West Indian Pilots

liverpool annie · Feb 5, 2009

You probably have these already ... but just in case !!

Errol Walton Barrow (21 January 1920 – 1 June 1987) was a Caribbean statesman and the first Prime Minister of Barbados. Born into a family of political and civic activists in the parish of Saint Lucy and educated at Harrison College, his sister Dame Nita Barrow also became a social activist, humanitarian leader and later Governor General of Barbados.

Errol Barrow served in the Royal Air Force during World War II. He enlisted in the RAF on 31 December 1940 and flew some 45 operational bombing missions over the European Theatre. By 1945 he had risen to the rank of Flying Officer and was appointed as personal navigator to the Commander in Chief of the British Zone of occupied Germany, Sir William Sholto Douglas.

Errol Barrow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Herman Francis Grant EDE - F/O
Service No: 33307 Service: RAF
Trade/Branch: Pilot 263 Sqn Gladiator
Station/Unit/Ship: HMS Glorious
Command: Fighter
Nationality: Bermuda
Awards/Decorations: DFC
Disposal: KIA Age 23 yrs Date Died: 9 Jun 1940

Equipped with Gladiators and sent to Norway in April 1940 in an attempt to give air cover for British and Norwegian forces. Operations from the frozen Lake Lesjaskag ended when Luftwaffe bombers destroyed the aircraft on the ground and returned to the UK to re-equip. In May, the squadron arrived back in Norway, this time further north and flew patrols until the Allied forces were withdrawn from Narvik. They fought continuously until 7 June, claiming 26 confirmed victories. 10 Gladiator aircraft of 263 Sqn were flown on board HMS Glorious in the early hours of 8 June for transport to the UK. Shortly after 1600hrs on 8 Jun 1940, Gneisenau and Scharnhorst were sighted. “Glorious” received her first hit from Scharnhorst at 1638hrs and sank at about 1810hrs. Also sunk were HMS Ardent & HMS Acasta. Total losses of over 1500 officers & men of the RN, RM and RAF.

Buried At: Runnymede Memorial Grave/Memorial : Panel 5
Next of Kin: Son of Ernest Grant Ede and Winifred Louise Ede, of Pembroke, Bermuda.

Loss of HMS Glorious

My beloved husband Douglas Grant (or to give him his full name, Walter Douglas Haig Grant) died on 27 April 2006 here at his home in the UK at the age of 87. His funeral ceremony featured an SVG flag amongst the flowers on his coffin, a cricket bat and West Indian hat and we played calypso (Victory Test Match) and had a poem read by Doug's great niece Laura Brisbane-Settle about St Vincent called Island in the Sun by Erica Standen.
He was the last of Walter McGregor Grant's children - having a half brother, Gregor, brother Alex Grant, and sisters Dorothy Date, Nora Peacocke and Freda Allen.

Hilary Blumer (Mrs Douglas Grant)
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Walter Douglas Haig Grant - Walter after his father - Haig after Earl Haig, was born three days after armistice day at the end of the Great War - Known to all as Douglas/Doug

Tribute to Doug’s life and qualities

Born in St Vincent, then a British Colony, Doug was the youngest of five children. Their home was also shared by his half brother, Gregor and sundry animals including horses, dogs and a donkey. He had a happy, loving childhood and maintained fond memories of having cold showers each morning with his father in the yard; always fastidious about being clean. He saw the introduction of electricity on the island, and the hurricane of 1921 when his father brought his favourite horse into the house, for fear of injury. He had the privilege of mixing his father’s rum cocktail each evening a skill that lasted throughout his life. Doug loved cricket, was a keen sea scout and, having always been encouraged to read and think for himself, he entered the local Grammar School – where he was broken of left handedness. Hence his spidery writing! Doug’s best subject was English and his love of literature, drama and poetry lasted throughout his lifetime.

On leaving school, the best jobs in the island were not open to him these only being available for people whose skin was white – Doug was coloured. His hatred of apartheid on the basis of skin colour was therefore understandable. But he started training as a pharmacist in the local hospital and was eventually given responsibility for a rural pharmacy in Belair. But then war broke out, and along with two other “Vincies” Doug left his home island on Friday 13 June 1941 in a troop ship (the Maas Kerk). He crossed the Atlantic in an eight knot convoy at the height of the U boat campaign to fight for King and country in the RAF. Arriving at Greenock, he caught a train to London, having to stand the whole way – imagine that first arrival in the ‘Mother Country’! Kitting out took place at Lords Cricket Ground and not for the first time in his life, Doug was unable to get a uniform to fit his 6ft 3 frame. He was billeted in various parts of the UK – from the North East to West Midlands, from East Anglia to Devon. Experiencing winter for the first time, Doug obtained woollen clothes from the West Indian War Services Commission. He recounted having to break ice on water to wash and shave with. As a radio operator/gunner, stationed in Canada, he met and married his first wife Mona in Quebec in 1945. He was sent to Trincomalee in what was then Ceylon, despatching troops behind enemy lines in Burma. His Liberator made the longest ever round trip of nearly 3,600 miles from Ceylon to drop medical personnel and supplies to prisoners of war in Southern Sumatra – navigating by dead reckoning, using the sun and stars! He and Mona set up home in Liverpool after war ended; Doug got a place at Liverpool University to read social policy and administration. Summoned back to an Air Force base in Lancashire, he was told he would be sent home. Fortunately, Professor Simey from the University and Learie Constantine, the former West Indian cricketer who was then working for the Foreign and Colonial Office, intervened on his behalf. He was allowed to stay!
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Douglas Grant

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