Ghana's 1948 Outbreak of Order: The Ex-Servicemen's March

Between the end of World War II and the 1948 Accra riots lies a critical, often-overlooked moment: the march of Ghanaian ex-servicemen to Christianborg Castle. This episode follows about 3,000 demobilized African soldiers who had fought for Britain in Burma and returned to find empty promises, grinding unemployment, and the same colonial subjugation they had risked their lives to oppose. On February 28, 1948, they marched from Accra's Eshia Akai Palmwine Bar to present a petition to the governor. The police opened fire, killing three veterans — Sergeant Adjetey, Corporal Attipoe, and Private Odartey Lamptey — sparking the riots that became a turning point on the road to independence. We look at the ex-servicemen's own organization, the Gold Coast Ex-Servicemen's Union, their leader Emmanuel Obetsebi-Lamptey, and how their grievances fused with the wider nationalist movement led by Kwame Nkrumah and the Big Six. It's a story of broken promises, colonial panic, and the price of loyalty. #GoldCoastExServicemen #1948AccraRiots #ChristianborgCastle #EmmanuelObetsebiLamptey #SergeantAdjetey #CorporalAttipoe #OdarteyLamptey #BurmaVeterans #KwameNkrumah #BigSix #GhanaIndependence #ColonialAfrica #WestAfricaHistory #WWIITroops #GoldCoast #FexingoHistory #History #AfricanHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo