Battle of Bamber Bridge: Call-out for witnesses to share stories on 80th anniversary

The call-out for stories has been made by theatre company Stockroom, who are looking at a new project based on the events to be run at the Octagon Theatre in Bolton.

To inform their research and development week taking place from February 20 to 24, the Stockroom team want to speak to local people with insights into the battle in June 1943, which was an outbreak of US racial violence on British soil.

CLICK here for information on a documentary being made about the battle

The company are looking for people who used to hear relatives talk about it, a historian with a local interest or even someone old enough to remember witnessing the events first-hand.

Stockroom Chief Executive, Martin Derbyshire said: "This is a story that we’ve been talking about as a team for a few years now and we’re excited to learn more. It feels like it’s an important story for the history of the North West and the Second World War and a story that very much speaks to people today.

"Despite having done extensive reading on the history, we’re going into this research with an open mind to learn about what really happened and we’d love to speak to anyone who has a story they’d like to share, particularly anyone who remembers their parents or grandparents talking about what happened."

What happened in June 1943?

During the Second World War thousands of US troops were stationed in the UK, to take part in operations on the European front.

As part of this, Bamber Bridge hosted American servicemen from the 1511th Quartermaster Truck regiment of the US Eighth Airforce.

At that time, the US military was still segregated and the 1511th ranks were entirely Black with all but one of the officers white.

Whilst welcomed by the locals, the Black troops came from a still largely segregated society and on the night of June 24, 1943, tensions erupted into a violent clash between white US military Police stationed nearby and the Black troops.

Bullets were exchanged and one black soldier, Private William Crossland, was killed, and four people were wounded. Shooting continued until around 4am the next morning.

How to get in touch

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