The human legacy of American troops in Leicester
The story of American soldiers in Leicester during World War Two is well known, as are the many wartime romances and the story of GI brides who married Americans and left the city at the end of the war.
However new research by Master’s student Liam McCarthy, of the School of History, is looking to build a picture of the human legacy of the Americans in Leicester – the babies left behind in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland by American fathers.
Liam is keen to track down and interview both the children with American fathers who will now be just into their seventies, and local people who can recall romances with both the black and white GIs in Leicester.
One key element in the research is to pull together photographs from local primary schools of first year infant classes from 1949 and 1950 and photographs of local day nurseries from 1943 – 1948 that may exist in private collections.
Liam can be contacted by email lmm40@le.ac.uk