It was the largest single movement of African men overseas since the slave trade. Their contribution is often forgotten by the wider world.
In his book, Fighting For Britain: African Soldiers in the Second World War, historian David Killingray says more than half a million African troops served with the British forces between 1939 and 1945 -- 289,530 of them with the King's African Rifles from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Malawi.
The forgotten heroes of World War II
Sgt. Kagwa, formerly of the King's African Rifles, is one of Uganda's few living veterans of the world's bloodiest conflict.
He told CNN: "We were very scared of the white men. We didn't know anything about them, all we used to hear about was King George, and that made us really frightened when they said they'd come for us and take us to where they are.
"In the year 1939 we were told King George was going to come for us in a few days to go fight in Germany against Hitler and Mussolini, so after a few days a truck came calling us.
"When it came we got in and were taken to the barracks. In the barracks we did not even know what a gun looked like let alone how to fire one. We were totally ignorant, but they still took us to the frontline."
Sgt Kagwa and his friend Masulum Museker, along with thousands of their countrymen, were taken overseas and spent time in the jungles of Burma.
He said: "The frontline was scary but we had been trained how to run, how to load our guns with magazines, and also when inside a tank how to fire and operate it. So that made us confident and we fought bravely.
Read more at edition.cnn.com
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