We must study our history

Dear Sir,

Most people celebrate the date of their birth, or wedding anniversaries just about every year and some go all out with lavish parties and the lot, there seems to be no giving up o n the past there.

Every year we celebrate Veterans Day, Emancipation and Somers day, one time ago we used to even celebrate empire day, some are now even celebrating thanksgiving day, if you get my drift; there seems to be no giving up on the past there. As one who considers himself a historian, I find myself going back through time and if you don't mind me saying, (living in the past), why, because its important to try to understand and to get a feel of what people witnessed and experienced over time.

When I was going to school back in the 50s and 60s, the history that I was being taught back then was more about people I could never relate to, and nor did any of the other children or I in my classroom, looked anything like the people that was being portrayed in any of those history books; the question then was, where did we come from and how did we get here? I lived at a time when the curriculum and teaching standards within the black school system, were set by people who thought that it was most important on their behalf, that we were to be indoctrinated to believe not only that we as a people did not contribute anything to the country in which we lived, but that there was nothing else left for us but a life of servitude and without any hope of upward mobility in sight.

What is needed to be known, is that it's not just about me living in the past, its because of the lack of identity of black people in our history books, that I find myself in a position of not just living my life, but also the lives of all my grandparents going back before me through time.

In fact it really goes like this, I put the blame on the racist education system that was set to indoctrinate us with a one-sided account of history, that I now find myself after all these years going back and forth through my past, trying to identify who I really am and where I originally came from.

I feel insulted on behalf of all those who spend many hours of research looking through old documents for facts, by people who no doubt would like to keep us all dumb; well, I'm sorry, if digging up the past may hurt some people, then that's just too bad, maybe if the truth was taught to us from the beginning, I would not have to find myself having to revisit history all over again, and some of us having to reacting out fear. Below is a short poem of mine, I do hope all understand it.

"The past is the foundation of the present, for the future is just a dream waiting to be awakened".

E. M. STOVELL

Pembroke East

Requiem for the BWVA?

There is a serious crisis with the Bermuda War Veterans Association. After nearly 90 years, its existence is threatened. Last November, when trying to organise its annual programme for November 11, the BWVA received a massive snub from the British Legion, who condemned our handling of the Annual Poppy Appeal.

For many years, the Bermuda Regiment had generously sponsored the Annual War Veterans Luncheon, which follows immediately after the parade and ceremony at the Cenotaph. The Regiment also supplies the staff of young soldiers in full dress uniform to wait on the guests. His Excellency the Governor always is the guest-of-honour.

The BWVA was shocked at suddenly having to face a roadblock so near November 11.

President Frank Farmer and Trustee Jack Lighbourn already had undertaken to get in touch with the Regiment regarding Luncheon details. They telephoned Colonel William White, who was unavailable to take their calls. They requested that the Colonel return the calls. Altogether seven unanswered calls. Jack finally wrote a letter which he hand-delivered to Warwick Camp.

Colonel White's refusal even to speak to Mr. Farmer and Mr. Lightbourn could no longer be considered an oversight. There must be more to it. There was. In the end, the BWVA had no alternative but to cancel the Luncheon for the first time in living memory. It was a stunning blow to those of us who, like millions of our kind throughout the Free World, had given our all so that the world could still live free and fulfilling lives.

For the ranking officer of the Bermuda Regiment to act as he did was an affront to the BWVA, a hallowed charitable organisation, much admired and respected sentimentally and historically.

To make a deplorable situation infinitely worse, a dictatorial intruder from England, a Ms Everson, representing the British Legion, suddenly burst on the scene. Wasting no time, she accused the BWVA, after nearly 90 years, of selling poppies illegally. Also, she accused us of illegally retaining the proceeds of the Poppy Appeal, contending we should have sent it to the British Legion in London for worldwide distribution to needy veterans. This must now be done, she insisted, starting with 2007.

Ms Everson, at no time, acknowledged that we had competently managed our affairs since 1919 strictly adhering to our constitution.

Moreover, she said there was a possibility that the BWVA could be sued in court if it failed to comply with orders from London. I can assure you that war veteran leaders like Frank Farmer, Jack Lightbourn and Honourary Secretary and Trustee Francis Stephens are not the kind of individuals to buckle under such threats.

I think it was Dr. Martin Luther King who said "It takes brains, skill and resolve to build a house. Any fool can knock it down".

William (Bill) Kempe, my late brother-in-law, was one of Bermuda's most prominent lawyers ever. In 1939, he put his law studies at Edinburgh University "on hold" to join the Royal Navy. He served as a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm, taking part in major campaigns. I am sure Bill would have guided us through any court difficulties.

Frank Farmer, Jack Lightbourn and Francis Stephens bore the brunt of all this effrontery. All three are overseas war veterans. As teenagers, Frank and Jack served in the Royal Navy. Francis was a pilot in the Royal Air Force.

Some years ago, I had the rewarding and memorable experience of sitting next to the late Edgar Ward, MM (the medal awarded for exceptional bravery in the Front Line). He had served in the Lincolnshire Regiment overseas in t he First and Second World Wars, the only Bermudian to do so.

Sitting beside Edgar, I felt a trifle subdued. He was a bona fide hero, albeit as modest as most of them are. It was not long, however, before his easy personality and smile "broke the ice".

Some 450 Bermudians volunteered for overseas service in World War II, the largest number per capita of any Commonwealth country.

We must not let the "disloyal opposition" consign us to the trash bins of history. Besides, we've won tougher battles against tougher foes than those confronting us today.

I feel it is undignified and totally unfair, some 90 years later, to question the motives of the founders of the Bermuda War Veterans Association in 1919. Their reasons were formed in different circumstances, at a vastly different time in history, and for different and noble intentions.

The founders were Bermuda's original volunteers for military service overseas. Their ideals inspired those of us who did so in the Second World War. Let us be thankful for their memory. Surviving overseas war veterans are now in the mid-80s to 90s. We shall soon be gone. We don't need critics and complainers to speed our departure. Attrition will do it for them.

Those who erroneously blame the BWVA for the lack of pensions for war veterans are wrong. Pensions are strictly the responsibility of Government. There was really no attempt to create pensions for war veterans from 1919 to 2007 when the Bermuda Government, thanks to their initiative, decided to do so. We are all grateful for their efforts.

However, the 1947 Parliamentary Act stepped up medical coverage. It introduced an award of $100 monthly to veterans in straitened financial circumstances who qualified. That amount remained static for the next 50 years or so when the award was upped to $400 monthly. By then, of course, $100 monthly in Bermuda was skidding to negligible value.

Let us, by every human thought imaginable, allow the 1919 founders of the BWVA to be remembered as the brave patriotic soldiers they were to Bermuda and the World. May they have rested in the peace they so richly earned all those years ago.

I invite all those who worked diligently to kill the 2007 Poppy Appeal and those who did their best to scuttle the Annual War Veterans Luncheon, to regain their equilibrium and close ranks with the BWVA to ensure both these events return to their rightful place on November 11th, 2008.

TOMMY AITCHISON