Trinidad and Tobago Cadets during World War II

To fill out the canvas on WW II I’m hoping (his health permitting) to interview Boscoe Holder to learn about the arts during the war. And if any veteran calypsonians would like to put in their two cents’ worth of reminiscences I’d be most grateful for the information?

Of the Cadets, Captain Alexis writes:

"Hats off to the Scouts who volunteered towards the war effort!" He points out that the Scouts had no military training for peacetime soldiering, let alone during actual combat. However, as we have seen already, they did their duty as messengers, observers and spies - but they were not armed.

The Cadets, on the other hand, were issued with live ammunition for their personal rifles which were the same type as that used by all British forces in the war- the .303 rifle. In England the Cadets formed the third line of defence (after the Army and the Home Guard); in Trinidad they were the second line of defence; when on active duty with the soldiers they were in the front line. They did guard duty like regular soldiers; however, their duties were not as demanding because they were still attending classes in school.

Cadets were trained to use Bren guns, Sten guns, two-inch mortars, flares and, of course, the .303 rifles. Part of their training included a course in jungle warfare in Sobo village where the jungle warfare school was the first of its kind in the Americas. (We’ll be hearing more of jungle warfare training when we focus on Fort Read and the US Army and Army Air Corps.) In Tobago the Cadets trained at King’s Camp (where Scarborough Secondary School is today). Captain Alexis writes: "All the platoon weapons were used in training by the cadets, along with hand-to-hand combat training." He writes that Tobago Cadets particularly enjoyed firing tracer bullets at Red Rock out in the Bay."

Nevertheless, the youngsters in the Cadets took their duties seriously. Depending on their age, some, as we shall see, joined the British Army and took part in fighting in North Africa, Europe and the Far East. Captain Alexis writes that the contribution made by the Cadets to the war effort, their discipline in performing their duties "were recognised to the extent that even up to as late a 1958, 13 years after the war ended, a Cadet in uniform could have taken his rifle home to... strip and oil... the metal parts.

Had the Germans landed here, the Cadets would have been involved in the fighting. But the Germans didn’t come in force. It’s believed that one or two evaded the Coast Watch, that they came ashore from submarines to mingle with the population. There was a rumour that some of these spies were bold enough to go to the Globe cinema on Park Street to see a film.

There was no Commandant of the Cadets in those days because they were under the direct control of the Trinidad Volunteers; all the Officers and Warrant Officers in the Cadet Force were also members of the TT Volunteers; in fact the first local officers to be commissioned in the British Army were all Cadets from St. Mary’s. When Major Lawrence Assam, a graduate of the TT Cadets, was fighting in Egypt he so impressed his superiors he was appointed training officer in the British army. In the late 1970s he returned home to head the Cadet Force Division.

The names of members of the Cadet Force who volunteered for the British fighting forces and were killed during WW II are inscribed in the Cenotaph in Queen’s Royal College, Port of Spain.

Captain Alexis writes some of his personal experiences during WW II:

"Our family lived at #156 Frederick Street, directly opposite (where) Living Waters (is today). My eldest sister was playing the piano beautifully when, unannounced, uninvited and unwelcome, a number of sailors entered our home to listen to her playing. My father, with all the diplomacy at his command allowed her to play two or more pieces, and gently informed the rude intruders she had to go to do her school homework. From that day our front door was always locked . . .

"One must remember the Americans looked down on us as some type of backward natives, to the extent that any crime they committed against us, the Trinidad Government could not bring any sailor to book. That was part of the agreement between the USA and England, and we lesser mortals in the colony had no say in the matter.

"There were many stories of the disappearance of many ‘ladies of the night’. It was not until after 1970 I learned what had happened to them. After the sailors had a good time with them, and did not want to pay them for services rendered, the sailors just used simply to kill them and dumped their bodies into the two massive furnaces which were used to burn all waste on Chaguaramas Base. Those two furnaces, although out of use, are still standing today. The information was given by a fellow who worked at the location during the war. The furnaces are located at Small Boats near the WASA office."

When I read that, I shuddered, wondering, even as I did so, whether, for all the problems associated with thousands of young, hot-blooded men with time on their hands being over-paid, over sexed and over here, someone wasn’t about to let the truth spoil a good story. To redress the balance weighted so heavily against the US Forces, we couldn’t, the British Empire (as it was then) couldn’t have won the war without them. And, as we shall see, many gave their lives here in Trinidad while fighting the Germans...

In a later e-mail Ian Lambie wrote that he did not know Capt Neal Alexis, that he must be ‘youngster’. However, he did know and wanted me to contact, if possible (it wasn’t because I was very close to deadline) or at least mention some well-known cadets of the 1940s. These are retired diplomat Frank Abdulah, Hugh Walke, Ken Gordon, who was a Sergeant in St Mary’s Corps. Everard Gordon, Ken Barnes and Sergeant Major Clemendore.

If any reader has more details of the work, the exploits, the duties of the Cadets and experiences of life in Trinidad during WW II, don’t hesitate to e-mail me at this address:- annehilton@ rave-tt.net