Historical Video: 1944 ‘West Indies Calling’
This film, made in 1944 during the Second World War by the British Ministry of Information, West Indians and Bermudians are lauded for supporting the war effort, with the commentator saying “The West Indians have come over to help us.” Bermudians in the armed forces, with their distinctive “Bermuda” shoulder flashes, appear throughout the film. Pictured below is an unidentified female soldier with a Bermuda shoulder flash.
Hundreds of Bermudians volunteered for overseas wartime service in the global conflict, both in the military and in civilian positions supporting the war effort.
They tell listeners of a popular BBC wartime radio series, “Calling the West Indies”, how people from Bermuda and the Caribbean are supporting all aspects of the war effort against the Facist powers of Germany and Japan.
Watch the video, filmed some 70 years ago, below:
A group of West Indians, led by Jamaican activist Una Marson and legendary West Indies bowler Learie Constantine, assemble at Broadcasting House in London. Produced shortly after the Allied landings in Nazi-occupied France in 1944, Mr. Constantine speaks about factory workers, and introduces some war-workers, including Ulric Cross, a bomber navigator from Trinidad. Mr. Cross tells of his missions with the Royal Air Force and Belizean Carlton Fairweather introduces lumbermen from British Honduras.
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