A newly unearthed archive has shed light on thousands of Kenyan soldiers who fought and died for the British Empire during the World Wars, yet were never officially commemorated, recorded, or buried in recognized graves.
The records, uncovered by historians in collaboration with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), reveal the names, units, and service details of East African soldiers who served in the King’s African Rifles and supporting regiments - men whose sacrifices have remained invisible for decades.
“These were men who fought in foreign lands under foreign flags,” said Dr. Muthoni Wanyeki, a historian at the University of Nairobi. “They built roads, carried ammunition, and died without their names written anywhere. This discovery restores their humanity.”
The Hidden Archive
The trove was discovered in the National Archives of Kenya — a collection of colonial-era ledgers, field reports, and correspondence between British officers stationed in East Africa between 1914 and 1947.
Among the documents are lists of burial sites, payment rolls, and handwritten dispatches detailing how African carriers and soldiers died in battle or from disease while stationed in present-day Tanzania, Somalia, and Burma.
Most of these men were part of the Carrier Corps, a vital yet overlooked logistical network that sustained the British war effort across African battlefields. Tens of thousands perished from exhaustion, malnutrition, or tropical illness, often without markers or official recognition.
