Diego Garcians remember their long road to Crawley
Since the first 19 islanders touched down at Gatwick, the community has grown to almost 2,000.
Reporter ALEX MORRISON spoke to two of them about their young life on Diego Garcia and their long journey to Crawley.
CRAWLEY is a long way from the island where Selmour Chery was born.
The 69-year-old, who now lives in Bewbush, spent his early years on Diego Garcia, a British territory in the Indian Ocean.
In 1965, Britain secretly agreed to evict the entire population for an American military base, forcing Mr Chery and his young family into poverty in a foreign country.
Mr Chery left his homeland in 1966 to visit Mauritius, unaware of the Government's plan for his homeland.
He said: "My wife was pregnant and there was no doctor on Diego so I had to go.
"After she gave birth we tried to go home but officials said we could not go back."
Mauritian authorities had orders not to let anyone return to the Chagos Islands, including Diego Garcia.
Many fellow islanders joined Mr Chery over the following months and years as they were forced from their homes.
He said: "It was difficult for people who had no formal education to get a good job in Mauritius.
"I had to leave my family for work during the first year and the child my wife gave birth to in Mauritius died.
"I was lucky to be young and strong so I got a job as a docker and I stayed there until 1997.
"Most of the Diego Garcians didn't have a chance like I did.
"Those who were over 50 could not get a good job so they lived in poverty and debt.
"Most people couldn't afford for their children to go to school."
Mr Chery says many islanders struggled to cope with life in Mauritius.
He said: "There was one man I knew called Israel Boye who had never been to Mauritius before they took him off Diego Garcia.
"He arrived in 1973 and lived for less than a year.
"He died aged 60. He was in shock because he had never left his homeland before."
Despite his job, Mr Chery lived in a slum alongside many other islanders until 1982, when compensation paid by the British Government finally reached them.
Mr Chery, who has six children, arrived in Crawley after flying to Gatwick in 2003 as part of the second group of islanders to reach the UK.
He said: "We had to save lots of money to come here. We were back in poverty before we left Mauritius but now we are much happier in England."
Speaking about his homeland, Mr Chery said: "I think in the future kids who are learning and going to school in Crawley can go and see the island.
"I hope one day, when the US say they don't need the base anymore, children will grow up there and live on Diego Garcia."
XAVIER'S STORY
ANOTHER former islander, Xavier Siatous, has struggled to adjust to life in Britain.
The 60-year-old, who arrived from Mauritius in 2005, said: "I like England and I like civilisation here but this is like a jungle to me."
Mr Siatous, of Swift Lane, Langley Green, grew up on Diego Garcia and says his life was "very peaceful" before the islanders were forced to leave.
He said: "I felt upset but I had to deal with it because it was the law."
But life in his new home in Mauritius was difficult.
Mr Siatous said: "I felt like I was caught between being British and being Mauritian.
"I lived in a slum with most of the other islanders.
"Everyone struggled for 40 years to make ends meet and I worked mainly as a fisherman."
During almost 40 years in Mauritius, Mr Siatous managed to buy a house for his wife and six children.
When Britain gave many islanders citizenships in 2002, he decided to come to the UK.
In 1982, many Diego Garcians accepted a British compensation deal worth a total of £4 million which was paid on condition the islanders give up their claim on their homeland, something Mr Siatous calls a "crime against humanity".
He said: "It is a humiliation that we were forced to do this but we needed money to survive."
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