During WWII, the sailors of the British merchant navy played a vital role keeping the UK fed and armed. They carried essential supplies across the treacherous Atlantic - and many paid with their lives. What's less well known is that many of those sailors were Chinese - volunteers who came to Britain to help the war effort. Joe Phillip's father was one of those seamen, and after the war he returned to Liverpool to rejoin his wife and children. But shortly after returning home, he disappeared without a trace.
The mystery of what happened to him, and hundreds of other Chinese sailors who also vanished, is only now being solved - thanks to newly released Government papers. In this exclusive History Hit investigation we tell the story of those brave men and the families they left behind, and reveal the shocking truth hidden in those files.
Up Next in World Wars
-
D-Day - 24 Hours in Normandy
At 07.37 on 6th June 1944, the ramps of the landing craft carrying the men of A and D companies 6th battalion Green Howards went down, and the men stormed up the beaches.
It was D-Day.
Now Dr James Rogers is going to put D-Day under the microscope, following in the footsteps of the men of the ...
-
More Than A Medal
A century-old injustice needs to be corrected. “More Than a Medal,” follows the extraordinary story of researchers working against time, exploring previously untold heroic stories from the battlefields of France, and the experience of modern-day descendants as they maintain cautious hope of reco...
-
Alan Turing: The Pride of Manchester
A special film exploring the life and legacy of Alan Turing - genius pioneer of modern computing. With Alan's nephew Sir Dermot Turing and exclusive access to unseen family records, we investigate lesser known aspects of his incredible work. This story is rooted in the City of Manchester, home t...
17 Comments