously I'd like to be associated with him,
04:15 but I'm no relation, so I can't.
04:18 I can't take any credit there,
04:20 but he was a courageous man,
04:23 and to die at the age of 30,
04:25 and not receiving his gallantry medal,
04:27 that's a pity.
04:28 In 2017, taking up the mud there,
04:33 and they found this medal,
04:35 and they looked at the inscriptions,
04:38 and cleaned out the mud,
04:40 looked at the inscription,
04:41 realized it's proper medal,
04:44 and so they must have taken it to the war memorial,
04:46 or whatever, I don't know how they got it eventually
04:50 to the family, and they found this,
04:54 and I'm not quite sure what happened
04:57 from the time it was allotted to him.
05:01 He wasn't there to receive it,
05:02 therefore he never received it,
05:04 so I'm not sure who received it on his behalf,
05:08 or how it got lost, and ended up in the Thames,
05:12 when it was actually born and bred in Portsmouth,
05:16 but thank God that these people who found it,
05:19 handed it over, and it's now in the possession
05:22 of Cornell's family.
05:25 - So, I'm Chris Cornell, so Sidney Cornell
05:28 was my great uncle, so I was his great nephew,
05:33 and his brother was my grandfather,
05:39 which is Charlie Cornell.
05:40 Well, their grandfather was my great grandfather,
05:46 and that's Charles Cornell Senior.
05:49 So he was the great chap, he came to this country
05:54 around about 1889 from America,
06:01 he was an African American circus performer
06:04 with Barnum and Bailey Circus.
06:06 So Sidney was my father's favorite uncle,
06:09 I mean, my dad always talked about him,
06:12 and he always said to me that he was this war hero,
06:17 and that he was in the paratroop regiment,
06:20 and it wasn't until I did a bit of research myself
06:22 that I discovered that yes, he was in the paratroop regiment.
06:25 He was, initially he worked for G.A. Days,
06:31 who were local builders merchants,
06:33 so I think they were based up in Hilsey,
06:35 and then, I think around about 1942,
06:39 they were called up to the army,
06:42 and originally Sidney was part of the Royal Corps,
06:47 Royal Service Corps, employed as a driver,
06:51 and then he transferred to the paratroop regiment,
06:55 and then obviously trained as a paratrooper,
06:59 and that obviously suited him well, he was quite fit,
07:05 he was already a champion boxer in Portsmouth,
07:10 he'd been taught to box by his father,
07:12 and I suspect that boxing was a defense mechanism
07:18 against bullies at school,
07:21 and he became a battalion champion,
07:27 but obviously he joined at a time
07:33 when D-Day was approaching,
07:36 and he paratrooped into Florence, Normandy,
07:41 on the very early hours of the 6th of June
07:46 as part of the backup to the glider troops
07:51 who took places along the bridge,
07:54 and 7th Battalion were there to support them
07:59 and initially sort of take over,
08:04 and obviously more recently people have said,
08:07 well, he was the first black paratrooper to land in France,
08:12 and I suspect that was probably true,
08:17 although we do know that there were others.
08:19 Right, so he was employed as a company runner,
08:23 so basically he would communicate messages
08:26 from different commanding officers within the battles
08:31 that were going on at the time
08:32 and report back to the company headquarters,
08:37 which required quite a level of fitness
08:40 and obviously the ability to dodge bullets,
08:45 so he was,
08:46 when they landed in Normandy,
08:52 the objective was to support the Oxford Bucks
08:56 who had glided in and taken the Pegasus Bridge,
08:59 but they also had the surrounding area to protect,
09:03 and the idea was that Germans
09:06 wouldn't be able to reinforce the troop,
09:09 the fighting on the beach, as it were,
09:11 and they had to hold those bridges,
09:13 but there was obviously skirmishes going on
09:16 all over the place,
09:17 and certainly Sydney sustained at least four bullet wounds
09:22 to the leg and shoulder,
09:24 but insisted on carrying on his duties,
09:28 and he was
09:30 awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal
09:35 as a result of various actions that included
09:38 helping out one of his senior officers
09:43 in capturing several German prisoners,
09:46 and there was an incident
09:48 where they had to capture a farm, Bob's Farm,
09:52 and again, he was sort of performed heroic duties
09:56 to sort of make sure this farm was captured,
09:59 but basically, all of this was under constant fire,
10:05 but for all intents and purposes,
10:06 most of what he had to do was just dodge the bullets
10:09 and make sure he delivered the messages.
10:11 The radios weren't working very well
10:13 in Normandy at the time,
10:15 so it was quite an important role
10:17 to make sure that each of the section commanders
10:21 had all the information about what was going on
10:24 with the previous section.
