Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis leaves a wreath to mark the anniversary of the deaths of four marines when the HMBS Flamingo was attacked in 1980.
PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis and other officials paid tribute yesterday to the survivors and four fallen marines who were on board HMBS Flamingo when it was attacked by Cubans in 1980.
Each year, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force remembers those officers who gave their lives in the service of their country.
"When HMBS Flamingo slipped HMBS Coral Harbour on May 8, 1980, the crew of 19 officers and marines had just begun what was intended to be a routine patrol," the RBDF noted in a press release.
"While many others were preparing to pay tribute to mothers everywhere, this ship's company was about to experience what it truly meant to lay down one's life for one's country.
"The Royal Bahamas Defence Force had just become an official organisation on March 31, 1980. Prior to this, officers and marines had commenced training in 1978, the year HMBS Flamingo and her sister ship, HMBS Marlin, were built and sailed from England to the Bahamas. The commanding officer of HMBS Flamingo was Commander Amos Rolle, a young Exumian.
"On Saturday, May 10, 1980, at approximately 5pm, HMBS Flamingo apprehended two Cuban fishing vessels for illegally fishing in Bahamian waters off cay Santo Domingo in the southern Bahamas. Shortly after the arrest, HMBS Flamingo was buzzed and struck by rockets and machine gun fire by Cuban MiG jet-fighters forcing crew members to abandon ship.
"HMBS Flamingo eventually sunk in ocean waters 35 miles south of Ragged Island; 15 out of the 19 crew members survived the ordeal by escaping to Ragged Island aboard one of the captured craft they had arrested. Missing in action and presumed dead were Able Seaman Fenrick Sturrup, and Marine Seamen Austin Smith, David Tucker and Edward Williams," the RBDF said.
Lieutenant Commander Whitfield Neely is the only member of that crew who is a current serving member of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force.
"During the past five years, two of the crew members, who would have given 25 years or more in service to their country, have since left us," the RBDF said. "Chief Petty Officer Oscar Miller and Petty Officer Leopold Kirby will forever be remembered. The events of this sombre day remain fresh in the minds and hearts of both the surviving crew-members and the families of the four marines who were lost. This incident is also a stark reminder that the defence force is a voluntary force with inherent risks."
Comments
ThisIsOurs 5 years, 11 months ago
I hope the men who survived are all doing well. This must have been a most frightening experience. I know the families of Sturrup Smith Tucker and Williams will feel the pain of their passing for as long as they are in the earth.
I wonder about the story the Cuban pilot has to tell. Does he wonder about the four men he killed? This had to have been an event that stands out in his career.
sheeprunner12 5 years, 11 months ago
These brave men should have been memorialized in a National Heroes' Park ....... OOps, we do not have one!!!!!!!!
hrysippus 5 years, 11 months ago
I find this subject of these RBDF marines being lauded as heroes just because, it sometimes seems, they had the tragic misfortune to be killed while on active service difficult to fully process.. I suppose some haters will be posting replies but twenty thousand infantry troops of the allied army were killed in the space of twenty minutes during one of the advances in the first battle of the Somme in 1916. Were these men all heroes or simply soldiers doing their duty? I think both. The names of these marines could be added to a plaque affixed to our existing memorial to those Bahamian servicemen killed during the last two world wars. The memorial immediately south of Rawson Square for those who have never visited it to pay their respects to our other heroes, or servicemen killed while on active service, whichever you think is the correct description.
ThisIsOurs 5 years, 11 months ago
You have a point, the word "hero" is bandied about too frequently. But if a BEC worker went out to fix a downed power line and they were electrocuted in the process, it wouldn't be any less sad, they would have died doing a fairly dangerous job that they're required to do day in and day out. Most of us will never know the hardships they face doing that job (speaking of both professions). It's really dangerous dealing with poachers, you never know how far they'll be willing to go to escape capture or how heavily armed they might be.
So if the nation calls these four men heroes I won't argue the point. They died defending our boarders.
Socrates 5 years, 11 months ago
this is one example of why i have always advocated that the DF should properly be called Coast Guard. we have no capacity to respond to an act of aggression, so how can it be a Defence Force. however, we can patrol for the illegals trying to enter and fish and since Immigration cant patrol, here we see why the organization is more a Coast Guard.
sheeprunner12 5 years, 11 months ago
Agreed, but every country wants to brag that it has a military, we are no different.
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