When War Came Home: Leicester’s Forgotten GI Race Riot of 1944

[Guest Bilo]

https://masterbombercraig.wordpress.com/w-c-ajl-craig/gaddesbey-hall-residence/gis-at-gaddesby/

 

In the shadow of the Second World War, while Europe braced for liberation and the skies above England thundered with the buildup to D-Day, a different kind of battle was fought — not against fascism, but against racism. And Leicester was one of its unexpected frontlines.

 

By early 1944, more than a million American servicemen were stationed in Britain — including over 12,000 in Leicestershire. Among them were segregated units: Black Quartermasters and Ordnance troops had been in the area for months, helping set up infrastructure for the coming Allied invasion. They found, for the first time in their lives, a society without legally enforced segregation. Local people — at first curious, then friendly — welcomed them into homes, pubs, and dance halls.

 

But that uneasy peace shattered with the arrival of the 82nd Airborne Division, an elite all-white combat unit drawn heavily from the deeply segregated Southern states of the U.S. They came not only with parachutes and boots, but also with entrenched racial attitudes — attitudes that didn’t sit well in British pubs or on Leicester’s dance floors.

 

On the night of 28 February 1944, violence erupted between white and Black American troops in central Leicester. At least 12 U.S. servicemen were stabbed in what was later described by some as the first modern race riot. The American Red Cross Club on Granby Street — a key hub for off-duty GIs — was wrecked. The next day, white paratroopers were issued passes and flooded the streets in what many believe was a sanctioned retaliation.

 

British witnesses recall bottles, bricks, and fists flying, and remember Military Police turning their batons on both Black and white soldiers alike. 

 

Then came 1 May 1944 — another eruption, this time deadly. Outside the Dixie Arms pub on Humberstone Road (a name that held dark significance for Southern GIs), a clash left two American servicemen dead. Corporal Arthur Abrams, a white Jewish MP from the 82nd, was stabbed in the neck and died. Private Curtis Edward “Bucky” Phares, also of the 82nd, was said to have died of “self-inflicted wounds” — a classification many, including his family, dispute to this day.

 

The pub had been deemed off-limits to Black soldiers, yet tensions reportedly escalated when Black troops attempted to enter — possibly in defiance, possibly in error. Some reports claim Black soldiers broke into an armoury and attempted to return to Leicester, prompting roadblocks and a swift transfer of their units to Kettering.

 

Despite expectations from the American military that locals would support their racial order, many Leicester residents stood firmly with the Black troops. White MPs were often seen trying to enforce segregation in pubs and cinemas — only to be pushed back, sometimes physically, by locals.

 

Trevor Green, who grew up across from Braunstone Park, remembered his family siding instinctively with the Black GIs. Another local man told how he and friends took on white Americans who were abusing a Black soldier at Stoughton Aerodrome: “We half-wrecked the place. It wasn’t right.”

 

Dance halls like those in Oadby and Leicester’s city centre became cultural battlegrounds too, with Black troops jiving and jitterbugging with local girls — and white soldiers seething with resentment.

 

The U.S. military quickly suppressed reports of the violence. Official records classified the events as “no crime.” Phares’ death was explained away, and the American authorities quietly shipped many Black units out of the region. When Phares’ body was repatriated in 1947, his grieving family were given little information — and had to write again in 1951 to get confirmation that his death had not been due to misconduct.

 

This chapter of wartime Leicester history remains largely untold. But those who lived through it remember it clearly. The tensions, the fights, the sense of injustice — and the pride in knowing that, for many in Leicester, when the choice came, they stood with those being oppressed. 

 

In modern Leicester, a city proud of its diversity and history of standing against intolerance, this story deserves more than a footnote. It’s a reminder that the fight for freedom in WWII wasn’t only waged across the Channel — it happened here, in the pubs, streets, and hearts of ordinary people.

 

 

 

Edited 30 May 2025 by Bilo

[indierich06]

What a city ❤️

[Foxdiamond]

1 hour ago, Bilo said:

https://masterbombercraig.wordpress.com/w-c-ajl-craig/gaddesbey-hall-residence/gis-at-gaddesby/

 

In the shadow of the Second World War, while Europe braced for liberation and the skies above England thundered with the buildup to D-Day, a different kind of battle was fought — not against fascism, but against racism. And Leicester was one of its unexpected frontlines.

 

By early 1944, more than a million American servicemen were stationed in Britain — including over 12,000 in Leicestershire. Among them were segregated units: Black Quartermasters and Ordnance troops had been in the area for months, helping set up infrastructure for the coming Allied invasion. They found, for the first time in their lives, a society without legally enforced segregation. Local people — at first curious, then friendly — welcomed them into homes, pubs, and dance halls.

 

But that uneasy peace shattered with the arrival of the 82nd Airborne Division, an elite all-white combat unit drawn heavily from the deeply segregated Southern states of the U.S. They came not only with parachutes and boots, but also with entrenched racial attitudes — attitudes that didn’t sit well in British pubs or on Leicester’s dance floors.

