Waruhiu Itote was a Kenya Army veteran of World War Two who had fought in Burma, Ethiopia and Ceylon for the British Empire. When he returned to Kenya, he found his land stolen and his people still subjects.
He joined the Mau Mau, became one of its most effective commanders and was given the name General China. He was captured in 1954, tried and sentenced to death, then had his sentence commuted.
His life story, soldier for empire turned soldier against empire, was the story of a generation of Kenyan men who had been taught what freedom meant in European wars and then came home to find they still did not have it.