This is part three of my series of Black History Month features on Blacks in Defence of Our Country set against two backdrops, (a) the spectacular 46th Annual Recruit Passing Out Parade of the racially-integrated Bermuda Regiment at Warwick Camp a fortnight ago; and (b) the fact Parliament passed strict laws making it an offence punishable by death, banishment from Bermuda or 100 lashes on the naked back for any Negro caught with a firearm, sticks or other dangerous weapons, especially after nightfall.It was not until after the Emancipation of Slavery in 1834 when fears of a slave revolt had subsided, that large-scale recruitment of black soldiers took place. An Act of Parliament in 1892 authorised creation of two units, the Black Bermuda Militia Artillery (BMAs) with white-only English officers; and the white-only Bermuda Volunteer Rifles Corps (BVRCs). The BMAs were the first to be up and running.The blacks were fanatically proud of their unit. When World War One broke out in 1914 they were a highly-trained unit, and were actually in camp at the start of hostilities. There was no shirking of responsibility on their part. The patriotism of black Bermudians was exemplified in the letter carried at the end of Part Two last week from Reginald J.H Pearman.On May 28, 1916, 206 BMAs and four officers commanded by Major Tom Dill (later Bermuda’s Attorney General and father of founder of the law firm that bears his name) left Bermuda in convoy for Britain, arriving there on June 9, disembarking at Devonport. Orders were waiting to proceed immediately to France, where they landed June 24, going directly to the warfront.Major Dill in his published memoirs stated all the Bermudians were under fire a few days later engaged in the attack on the Somme on July 1.They were assigned the arduous task of passing ammunition to batteries at the front from the dumps “so perilously under shell fire they were compelled to work in constant danger which they did efficiently, evincing exemplary courage and tenacity that won them praise from the beginning”.The Bermudians acquitted themselves so well the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Andrew Bonar Law, in a letter from Downing Street, wrote Governor Sir George M. Bullock in1916 requesting more troops.Major Dill went on to state, the following year 1917 the Bermuda contingent was engaged in the thickest battles, “acquitting themselves heroically during the attack on Vimy Ridge, April 9 and subsequent battles which won them commendation from Army Headquarters”.There had been severe casualties among the Bermudians, which increased when they moved on May 23 to Army Area, and were attached to the Fifty-second Heavy Artillery Brigade. On June 7 they were in the thick of the attack on Wytschaete when several of the men were gassed.Casualties mounted as the Bermudians were moved from one front to another and were exposed to daily shell fire and lethal night bombings. By the end of June 1917 the contingent was reinforced by a second contingent of 40 men and two officers, who arrived from Bermuda and went straight to the front for their baptism of fireIn mid-January 1918 the Bermudians were moved out of the line to a rest station. Their Corps Commander wrote Major Dill, noting how the Bermudians had been at the front since April 1917, and though sustaining severe casualties, latterly working under the most trying climatic conditions the work done had been consistently good.By July 7 they were back at the front, engaged in a successful venture, then moved to Belgium where they were active until the Armistice.As I stated at the start of this series, excerpts so far quoted were from a yet-to-be-published book, ‘Blacks in Defence of Our Country’. My extensive research took me to the Public Records Office in London, the Bermuda Archives and other sources.Incidentally, I should note here that my mother, the late Marie Pearman Philip, had two first cousins who served on the battle fields of France and Belgium and other cousins, Pearmans and Swans as well.