Project reveals 'forgotten' WW2 US Red Cross women

Research into the lives of American Red Cross servicewomen in Britain during World War Two is already uncovering "largely forgotten" stories within weeks of starting.

Thousands of women came to the UK to run clubs for the US forces, yet "we really hadn't delved into their lives and personal stories," said historian Hattie Hearn.

The Imperial War Museum project began in January with the names of 100 women and has added more than 400 to that list so far.

Dr Hearn, from the museum at Duxford, Cambridgeshire, hopes families will contribute memories, photographs and memorabilia "to preserve this history before it's lost".

"Their stories have largely been forgotten, so the aim is to bring them to life, to learn more about these women and the impact they had, not only on the morale of the Americans based here, but also on the local British people who came in contact with them," she added.

"We particularly hadn't done any research around the lives of the black American women who served with the American Red Cross."

The American Red Cross was a civilian organisation set up in the 19th Century which became involved in supporting the welfare of service personnel.

During World War One, it was sent to the UK to set up service clubs for US forces and performed the same role during World War Two.

East Anglia, with its airfields, was a particular hub, with clubs at Norwich, Ipswich and Sudbury in Suffolk, as well as smaller towns like Royston, Hertfordshire.

Dr Hearn, who is the curator of the American Air Museum, said: "Hundreds of thousands of Americans poured into the region to fly from these airfields - at its peak 500,000 Americans were serving here - and the American Red Cross expanded at an equally fast rate."

US society was divided by racial segregation - black people were denied equal rights under the "Jim Crow" laws, which remained in place in the southern states until the 1960s.

While the organisation did not have an official policy of segregation, unlike the US forces, in practice "only black Americans went to black clubs", said Dr Hearn.

"The American Red Cross employed British women, including Elizabeth Berwick, whose parents were from the Caribbean," she said, about one of the first stories unearthed by the project's four volunteers.

"Her marriage to York Batley, a supply sergeant from a segregated Engineer Aviation Battalion, made the news in the US and she is believed to be the first British woman to marry a black American in the UK."

American military policy was to uphold segregation and forbid the marriages of black Americans and white British women - but as Elizabeth Berwick was black, "that made the marriage more acceptable".

Another rediscovered story was that of Hazel Dixon Payne, who was studying for her PhD when she became an early recruit to the American Red Cross.

She was the first black woman to travel to Alaska with the organisation, where the Army Corps of Engineers was sent to build the Alcan Highway in 1942, said Dr Hearn.

On arrival in London in July 1944, she became a field director, but died on 11 October after minor surgery, "becoming the first black American Red Cross volunteer to die in overseas service".

"She was buried in England with full military honours, there was an outpouring of grief at the time and Lady Nancy Astor [the American-born first woman MP] even sent a letter of commendation to Hazel's mother," said Dr Hearn.

Mrs Dixon Payne's name will now be added to the museum's roll of honour.

A World War Two innovation was the clubmobile service, which were travelling service clubs that visited airfields at least once a week.

Dr Hearn said: "London Green Line buses were initially requisitioned, kitted out with doughnut-making and coffee machines, with lounges in the back, offering what they called a taste of home, and most importantly, offering airmen the chance to talk to American women."

The crew of Clubmobile Massachusetts were among 43 black women working in Britain with the American Red Cross in early 1943.

They visited many of Suffolk's airfields, including RAF Debach, near Woodbridge, where the Aviation Engineering Battalions were building US airbases through until 1944.

Clarice Brooks was the crew captain, alongside Pericles McDuffie and Camille Jones.

Miss Jones later became the director of a club in Basingstoke, Hampshire, but resigned from the organisation after she witnessed a black American soldier being attacked by three white Americans while escorting a British woman home.

"The victim, Lt Jeffers, was charged with assault - Camille said, 'I see us fighting fascists but not fascist principles, for in our midst we continue to harbour doctrines of racial supremacy which belie the cause for which we are fighting'," said Dr Hearn.

She added that the stories revealed so far were "just the tip of the iceberg" in a project expected to last into next year. It hopes to attract more volunteers, including from the United States.

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