Ian’s Blog 22nd February 2026

On Sunday I uploaded a new video onto youtube. This is a video for Kate Werran who has written two books about the problems that arose due to racial intolerance in the US army in England in World War Two. The most interesting aspect about this for me was a mutiny that occurred in Launceston, Cornwall in 1943. Shots were fired in the town square by some of the US soldiers in a dispute between the black American soldiers and the US military Police. This led to a trial in Palace Avenue, Paignton. My Mum and her sister were born in Launceston and grew up there before moving to Exeter. This would have been at some time prior to 1942. Both my parents were in Exeter when it was bombed during the war. There are two other reasons why this mutiny in Launceston is of particular interest to me. One of these reasons is because in the 1990’s I worked at the Paignton branch of Barclays bank on the same side of the road where the trial of the black US army soldiers took place. Another reason is that Kate’s father found out about the mutiny when he moved to Launceston as a boy in the late 1940’s. He made a new friend with the poet Charles Causley who told him all about the dispute. I am related to the folk musician Jim Causley ( my maternal grandfather was Stanley Causley ) who has told me that we are related to Charles Causley. This is why I was inspired to compose my song called Mutiny in Launceston which I have used as the background music for my video which I made for Kate using her photos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ch2YboyvIo&t=1s