Documentary Follows Man’s Quest to Identify WWII GI Father

A new documentary chronicles one man’s endeavor to locate his African-American father. Terry Harrison, a Leicester resident, is among approximately 2,000 individuals known as “brown babies,” born during World War Two to African-American fathers and British mothers. The film, titled Terry’s GI Dad, documents his trip to South Carolina, an emotional effort to find his father and gain insight into the experiences of African-American soldiers stationed in Britain during the conflict. Mr. Harrison characterized the discovery of his father’s true identity and his reunion with his two half-sisters as an “amazing experience”. The documentary, which also features Mr. Harrison’s visits to Washington D.C. and the Normandy beaches in northern France, will debut on Wednesday at the University of Leicester. Born in 1944, Mr. Harrison’s birth followed his mother’s encounter with one of the approximately 250,000 African-American soldiers serving in the U.S. military, who was stationed in Gaddesby, a village near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire. Despite never knowing his GI father, Mr. Harrison, 80, pursued a military career, serving as a Royal Marines Commando. However, the absence of knowledge regarding his biological father created a void in his life, prompting him to seek information about his heritage. He stated: “There were very few people of colour at the time so it was quite unusual.” “I had a fantastic mother who stood her ground. Mum could have given me and my sister away for adoption.” “But as I grew a little bit older, I wanted to know more about my dad. I began to feel different.” Following his mother’s death in 1985, Mr. Harrison discovered information about a man named John Hendricks among her belongings. He remarked: “When I saw this, I thought wow.” Dr. Liam McCarthy of the University of Leicester, who first met Mr. Harrison in the 1980s and became aware of his narrative approximately ten years ago, commented: “Terry wrote to the American military and asked for details of him and back came a folder.” The folder contained a letter from Mr. Harrison’s mother inquiring about Mr. Hendricks’s demise. The military indicated that Mr. Hendricks had been killed by white American soldiers during a traffic stop in Britain while he was operating a truck. Court martial records revealed that the white soldier responsible for the shooting was exonerated. However, a DNA test conducted during the film’s production disclosed that Mr. Harrison’s father was not the individual his mother had thought. Instead, Mr. Harrison traced his lineage to Staff Sgt. Vander Lee Ellis from South Carolina, another soldier who had been stationed in Leicestershire, and has since reconnected with his half-sisters. He stated: “I went to see my dad’s grave and when I arrived there, I was greeted by two sisters. It was an amazing experience.” Mr. Harrison’s narrative represents one of many accounts shared by children of African-American soldiers who remained in Britain after the war, a significant number of whom never located their fathers. Dr. McCarthy commented: “Black lives clearly didn’t matter at the time. The US army was segregated until 1948 into white units and black units.” “But when they came to Britain, they weren’t segregated. They were very polite and that endeared them to the British public.” “They had friendships, they had romantic liaisons with white British women, and Terry is one of about 2,000 babies born to black soldiers and white British women.” “They call themselves brown babies and they’re very proud of the name.” Terry’s GI Dad is scheduled for screening at 17:30 GMT in the Attenborough Building at the University of Leicester, coinciding with Black History Month.