Idris Elba helps uncover the WWII soldiers of color who never got their due

By MARK KENNEDY
AP Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — More than 8 million people of color served with the Allies but little is known of their sacrifices. That fuels National Geographic docuseries “Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color,” which focuses on how some fared at D-Day, Dunkirk, Pearl Harbor and the Battle of the Bulge. It tells the story of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, the only all-Black combat unit to fight on the D-Day beaches, and Force K6, a little-known Indian regiment of mule handlers from the British army trying to evacuate at Dunkirk. The series is narrated by Idris Elba, whose grandfather fought in World War II.