10:27 But as I said, most of the time,
10:31 he was just running around
10:35 and dodging bullets and sheltering from snipers,
10:40 but I think he eliminated a few snipers himself,
10:46 and we'll never know the whole content of what he did,
10:55 but he was certainly there from the 6th of June,
10:59 and I think they evacuated some time
11:02 towards the beginning of September,
11:04 so there was quite an intensive campaign in Normandy
11:08 that he took an active part,
11:09 even though he'd been wounded several times.
11:11 There's a newspaper article that talks about G.A. Day
11:16 sort of celebrating the fact that he was awarded the DCM
11:19 and that on his homecoming,
11:21 there was gonna be a party for him
11:24 and that they were getting fans together to welcome him,
11:29 but of course, sadly, he never returned home,
11:34 and he died on the 7th of April, 1945,
11:40 in Germany on the final push into Germany
11:46 that he was taking part, which was Operation Varsity.
11:49 (gentle music)
11:52 - To fight this powerful German war machine,
12:04 the British Isles also asked for help and support
12:07 from hundreds of thousands of Muslims and Sikhs,
12:10 whose older siblings in the last war
12:12 had made up the bulk of the British Indian Army.
12:15 Warrant Officer Subedar Sain Khan,
12:18 who also helped out as a murder interpreter
12:21 to train other Indian paratroopers
12:23 to jump out of aircraft on D-Day.
12:25 - My name is Razal Mustafa.
12:30 I am the grandson of Muhammad Sain Khan,
12:34 who was a paratrooper on D-Day,
12:36 and I didn't know that my grandfather
12:41 was actually in the British Army
12:43 up until I saw his medals.
12:46 So I went to Pakistan and my uncle,
12:49 he had a show of all of his medals there,
12:52 and when I looked at the medals,
12:54 I was really proud and I thought to myself,
12:56 you know, this is a really good thing
12:58 that my grandfather, he fought with the British Army.
13:03 And I think the story needs to be out there
13:06 in the sense that, you know,
13:07 when we think about World War II,
13:08 we only think about the people as in being white people,
13:16 who fought in the army, but that wasn't the case.
13:19 There was many other people who were Hindu, Sikhs,
13:22 and Muslims, even like my grandfather was a Muslim.
13:26 I mean, they showed their commitment
13:28 for the British Empire,
13:29 and they fought in the World War II side by side.
13:34 And he did his bit, to be honest.
13:36 I mean, he served the country that he loved.
13:39 So he was basically, he was training other people as well.
13:42 He was very good in what he did,
13:45 and he was training other people at the same time.
13:47 He was a bit of a, as you can say,
13:50 he was very, very, he was into, you know,
13:54 looking after his health,
13:55 and he was very big and very, you know, sturdy person.
13:59 And whenever they needed, you know,
14:01 whenever the army obviously needed someone of that caliber,
14:04 they would always go to my grandfather,
14:06 and, you know, ask him for his help and his expertise.
14:11 I have been in England for a long, long time.
14:14 When I first went to Pakistan was when I was 17.
14:18 And then obviously I met my grandfather then.
14:21 I was very happy.
14:22 And he, from since day one, whenever I used to see him,
14:26 he was always telling me, you know,
14:27 look after your health, look after your health,
14:29 and do whatever you can to keep yourself fit and healthy.
14:32 But when he left the British army,
14:34 he kept that momentum going.
14:36 And absolutely, I think the way that my dad,
14:38 my granddad gave me advice,
14:40 I think that has made me the person who I am today.
14:43 And everyone, he was a loving person.
14:44 Everyone loved him so much.
14:46 And when he passed away,
14:48 it was a big loss for us as an entire family.
14:51 - So my name is Samuel Dhirwadi,
15:02 and I was born in Mauritius,
15:04 and served with the armed forces.
15:05 Been involved for 23 years now.
15:08 I'm special today with helping the Commonwealth citizen
15:12 in the armed forces to transition and progress their career
15:16 during and after the military.
15:18 My grandfather, Marde Dhirwadi,
15:21 served in World War II in North Africa, for Mauritius.
15:25 So I remember I was quite young when he talked about this.
15:28 And we have lots of pictures,
15:31 and it was something that really was deep for him.
15:33 It was very important for him to serve
15:36 as a Mauritian citizen during World War II.
15:39 - So, you know, we've had 2.5 million Commonwealth
15:44 serving during the wars.
15:47 And we've got the Commonwealth grave.
15:49 The biggest Commonwealth grave
15:50 is where I live now in Southampton.
15:51 And it's important that we also have the stories
15:56 of those people.
15:58 I don't think it's been shared enough,
16:00 the stories of those guys who sacrificed a lot
16:03 and having to work in almost a foreign army to them.
16:08 And abiding to the rules, regulations.
16:12 So it was an easy time.
16:13 I served probably in the best of times,
16:16 although we were involved in two wars when I joined in,
16:19 but they were short notice, not trained,
16:22 and they still did their best.
