Page 268 - They Also Served

operations, as the Mediterranean was too dangerous for convoys to pass through. Crated aircraft were landed from ships, assembled, and flown north to join the Desert Air Force. Selected for officer training, Anthony entered Sandhurst in 1941 and, on 4th April 1942, became the first black African officer to be commissioned into the British Army.
No sooner had he returned home than he was sent to Burma with the RWAFF. During the journey, the ship docked at Durban and the troops were allowed ashore. Several of the white Frontier Force officers went to a bar and called Anthony to join them as he walked past. However, the landlady would not serve a ‘Kaffir’ despite being informed that he held the king’s commission, so Anthony walked on – only to be joined by the rest of his brother officers from the bar. Anthony served in Burma, being promoted to major, MiD and awarded the MBE. At the victory parade in London, he represented his county’s armed forces, and later, when Field Marshal Montgomery toured the Commonwealth countries, Anthony was the escorting officer for the parade in Accra.
After leaving the army, Anthony was appointed as an assistant district officer, the first Ghanaian to hold what was a traditional British post. Working his way up the Civil Service, he held an appointment in the Ministry of the Interior then, when Ghana gained independence in 1957, he was a member of his country’s fledgling diplomatic service. As the first chargé d’affaires of the diplomatic mission in Washington, he was also his country’s first representative to the UN and delivered the acceptance speech when Ghana was admitted to the UN. During a long and successful career as a diplomat, he was High Commissioner to India, Canada and the United Kingdom, being awarded the Order of the Star of Ghana, his country’s highest civilian award. Major Seth Anthony MSG MBE died on 20th November 2008.
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