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WW2's forgotten heroes: The brave exploits of black and Asian soldiers have been overlooked, says Idris Elba. His new show aims to redress that
While movies such as The Great Escape have immortalised the heroism of white British and US soldiers during the war, very little is known of heroics performed by black and Asian soldiers.
A cook with the American Navy, Doris Miller, 22, was serving on USS West Virginia at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii when the ship was torpedoed by the Japanese in December 1941. Their reputation grew, and as historian Professor Yohuru Williams explains, 'Their white counterparts wanted the 761st attached to their unit because they'd heard about the proficiency of these fearsome fighters.' Pearl Harbor hero George Bland was thrown off a bus while on leave in North Carolina in 1944, after refusing to move to the back to make way for two white German PoWs.
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