16:23 So I think as a country,
16:25 we got to really find out those stories
16:30 and really capitalize on the legacy,
16:33 the trend that's been forged
16:35 between the UK and its Commonwealth.
16:38 When you look up in history,
16:40 you will find out the Rhodesia
16:42 was involved with DDL ending.
16:44 So there is a lot of people who were involved at the time
16:48 from Rhodesia army, Zimbabwe now,
16:52 who were involved and are still serving there.
16:54 I've got lots of colleagues and friends
16:56 who are from Zimbabwe and still serving
16:59 in the British Armed Forces.
17:01 So I'm ex-military.
17:03 I served in the Jamaica Defence Force for nine years.
17:07 I left at the rank of captain.
17:10 And a few years after I came here to live, to study.
17:15 So I've been living here for about 31 years.
17:21 The call went out to the Caribbean, the West Indies,
17:27 and these men actually volunteered.
17:31 There were about 20,000 men and women
17:36 who served the British Armed Forces
17:40 during the Second World War.
17:42 Many of them actually served,
17:45 most of them actually served in the Royal Air Force
17:50 as ground crew.
17:51 There were about 450 to 500 who were air crew
17:56 to include some fantastic, brilliant flying officers.
18:01 So yeah, the majority of them were instrument mechanics,
18:10 working on radar, repairing airplanes
18:15 when they went out and came back and were damaged.
18:18 But there are some pilots who made their mark
18:26 in the RF.
18:26 And some of these guys actually went on
18:30 to be the leaders in the Caribbean,
18:34 in the West Indies after the war.
18:37 - So I can understand in those days,
18:40 the colonials didn't recognize the efforts
18:43 of the colony people who lived in the colony they conquered.
18:48 And how many years is that ago?
18:51 Why is it not being written and published?
18:55 Why is it not in the history books?
18:57 That's really what upsets me as a historian
19:00 who used to teach history,
19:02 didn't teach anything about the black Africans
19:05 or Caribbeans or Indians or people from the colony
19:09 who were involved in fighting wars for the British colony.
19:14 And yet they were forced into the war
19:18 to go out in density, forced.
19:23 Why is it not written in the history books?
19:26 And the children are growing up
19:28 and their parents have grown up,
19:30 not knowing about the efforts made by the people
19:35 that they now think have come here
19:37 to take all the welfare services,
19:41 welfare gratuities,
19:46 without realizing how much more they gave
19:50 and continue to give over hundreds of years.
19:55 That is a history that should be recognized,
19:58 not just recognized and written by prominent people
20:02 like David Olusegun,
20:04 but actually written to the history curriculum
20:09 so that children are taught and they learn
20:12 that we've been here for several hundreds of years
20:16 and we contribute to the makeup of the country.
20:21 - Yeah, it's difficult because, you know,
20:23 myself and my family, you know, we all grew up together
20:28 and there was never once an issue with skin color
20:33 because we're all the same family
20:37 and that should be the same all round.
20:38 I mean, and even now everybody should be regarded
20:42 as the same family, the human race.
20:46 And it shouldn't be sort of just
20:49 because you've got a different color skin
20:51 that you should be regarded as anything else.
20:53 - D-Day really means the start of a particular operation,
21:00 but it also, it's not something that happens in a vacuum.
21:06 And so whatever was the end result of the war,
21:14 we know that we played a part in it.
21:19 And just like in any sort of mission,
21:25 but in any walks of life,
21:28 those who continue to support the mission
21:34 are equally important as those who were there at the start.
21:42 And so for us, it is a landmark on the celebration
21:46 of what we took part in to know that the freedom
21:51 that we now enjoy, we were a part of it.
21:55 - And I think it's very, very important
22:00 that the people nowadays, they realize
22:02 and they understand that, you know,
22:04 even the people which was Pakistan, India today,
22:10 when they served in the British army,
22:12 they did it wholeheartedly.
22:14 And it's very important that they are remembered
22:17 as well as the British army,
22:19 that they are remembered on these days as well.
22:22 It's very important that obviously people
22:25 like my grandfather and the people of, you know,
22:30 in Indian ethnicities and Sikhs and Hindus.
22:35 And it's very important that even
22:37 them people are remembered on this D-Day
22:40 because they served their country at that time
22:43 and they were proud of it.
22:44 And we should be proud of what they did
22:46 at that time as well.
22:47 - Yeah.
22:48 But it seems to me the lives of those who fought
22:53 in those two great wars are not really commemorated
22:58 as they do with all the other people.
23:01 You know, it's, why is there no celebration
23:06 why is there no one reading something about them
23:11 on the Guildhall steps?
23:14 These days, they're much positive in London and all that.
23:18 I feel full, I feel satisfied that they're part of that.
23:23 But where are they commemorated?
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