I join Bermuda in saluting the Bermuda Contingent of the 1st Battalion Caribbean Regiment (Overseas Contingent) on the 50th anniversary of your departure for service in the European Theatre. The dates of April 13th and 23rd, 1944 will be forever remembered amongst Bermudians. You volunteered to serve King and Country and were prepared to lay down your lives for Freedom and Democracy even though you did not enjoy the benefits of those Freedoms of Democracy. Therefore, Bermuda owes you an even greater debt of gratitude for your willingness to serve.

¿ Rev. Dr. Erskine C. Simmons, CFM, JP, October 10, 1994.

Some years ago in London, a former member of the 1st Battalion Caribbean Regiment invited me to Fortnum and Mason's for lunch. I arrived on foot and he sped in on his wheelchair, taking no prisoners who happened to get in the way.

Eric Ripley, who recently passed away, was one of several white volunteers in the mainly black battalion, or "Regiment of Foot", as the infantry were once called. His injuries came not from war, but from a battle with nature, which he lost as a polio victim in the early 1950s.

Primarily due to the resulting paralysis that occurred in Britain, Eric was unable to return to his beloved Bermuda, but his memory of his days in the Battalion was as clear as gunshot. Later on, his niece, Joyce Bird, donated various artifacts to the Maritime Museum related to Bermuda and the Ripley family's time in Somerset and at the Dockyard.

The Battalion was composed of volunteers from the Bermuda Militia Artillery and the Bermuda Militia Infantry and a hundred men of these corps went overseas for battle in April 1944. In the way of those days, the officers were white and the troop was under the command of a Major Fuller and Bermudians, Captain Edward Gurr, Lieut. Stuart Outerbridge and Lieut. Robert Card.

Upon joining the Regiment in the United States, a number of the Bermuda contingent were put out to find that black officers commanded the militia from the Caribbean islands and Ripley suggested that there was therefore some reluctance to accept orders from the Bermuda commanders. Be that as it may, the volunteers were soon on their way to the Mediterranean arena of the war, many of them members of Bermuda's first militia service.

The formation of the Bermuda Militia Artillery (BMA) was heralded in Army Orders dated April 1896 and it was associated with the Royal Garrison Artillery. In the first decade of the 1900s, St. David's Battery was erected from a pair of six-inch and two 9.2-inch Rifled Breech Loaders, still to be seen today, albeit somewhat worn by the ages, but recently cleaned and painted by the Parks Department.

The BMA became the custodians and "gunners" at St. David's Battery and at the beginning of the Second World War commanded the only two operational guns in the whole of fortress Bermuda. Annual Camp took place at the Battery, during which artillery practice was the main occupation.

In 1939, the BMA was a single Battery of three officers and 103 Other Ranks, with a Commandant and Adjutant from the Royal Artillery, with 11 Other Ranks as instructors and equipment maintenance personnel. On August 24, the BMA was embodied by Proclamation of the Acting Commander-in-Chief at Bermuda and by evening, St. David's Battery was on an operational footing.

By October, a new Battery had been established at Warwick Camp using the six-inch gun that had been kept for practice in the BMA Drill Shed at St. George's, with another gun, making a pair, coming from Britain later in 1940.

To relieve the monotony of duty, the Band of the BMA was "expanded and developed during the war years and its excellent reputation enhanced the prestige of the Militia". Militia lands at St. David's Island and Warwick Parish were farmed by the soldiers, who also kept pigs, and the produce was sold to the military messes. The BMA also had a fishing boat and "thanks to the skill of the St. David's Island fishermen", welcome additions were made to the mess tables.

Special recipes came into being to cope with the lack of butter and eggs and my brother recently baked a "War Cake" for coffee break, a solid but quite edible lump of brown material with raisons.

The Bermuda Militia Infantry had been formed on October 6, 1939 and conscription in 1942 swelled its ranks to five officers and 120 ranks. Because of the desire of men from the BMI and the BMA to go to the real war, the Bermuda Contingent was formed to join with forces from the Caribbean in 1944.

Destined for the North Africa theatre, the Regiment was diverted to Italy in July 1944, where the men trained for action in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius. It was there that the Bermudians lost Private Winston C. (Winnie) Baxter, who was buried at the historic Pompeii. Thinking of Remembrance Day, one wonders if his grave has since been visited by any Bermudians.

From Italy, the Battalion left for Egypt in October 1944 in guard of German prisoners of war, appropriately on the then-trooper Queen of Bermuda, and on another ship, the Ormond. After 14 months in Egypt, the Contingent left the land of the pharaohs for home, arriving at Bermuda on January 5, 1946. A great banquet was held for the returning troopers, who stood for a minute of silence for their lost friend, Winston. The impressiveness of the evening was highlighted by Mrs. Elvira Baxter, his mother, who simply stated: "After tonight, I am able to take the bitter with the sweet."

Private John W. DeShield summed up his remembrance of home and afield: "Bermuda is a paradise (compared) to other countries which we have seen. We have looked upon hungry children, upon starving grownups. It was not nice. In Italy, in Egypt, people go about in tatters. You only have to travel in these other countries to experience these things and to be happy that you are back home."

So on Remembrance Day next week, spare a thought or two for all the war veterans and for those, and the families of those, who did not make it back to be happy at home.

Photographs 2, 3, 4 and 5 are courtesy of Private Earl Darrell, Bermuda Contingent, 1st Battalion Caribbean Regiment.

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Dr. Edward Harris, MBE, JP, FSA, Bermudian, is the Executive Director of the Bermuda Maritime Museum. This article represents his opinions and not necessarily those of persons associated with the Museum. Comments can be sent to drharrislogic.bm or by telephone to 332-5480.