To: Sgt. Granville B. Williams

Co B, 317th Eng Bn, 92nd Inf Div

My warm congratulations accompanying this award of the Bronze Star Medal presented by Mr. Truman Gibson.

– E. M. Almond, Major General, US Army

Commanding, 1944.

Our relationship with the United States of America is but three years shorter than the life of that so declared land, if one takes the English arrival at Jamestown, in what became the State of Virginia, in 1607 as the start of the nation, a notion earlier inhabitants of the continent would have taken issue with no doubt. In 1610, "we" supplied swine, turtles and cahows to the starving settlement at Jamestown, so it might be said that the pigs from Bermuda that summer saved the English bacon in America.

Since then, for the past 400 years in 2010, we have enjoyed a varied relationship with what has become the most powerful country on Earth, a relationship that fortunately never included invasion by its powerful forces, unless you view the establishment of American "Fort Bell" here in 1941 as a de facto takeover.

With Cup Match upon us once again, one might reflect a little more on the past and present relationship with the United States, which by and large ensures many freedoms we currently enjoy.

Cup Match celebrates the wrecking arrival of the Sea Venture on its way to Jamestown in late July 1609, a calamitous event that led to the writing of "The Tempest" by Shakespeare, as well as to the permanent settlement of Bermuda in July 1612, there being no indigenous inhabitants of the place. Cup Match also commemorates the Emancipation of slaves in Bermuda on August 1, 1834. Since that date, all residents of the island have enjoyed a generality of freedom yet denied in some countries, a situation underpinned by the presence in this hemisphere of British and American military forces.

While counting our blessings, which have not been equally distributed over time in specific terms, we should remember that freedom has a price, economically and socially, and many Bermudians have paid more than a fair share of a "freedom tax", be it in cash or service. On the other hand, it is salutary to remind ourselves that without visitors from the United States paying our taxes, Bermuda would be uninhabitable, especially at the high levels of expectation many here hold today as sacrosanct to their "freedom". On yet another hand, if you have any American connections, better check what Uncle Sam is up to with the IRS, as he wants you, or at least any tax dollars you may be liable for. The new wars to keep America (and this island village) safe have to be paid for: the famous "Uncle Sam wants You" poster is still operational.

Bermudians have served in the American military on a number of occasions, with Sergeant Granville Burton Williams and Corporal Henry Dowling (both US Army), losing their lives in the Second World War and Korean War respectively. Others, such as my childhood classmate, Robert (Bobby) Miller, gave service in Vietnam and several Bermudians have served with the US Army and US Marines in Iraq or Afghanistan.

A more recent serviceman of many years standing, now retired to the home front, is National Museum trustee, Colonel Sumner H. Waters, US Army. "Chip" served for 26 years in the US military, retiring in 1999 as a full colonel, one of the highest-ranking Bermudians ever in that service. Col. Waters last commanded the 2,000 men of the 937th Engineer Group (Combat) and saw much overseas service, lastly at HQ NATO, as a member of the US Delegation, Joint Chiefs of Staff. Now his only son has also taken up service in the American Forces, destined perhaps for the Middle East theatres of war.

Second Lt. Charles S. Waters graduated from the US Army Ranger School on July 16, 2010 at Fort Benning, Georgia. After attending Saltus Grammar School, he volunteered for the Army at Union College, Schenectady, New York in 2005 and was commissioned as a distinguished military graduate in the Corps of Engineers in June, 2009. He is a Combat Engineer, graduating with honours from the Engineer Officers' Basic Course and from the Sabalauski Air Assault and Pathfinder schools at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

Charles says: "I was always interested in attending Ranger School from all the stories my father told me when he was at Army Ranger School in 1971. It is the toughest leadership school in the world and he was awarded the coveted Ranger tab, so I was determined to earn it too. US Army Ranger School is 60 days long and is a gruelling test of infantry skills, physical fitness, mental toughness and ability to endure hardship, lack of food and sleep. The course started with 450 persons, but only 70 graduated. The motto of the school is 'Not for the weak or fainthearted'. The elite infantry school lived up to that motto.'

US Army Ranger School continues its long tradition in providing the world's best small unit leaders for Ranger, Airborne and Special Forces units. The students are taught how to conduct such diverse operations as ambush, raid, reconnaissance, movement to contact, air assault, airborne, waterborne operations in mountain and swamp terrain, the last being the most difficult. Over the course of the schooling, Ranger students travel 250 miles on foot with a rucksack weighing between 60 and 120 pounds with an average of two and a half hours sleep per night for the full 60 days, operating on a 2,000-calorie diet, if they are lucky enough to consume all their food before having to move out.

Bermudian Waters is now at the Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia, for training in parachute operations, before undertaking a new assignment, which may be in a war zone.

While you are enjoying the game, or just having a holiday on the beach or seashore this Cup Match, bear a thought for those who came before and served so that we have the freedom to live and to play, at cricket, or whatever is your sporting fancy.

Edward Cecil Harris, MBE, JP, PHD, FSA is Executive Director of the National Museum of Bermuda, incorporating the Bermuda Maritime Museum. Comments may be made to director@bmm.bm or 704-5480.