 

On the night of 28 February 1944, violence erupted between white and Black American troops in central Leicester. At least 12 U.S. servicemen were stabbed in what was later described by some as the first modern race riot. The American Red Cross Club on Granby Street — a key hub for off-duty GIs — was wrecked. The next day, white paratroopers were issued passes and flooded the streets in what many believe was a sanctioned retaliation.

 

British witnesses recall bottles, bricks, and fists flying, and remember Military Police turning their batons on both Black and white soldiers alike. 

 

Then came 1 May 1944 — another eruption, this time deadly. Outside the Dixie Arms pub on Humberstone Road (a name that held dark significance for Southern GIs), a clash left two American servicemen dead. Corporal Arthur Abrams, a white Jewish MP from the 82nd, was stabbed in the neck and died. Private Curtis Edward “Bucky” Phares, also of the 82nd, was said to have died of “self-inflicted wounds” — a classification many, including his family, dispute to this day.

 

The pub had been deemed off-limits to Black soldiers, yet tensions reportedly escalated when Black troops attempted to enter — possibly in defiance, possibly in error. Some reports claim Black soldiers broke into an armoury and attempted to return to Leicester, prompting roadblocks and a swift transfer of their units to Kettering.

 

Despite expectations from the American military that locals would support their racial order, many Leicester residents stood firmly with the Black troops. White MPs were often seen trying to enforce segregation in pubs and cinemas — only to be pushed back, sometimes physically, by locals.

 

Trevor Green, who grew up across from Braunstone Park, remembered his family siding instinctively with the Black GIs. Another local man told how he and friends took on white Americans who were abusing a Black soldier at Stoughton Aerodrome: “We half-wrecked the place. It wasn’t right.”

 

Dance halls like those in Oadby and Leicester’s city centre became cultural battlegrounds too, with Black troops jiving and jitterbugging with local girls — and white soldiers seething with resentment.

 

The U.S. military quickly suppressed reports of the violence. Official records classified the events as “no crime.” Phares’ death was explained away, and the American authorities quietly shipped many Black units out of the region. When Phares’ body was repatriated in 1947, his grieving family were given little information — and had to write again in 1951 to get confirmation that his death had not been due to misconduct.

 

This chapter of wartime Leicester history remains largely untold. But those who lived through it remember it clearly. The tensions, the fights, the sense of injustice — and the pride in knowing that, for many in Leicester, when the choice came, they stood with those being oppressed. 

 

In modern Leicester, a city proud of its diversity and history of standing against intolerance, this story deserves more than a footnote. It’s a reminder that the fight for freedom in WWII wasn’t only waged across the Channel — it happened here, in the pubs, streets, and hearts of ordinary people.

 

 

 

This deserves to be as well known as the Bamber Bridge event in Lancashire 

[Torquay Gunner]

Racist white US soldiers going over to Germany to fight facism has to be one of the most staggering ironies of all time. Respect to those British people up and down the country, who refused to stand back and do nothing.  

[leicsmac]

39 minutes ago, Torquay Gunner said:

Racist white US soldiers going over to Germany to fight facism has to be one of the most staggering ironies of all time. Respect to those British people up and down the country, who refused to stand back and do nothing.  

Yep.

 

Also bear in mind that attitudes towards race and ideology in the US were such that they barely lifted a finger against fascism in Europe until Japan forced their hand and Germany made the terrible strategic error of declaring war upon them immediately afterwards. 

[Guest Bilo]

1 hour ago, Torquay Gunner said:

Racist white US soldiers going over to Germany to fight facism has to be one of the most staggering ironies of all time. Respect to those British people up and down the country, who refused to stand back and do nothing.  

Interestingly, Jesse Owens faced less segregation at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin than he did at home in the US. 

[Torquay Gunner]

1 hour ago, Bilo said:

Interestingly, Jesse Owens faced less segregation at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin than he did at home in the US. 

Very true, shame that Owens was perceived as an uncle Tom in later life for not backing the activism of certain black athletes in 1968. 

[Guest Bilo]

Just now, Torquay Gunner said:

Very true, shame that Owens was perceived as an uncle Tom in later life for not backing the activism of certain black athletes in 1968. 

He was a lifelong Republican, wasn't he? A very interesting character who seemingly opposed much of what he is now seen to embody.

[Torquay Gunner]

18 minutes ago, Bilo said:

He was a lifelong Republican, wasn't he? A very interesting character who seemingly opposed much of what he is now seen to embody.

Yes he was, even in the 60’s when LBJ signed the civil rights bills. 

[Guest Bilo]

1 hour ago, Torquay Gunner said:

Yes he was, even in the 60’s when LBJ signed the civil rights bills. 

He was also opposed to the Smith and Carlos Black Power salute at the Mexico City games in 1968. A complicated chap, really.

[Torquay Gunner]

12 minutes ago, Bilo said:

He was also opposed to the Smith and Carlos Black Power salute at the Mexico City games in 1968. A complicated chap, really.

Owens believed in the Booker T Washington approach to equal rights.  So basically move slowly, don’t upset the white race too much, work hard and eventually that will reap it’s own reward. Black power at that time was the opposite of that for him.