Private Tuinaqalita from Fiji serving as a rifleman with 6 Platoon B Company call sign 30A (Three Zero Alpha) waits in the back of an armoured Land Rover ‘Snatch Wagon’ prior to carrrying out Operation RAT TRAP with local Iraqi Police. Courtesy MOD

The National Army Museum in London is appealing for the lost stories of black and Asian service personnel as part of a new online project to be launched on October 25 2008.

Supported by a grant of £50,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), the online exhibition – called Black British Asian Army – will form part of the museum’s celebration of Black History Month and Remembrance Sunday commemorations.

Rather than simply telling the stories of known heroes, the exhibition is inviting the black and Asian community to directly contribute to the online content by uploading stories and images of their own families’ achievements and experiences within the forces.

The intention is to display 500 testimonies, photographs, film clips, sound recordings and images of objects from the museum’s extensive collection alongside the new testimonies. The result will be a unique opportunity for visitors to explore a variety of both known and unknown stories.

Indian Cavalry await the order to advance, Western Front, c1916. © NAM

“This exhibition, while providing a narrative for some fascinating objects and images, is as much about appealing to the black and Asian communities to come forward with their own stories, images and artefacts,” said Tristan Langlois, Head of Education at the NAM.

“While the NAM’s Collection is rich in material around this topic, it is important that we engage with communities and encourage them to upload their own information to enable us to give a true picture of the scale of participation by black and Asian soldiers.”

Members of the the public won’t be able to upload their content until the exhibition goes online at the end of October. They are being encouraged however to get in touch with the museum before then with any documents, stories and images they feel may be relevant to to this project.

Contact the Army Museum on 020 7730 0717, or visit the website at www.national-army-museum.ac.uk