‘What’s all this, Sergeant?’ Hank Henry demanded, climbing from the jeep, a brisk nod to his driver to wait nearby. ‘What’s going on?’ He was a big man, a tough, brash man, good at his job and feared by many.

‘I’m afraid we have some trouble, Major,’ the sergeant said as Hank Henry joined him. He looked down at the Negro soldier. ‘This man is dead.’

Hank Henry knelt beside the body, made a cursory examination only, then stood and barked a command. ‘This man is not dead,’ he said, ‘order an ambulance immediately and take him to the military hospital.’

‘But, sir …’ The sergeant was at a loss for words, his incredulity even causing him to stammer a little. ‘But, sir … he has no pulse. He’s dead! He’s been stabbed in the heart.’

‘You heard me, Sergeant,’ Hank Henry barked for all to hear, ‘order that goddamned ambulance immediately.’ He then lowered his voice to a whisper. ‘Would you like to be the one to explain this man’s death to General MacArthur?’ he queried scathingly. ‘The killing of an American soldier by another American soldier on friendly foreign soil? That sort of publicity would not go down at all well here, Sergeant. And back home it’d cause a fucking furore. This business will be kept strictly under wraps.’

He turned heel and with a wave to his driver, strode off towards the jeep.

The sergeant’s incredulity was shared by several of his subordinates, who, although not within hearing of the major’s whispered exchange, had gathered the gist of what was going on. And the general feeling among them was, ‘Would this death be kept a secret if the soldier was white?’

The men were shocked. But little did they know, this was nothing compared to what lay ahead.

PART TWO

THE SOLDIERS

CHAPTER SIX

The 96th Battalion US Army Corps of Engineers (Coloured) arrived in Townsville aboard the 12,000-tonne SS Santa Clara on 10 April 1942.

The men, over a thousand in all, had embarked upon their voyage in Brooklyn, New York, sharing the supply ship with the 576th Dump Truck Company and around 200 doctors. Travelling to Australia under escort via the Panama Canal, they’d arrived in Brisbane on 6 April.

The doctors had disembarked in Brisbane and the vessel had remained in port for several further days while cargo was unloaded and restacked. During this time, the 96th Battalion’s white officers were able to take leave in shifts and go into the city, but the black troops were not granted any such R and R rights. The black troops were ordered to remain on board at all times, and were taken ashore only for heavily regimented, cross-country hikes, carefully avoiding the city. Whether these cross-country hikes were for the purpose of physical-fitness training or in order to distract the men from the injustice being served upon them was anyone’s guess, but the tack did not work psychologically.