Ghanaian WWII veteran says Western colonialists ‘failed us’
(MENAFN) Joseph Ashitey Hammond, Ghana’s last living World War II veteran, has criticized the colonial powers for abandoning African soldiers who served in the Allied forces, saying they were “failed” by the promises made to them. In an interview with RT, Hammond reflected on his experience as one of the 65,000 Ghanaians who fought under British command when the country, then known as the Gold Coast, was a British colony.
Hammond joined the Royal West African Frontier Force at 18, lured by British promises of pay, pensions, jobs, and post-war support including housing and healthcare. “We joined willingly after school,” he said. His unit fought in Burma against Japanese forces, helping to prevent their advance into India.
Describing the horrors of war, Hammond said, “War is satanic... it’s never good.” He suffered an eye injury in combat and returned home in 1945, only to discover that the promised benefits never materialized. Many veterans, including Hammond, were left jobless and destitute, with some forced to beg for food. “It was a master-servant relationship… they promised, but they failed us,” he stated.
In 1948, Hammond and fellow veterans organized a peaceful protest at Christiansborg Castle to demand the promised compensation. The demonstration ended in tragedy when colonial police opened fire under the orders of British officer Colin Imray, killing three ex-servicemen and injuring over 60. The violent crackdown, known as the Crossroads Shooting, sparked widespread outrage and became a key moment in Ghana’s path toward independence, which it achieved in 1957 as the first sub-Saharan African country to break free from colonial rule.
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