‘Tracking down my GI dad’s grave was amazing’

But Mr Harrison had a DNA test during the film, which revealed his father was not who his mother had believed.

Mr Harrison instead traced his family to another soldier who had been stationed in Leicestershire – Staff Sgt Vander Lee Ellis, from South Carolina – and has managed to reunite with his half-sisters.

He said: “I went to see my dad’s grave and when I arrived there, I was greeted by two sisters. It was an amazing experience.”

Mr Harrison’s story is just one of the tales told by the children of African-American soldiers left behind after the war, many of whom never found their fathers.

Dr McCarthy said: “Black lives clearly didn’t matter at the time. The US army was segregated until 1948 into white units and black units.

“But when they came to Britain, they weren’t segregated. They were very polite and that endeared them to the British public.

“They had friendships, they had romantic liaisons with white British women, and Terry is one of about 2,000 babies born to black soldiers and white British women.

“They call themselves brown babies and they’re very proud of the name.”

Terry’s GI Dad will be shown at 17:30 GMT at the Attenborough Building at the University of Leicester, as part of Black History Month.