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The History of Green Park (Millbrook)
Life on Green Park During the Second World War
Kathi’s wider research explores the history of Millbrook Recreation Ground, with a particular focus on Green Park, the changing-room building and how the area has been used and understood over time. Her original research plan combined archive work with interviews from local residents so that the history of the park could help inform how the space and its buildings might be used in the future.
As part of that research, Kathi investigated Green Park’s role during the Second World War. In late 1943, the park became a segregated encampment for the African American soldiers of the US Army’s 703rd Medical Sanitary Company as they prepared for D-Day. The unit was responsible for sanitation, disease prevention, water purification and supporting the treatment and movement of wounded soldiers arriving through Southampton. Around 23 tents were erected on the park, with additional flooring needed because of the poor drainage and muddy conditions. The research also highlights the varied roles carried out by the men, including work as drivers, stretcher-bearers and dock workers, as well as accounts suggesting that parts of the local Millbrook community welcomed them despite the segregation policies of the period.
This work reveals a lesser-known chapter in Green Park’s history and places a familiar local space within the wider story of wartime Southampton, D-Day preparations and the experiences of Black American servicemen in Britain. It also supports Kathi’s broader aim of understanding how the recreation ground has changed from the 1940s and 1950s through to the present day.
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Made in Millbrook is a University of Southampton community heritage research project, delivered with support from the Southampton Institute for Arts and Humanities and Testlands. The project has received ethical approval through the University of Southampton’s Ethics and Research Governance Online system: ERGO 112697. The views and experiences shared through the project belong to individual contributors and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Southampton or Testlands. Copyright remains with the respective authors, photographers and rights holders; archive material is credited wherever possible.