Aston Nehemiah, who served with the RAF during WW2 boarded the iconic Windrush boat on 27th May 1948 is celebrating a life ‘defined by service, resilience and quiet determination’
One of the last survivors who travelled to England on the Windrush celebrates his 100th birthday on Wednesday. Aston Nehemiah boarded the iconic Windrush boat on 27th May 1948. He was given the passenger number 881. He got off the ship when it docked in Tilbury on 22 nd June 1948.
Paul Chambers chair of the British West India Regiments Trust paid tribute to Aston. He told the Mirror: “Aston represents the very best of the Windrush Generation.
“A Second World War RAF veteran, a Windrush pioneer and a man of unwavering courage and integrity, his century of life has been defined by service, resilience and quiet determination. His contribution to Britain’s wartime victory and post-war recovery forms an enduring part of our shared history.
“On his 100th birthday, we honour not only an extraordinary man but a generation whose sacrifices and achievements helped shape the Britain we know today. At 100 years old, Aston Senior remains as resolute in spirit as ever.
“Diminutive in stature but immense in character, he has lived a life defined by duty, faith and service. His story reminds us that history is not only made by famous names, but by ordinary people who answered extraordinary calls.”
Aston left Kingston on board the Windrush on 27 th May 1948 as passenger number 881. Along with his fellow passengers in C class, he raised £28 and 10 shillings – a substantial sum in those days – for the one-way fare to the ‘Mother Country.’
He had no job to go to in England and ignored warnings from the Jamaican authorities not to travel because jobs would be in short supply there.” He lived in Camden, north London, but this was not Aston’s first time in Britain. He served with the RAF in the Second World War.
Mr Chambers said: “He had been there during World War Two having enlisted into the RAF on 28th December 1944 at the age of 18. “His service number, which he can still recite to this day, was 724785. He was part of the Third contingent of West Indian volunteers and was posted to RAF Melksham in Wiltshire to be trained.
“He served as a Duty Equipment Assistant Aircraftman 2 and enjoyed his time in the RAF but, along with the vast majority of West Indian volunteers, he was demobbed and returned to Jamaica after the War.”
Aston returned to live in Jamaica where he will celebrate his 100th birthday at the Curphey Home for Military Veterans.
HMT Empire Windrush became a symbol of a wider mass-migration movement. People in the Caribbean were invited to the UK to help rebuild post-war Britain.
According to the National Archives,there were 1,027 people on board. More than 800 gave their last country of residence as somewhere in the Caribbean. Several hundred passengers were Jamaican, but others arrived from islands including Trinidad, St Lucia, Grenada and Barbados.
These travellers – and those on other ships which came to the UK until 1971 – became known as the ‘Windrush generation’.
