Johnny Smythe was one of very few West Africans to fly with Britain's air force during WW2. Recruited in Sierra Leone in 1941 he was trained as a navigator and flew 26 missions on RAF bombers before being shot down over Germany and taken prisoner in 1943. His son Eddy Smythe spoke to Tim Stokes about his father’s story. Photo: Johnny Smythe in his RAF uniform. Copyright: Eddy Smythe.

The WW2 airman from Sierra Leone

History as told by the people who were there.

History

Society & Culture

Major Charity Adams was the first African-American woman to lead a World War Two battalion. It was known as the Six-Triple-Eight (6888). The 6888 was a majority African-American women’s unit, the women sorted through mountains of post across Europe, using the motto: 'No Mail, Low Morale'. Charity went on to become lieutenant colonel, the highest possible rank for women in her unit. She died in 2002. Her son, Stanley Earley, speaks to Marverine Cole. This was a Soundtruism production for the BBC World Service. (Photo: American Women's Army Corps Captain Mary Kearney and American Commanding Officer Major Charity Adams inspect the first arrivals to the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion   Credit. Archive Photos/Getty Images)

Major Charity Adams and the Six-Triple-Eight

On 18 April 2014, an avalanche on Mount Everest killed 16 men, who were carrying supplies for commercial expeditions to higher camps. The sherpas were on the Khumbu Icefall, just above Base Camp in Nepal, when the avalanche happened. It resulted in the climbing season being cancelled and sherpas demanding better working conditions on the mountain. Lakpa Rita Sherpa helped dig bodies of his dead colleagues out of the ice, before transporting them home to their families. He speaks to Laura Jones. (Photo: The south-west face of Mount Everest and the Khumbu icefall. Credit: Eye Ubiquitous/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Deadly Everest avalanche

The 2014 Ebola outbreak devastated West Africa, killing more than 11,000 people over a two year period. One country that suffered was Sierra Leone. The disease started in Guinea, but quickly spread to neighbouring countries.  Before May 2014, there had never been an outbreak of Ebola in Sierra Leone. By autumn that year, burial teams were struggling to keep up with the number of corpses that needed burying.  Dan Hardoon speaks to Yusuf Kabba, an Ebola survivor from Sierra Leone. (Photo: Headstones in the Waterloo Ebola Graveyard, Sierra Leone. Credit:  HUGH KINSELLA CUNNINGHAM/AFP via Getty Images)

West Africa's Ebola virus epidemic

When the train service between India and Bangladesh was suspended in 1965, following war between Pakistan and India, it lay dormant for 43 years. But in a day of celebration in 2008, the Maitree (or Friendship) Express rumbled into life and connected the two countries once more. In 2020, Farhana Haider spoke to Dr Azad Chowdhury who was on the inaugural train journey.  (Photo: Crowds line the tracks for the train’s first journey. Credit: STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images)

The friendship train: Connecting India and Bangladesh

A group of men known as the ‘Cairo 52’ were arrested in Egypt in May 2001. They were on board the Queen Boat, a floating gay nightclub on the River Nile. Omer, not his real name, was arrested and imprisoned for habitual debauchery. There is no explicit law against homosexuality in Egypt and Omer was released early following the orders of US president at the time, George W Bush.  Omer speaks to Dan Hardoon about the arrest and its aftermath – in graphic detail. (Photo: Some of the 'Cairo 52', dressed in white with their faces covered, being escorted by security into a court in Cairo. Credit: Marwan Naamani/Getty Images)

The WW2 airman from Sierra Leone

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