In 1942 a troop of American GIs marched down Wetmore Road in Burton-on Trent and took over the warehouses that dominated the area.
They were Company 'C' from the 244 Quartermaster Battalion, also known as the 3264th.

Now, in a BBC programme to mark the 60th anniversary of VE Day, the daughter of one of the black soldiers stationed there returns - to see the town her father served in.

Lost family
Rachel James, who was born in America after her father returned home and started a new family, is hoping her visit will spark memories.
She is particularly keen to find clues to the war-time family that her father, Rempson Miller, left behind in England.

Rempson died in 1979. In old age he told Rachel the secret of his English family, and explained that he had to keep them a secret because of the severe race laws in his home state of North Carolina. It was illegal at that time for a black man to marry a white woman.

Now Rachel would like to find her English half-brothers or sisters and tell them what her father could not, that "I did love you and I am sorry you had to grow up without me."

Wetmore Road
She has heard accounts, handed down by Rempson's war-time buddies of a Fish and Chip shop in Wetmore Road.
One account says that her father knew a girl, possibly called Joyce or Linda, who worked there, and that the eldest child could be called Iris.

Another story was that for a time Rempson was billeted in a house "by the water". Could that be near the canal not far from Wetmore Road?

Rachel does not have a surname or even know if her father's girlfriend was actually from a Burton-on-Trent family.
She was told that the last time Rempson saw his English family was after he was wounded in France and was on his way home to the US. His eldest child clung to his leg and said, "Daddy don't go."

Can you help?
The BBC programme about Rachel and her search goes under the banner of The People's War, part of a growing archive of memories of war-time Britain being built up on the BBC's web site, and now on television as well.

Rachel James' story is already on the People's War website - you can read it all by clicking on 'My Father's "Brown Babies'- but the BBC are hoping that the story will have a new ending once you have read this.

Do you know a Linda from wartime who worked in the chip shop? - one of Rempson's friends went out with her a few times.
Perhaps you are Rachel's half-sister of brother - would you want to get in touch?

A BBC researcher, Laura Feilden, is waiting to hear from you and all enquiries will be dealt with in confidence.
Just email Laura with a telephone number that she can contact you on.

The People's War
And, if you have other memories or a story to do with the Second World War, then you may want to submit your story to the BBC too.

The organisation is compiling an everlasting archive of peoples' memories on ANYTHING to do with that period in history, whether it's stories of american GIs, life as a child during the conflict, or having to stay at home as a miner or farmer while your friends went to war.

Log on to the Peoples' War Website for more details.
If you are in the East Staffordshire area, you can call the BBC Area Action Desk which has a hints and tips sheet for you if you need some pointers to help yourself or your friends and relatives get their story on the site - just call 01332 370707.