Hello! West Indies

WWII propaganda messages back home

These stage-managed messages to the West Indies are testament to Britain's reliance on its colonies in WWII

For servicemen and women 4000 miles from home, the BBC radio programme Calling the West Indies helped bridge the distance, a little. West Indian war workers and troops were given the opportunity to broadcast messages to friends and family, in a show produced by Jamaican poet, activist and feminist Una Marson. This Ministry of Information short, which takes over the format of the radio show, makes clear that the real message was to the whole region. This government film is a public record, preserved and presented by the BFI National Archive on behalf of The National Archives, home to more than 1,000 years of British history.