Retired insurance staff manager Eric Benevides credits the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corp (BVRC) for giving him a start in life, by providing discipline, experience and vocational training during World War II.

Mr. Benevides is just one of 470 Portuguese Bermudians who served in Bermuda's military forces, between 1915 and 1966.

Some went overseas and returned safely home, while others were killed.

"A lot of the local Portuguese boys were in the BVRC,'' said Mr. Benevides.

"I would say they comprised a good sixty percent or more of the BVRC.

"If it wasn't for the Portuguese boys who served in the BVRC, I don't think it would have been much of a unit, in my opinion. They did their share of duty.'' Mr. Benevides and his cousin Norman Moniz both entered the army on February 17, 1941.

"He was 19 and I was 18,'' said Mr. Benevides. "We were in the second training group at Prospect. Norman went to St. George's in the B Company and I went to Boaz island in the C Company.

"I spent two and a half years at Boaz Island and Daniels Head. I did guard duty at Casemates Oil Tanks, the Floating Dock, North East Arms and was at Warwick Camp for part of the time.'' He was part of a BVRC company along with the Bermuda Militia Infantry (BMI) company who trained for three months for overseas duty in 1943.

At the end of training the BVRC sent a volunteer force to the Lincolnshire Regiment in England and the BMI went with another Caribbean regiment to North Africa.

The ones who did not volunteer stayed back in Bermuda. They had an important role to play in protecting the island from an enemy which was much closer than people realised. German submarines were often right outside Bermuda's reef-line.

The men who remained in Bermuda were given vocational training.

Mr. Benevides was transferred to Command Head Quarters where he worked as an office clerk. He also joined the BVRC band even though he couldn't play an instrument.

"The first engagement we played was at Prospect as an honour guard,'' he said. "I played the cymbals because I couldn't play an instrument, at the time.

"I didn't know anything about music. I wanted to play the clarinet because it was a small instrument, but they put me on the trumpet and I had to start from scratch.

"At the end of my music training I achieved 99 percent on my music theory exam, even though I had difficulty applying the theory to what I was playing.

"We played in the Victory Day celebrations at the end of the European War.

When the war was over the band was disbanded.'' The BVRC provided many adventures for Mr. Benevides and his colleagues, many of whom had yet to even leave the island.

"At one time the local forces were to mock capture Prospect,'' recalled Mr.

Benevides. "Roland Robinson was the C Company Commander at Boaz Island. "He assigned another fellow and I to go down to the Fleet Air Arms at Boaz Island and get on a Walrus Amphibian Aircraft to see what was going on at Prospect.

"When we took off to circle Darrells Island at the time there were five big Sutherland fly-boats there. They were taking Winston Churchill to a conference in Quebec.

"When we got over Prospect we saw the Queen's own Highlanders had formed a complete circle around Prospect. We saw the local forces at a distance encircling Prospect.

"What we had to do was dive bomb from North Shore to South Shore. I had to drop bags of sand out of the aircraft. Mind you I got airsick, bit it was an experience of a lifetime.'' He said there were many Swordfish and Walrus aircrafts at Dockyard patrolling Bermuda. They were older aircraft and two of them crash-landed off Bermuda.

"When I was on active duty I had to guard a German fifth columnist (spy) which they captured in South America,'' Mr. Benevides said.

"They had this monstrosity of a person weighing over 200 pounds locked up in this tiny room.

"I only weighed about 128 pounds. When I went in they locked the door behind me. He had a bed and I had a chair. I was sitting opposite him with my rifle.

I made up my mind that when he got up, I would get up because I wasn't taking any chances.

"They finally shipped him out of here and took him back to England. They had been looking for him for many years.'' One of the BVRC's duties was to guard the Floating Dock in Dockyard. Mr.

Benevides recalled a Canadian national steamship liner that was in the floating dock for 12 to 15 months being converted to an auxiliary cruiser.

When she left Bermuda, within 24 hours, she was sunk just off the island.

"The German subs were just laying off Bermuda,'' he said. "Bermuda was a main meeting place for convoys.'' Mr. Benevides said it was common to have 70 to 80 ships down there at St.

Davids waiting for an escort to go across.

"I would say that my five years in the BVRC was a growing, learning experience,'' Mr. Benevides stated. "I think the BVRC helped me a lot because I grew up. I did just about everything, infantry, machine gunner, worked in an office and I learned discipline. I learned how to take care of myself.'' But there was a down-side to the BVRC. According to Mr. Benevides, discrimination prevented the Portuguese-Bermudians from being properly promoted.

"The opportunities to advance in the local forces were at a minimum,'' he said. "Not too many got promotions.

" My cousin Elliot Moniz became a Lance Sergeant and his brother Norman and I, both ended up as Lance Corporals. "There were no Portuguese officers and no Sergeant Majors. I think without the discrimination, Norman would have gone far and Elliott should have been an officer. They had the ability and they had a good education at Saltus Grammar School.

"If it wasn't for the discrimination going on, there should have been some Portuguese officers.'' He used the Bermuda Volunteer Engineers (BVE) as an example of the discrimination they sometimes faced.

"When they came out and asked if anyone was interested in signing up for BVE I put my name down. It never materialised for me, because my name was Benevides.

"The people who put down Portuguese last names were not accepted and those without Portuguese names were accepted.'' After the war, Mr. Benevides went to work for Watlington & Conyers, agents for the Furness Withy shipping line.

He was a dock checker for a short spell and then went to work in the office handling claims as a claims adjuster.

"In April 1958 I went to work for British American Insurance,'' he said.

"I worked for them for 25 years. I have been retired for 17 years this December.'' Upon his retirement he became involved in tourism and sat on the tourist board for five years.

He was also chairman of Paget East United Bermuda Party branch for two years and on their committee for 12 years.

He and his wife Rachel have been married for 49 years and they have three daughters and three granddaughters.

World War II: Eric Benevides taken in St. George's around 1944. He became a Lance Corporal along with his cousin Norman Moniz. Between 1915 and 1966 he was one of 470 Portuguese Bermudians fighting wars.