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BILLY STRACHAN was born 100 years ago today, on April 16 1921 in Jamaica, then a British colony.
Aged just 18, he paid his own way to Britain in 1940 to join the Royal Air Force to take part in the war effort against Nazi Germany.
He rose through the ranks to become flight lieutenant, a remarkable achievement for a black person at that time.
Billy Strachan and his wife Joyce
He married Joyce Smith and by 1946, the young couple and their three sons migrated to Jamaica to start a new life.
The colonial racism he encountered prevented Strachan gaining promotion in his old job in the Civil Service and this, combined with an understanding of class, led him to befriend the Jamaican lawyer, trade unionist and activist Richard Hart and British communist David Lewis.