The BBC celebrates Africa’s forgotten wartime heroes for VJ Day.

The contribution of West Africans was played down in official versions of the Allied war in Asia, and until now, few have had an opportunity to tell their tale.

In fact, only two in 10 of the soldiers who fought in Burma were white.

The article tells a story of a soldier who was forced by the British to join the military at age 16. His name also was changed by the colonialists to “African Banana”.

The article suggests that men like this were dispersed and then ignored after victory rather than given opportunities to build upon their expertise. I suspect this had two negative consequences. First, it probably reduced the capacity of Allied forces to engage in jungle combat in subsequent conflicts.

They were central to the push to clear Japanese forces out of the jungle and mountain ranges of Burma, from where they threatened British India.

This was achieved through a gruelling campaign of jungle marches, battles and ambushes, in which supplies were delivered entirely by air.

Usman Katsina remembers it well.

“Everything that was meant to be used – your food, your clothes, everything – was given to you and you were required to carry it, on your head and back. Some even died from exhaustion, from travelling long distances, with a heavy load,” he says.

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Their enemy was an extremely dangerous opponent. Japanese soldiers were trained well in the art of jungle warfare, where the first rule was concealment.

It was a skill the Nigerian troops had to learn too.

“The Japanese in the jungle were just like snakes – they hid before you could see them, it was very hard,” recalls 97-year-old Hassan Sokoto.

Elite veterans of the Fourteenth Army and Burma campaign were soon being integrated back into their home countries rather than given opportunities to lead future combat. It makes me wonder whether the struggles faced by French forces in Indochina and soon after by the Americans in Korea and Vietnam could have had a better start, let alone outcome. Although health precautions and research into hygiene and tropical medicine was shared among allies (e.g. jeep-based ambulances, forward surgical teams, light air evacuations) experience from the 1944 campaign of the Chindits, led by Major General Orde Wingate, appears to have been downplayed or erased altogether.

Second, the return of the African veterans to their home sowed seeds of discontent among men who had served as equals or more during the war. The experience of the men who successfully organized and fought in North Africa and Asia was inevitably going to change their perceptions at home. They expected the same or similar respect as any soldier under the British War Office. This threatened the British Colonial Office authority and opened a rift in policy towards equality at home.

The role of Indians and Gurkhas is known. But when Allied commander General William Slim thanked his 14th army at the end of the campaign, he did not even mention the Africans.

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Despite the hierarchy, the war in Burma played some part in breaking down the race barriers of the era.

“Initially I saw the white man as someone better than me. But after the war, I considered him an equal,” recalls former infantryman Dauda Kafanchan.

In post-war Nigeria, the colonial government gave some veterans land to begin new lives as farmers. The project was also a scheme to reduce their potential impact as a new political force.

The decline of British power combined with the rise in expertise and experience of Africans during the war accelerated a drive for independence from colonial rule. Independence of India was a sign of events to come. The British would have been wise to invest in this sea of change rather than obstruct or try to deny it, as recounted in the story of an angry Gurkha in the book “Quartered Safe Out Here” by George MacDonald Fraser

We were talking politics, and a clever and articulate Congress party supporter, who happened to be extremely swarthy, got very emotional. “You British,” he cried, “with the help of this type of people — “here he indicated Thapa [a Gurkha] and a couple of Sikhs “–have been exploiting this land for centuries! You have bled India white!”

One of the Sikhs murmered behind his gin and tonic: “It hasn’t had much visible effect on you.” which was well below the belt, but it might have passed if the Nigerian hadn’t laughed fit to rattle the chandelier.

Accepting the change and managing through diversity would have not only increased the chance of secure and stable growth in many nations but also possibly allowed the British to reposition themselves and benefit even under new regimes. Instead, a vacuum was formed in occupied nations during their administration and following withdrawal by the British that led soon to civil conflict and war. With luck the United States will work to avoid the same mistakes in their transition plans for Iraq and Afghanistan.