Military commanders tended to treat these service units as "dumping grounds" for less competent officers, and leadership in the labour companies was poor.

In response the US Army administration encouraged separate days during the week for black and white troops to have leave passes.

[1] Two separate Red Cross centres existed in Bristol: St George Street for coloured GIs; and Berkeley Square for whites.

(Major General Ira Eaker, commander of the Eighth Air Force, declared that white troops were responsible for 90 per cent of the trouble), and a few killings — all covered up by the army.

[5] In June 1943 a significant racial incident, the Battle of Bamber Bridge, led to one death, 7 wounded and 32 court martialled; this followed the riots in Detroit earlier that week.

[7] They demanded better treatment from their officers, better accommodation for the soldiers in the guardhouse, and a halt to the paratroopers chasing black GIs through the streets of Bristol.

[8] One black soldier, Robert Davis of 542nd Port Company was accused of inciting the mutiny, and was court martialled on 6 September 1944 in Newport.

The black soldiers refused to hand them over, their colleagues intervened and in the resulting confrontation one policeman was stabbed and his attacker shot dead.