DAVID, SOLDIER OF ORCHIDS

Milling around the orchid displays amidst an array of exotic hybrids, ensuring booths were in order, conversing fluently in Spanish with the Venezuelan team displaying their varieties of orchids, and with a welcome smile to all, no one would imagine that this gentleman at the TT Orchid Society Show was once a commanding officer of our army, based at Army Headquarters in Chaguaramas. Lt Colonel David Dopwell succinctly responds to my question on his role in the “mutiny” of 1970. He recounts the events of this time, concluding that our army officers are great loyalists to their profession. When all was said and done after those events, he is of the view that nobody took time off to congratulate those loyal soldiers who stood up at the square at Teteron Bay and refused to join the detractors. Had they not done so, history would have recorded very different events at that time. Since his retirement in 1988 at age 50, David has been a director of Consolidated Engineering. As Yard Manager, he supervises the out hauling of boats. Based in Chaguaramas, the major part of his day is spent there. An ardent lover of the sea and boats, David is part owner of “Only Way,” which runs a charter service up the islands, especially to the Grenadines and south to La Guiria in Venezuela. His love of boating and fishing is obvious in all that he says. In fact, he refers to Only Way as his “second wife.”

It was quite by accident that David joined the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment. Born in St Vincent, his family moved to St Lucia when his father was appointed Auditor General there in 1946. Two years later, once more to facilitate his father’s posting, the family migrated to Grenada where David’s love for the sea grew. After secondary school, he applied for and was successful in landing a position as merchant seaman of a banana boat. He was excited about going to sea, dreaming of becoming a captain one day. The vessel was on its return voyage from England, having delivered a shipment of bananas. Then tragedy struck and “The Kaen Thorden” caught afire off the coast of Dominica. “The irony of it all is that on the same page in which the newspaper reported the story of the fire, there was a notice inviting applicants to join the West Indian Regiment. “Disappointed in losing the chance to work out at sea, I applied and as they say, the rest is history. There was the Federation of the West Indies at that time, you see, so in 1959 this regiment was formed in Jamaica. I was sent on training for two and a half years at Sandhurst in England but by the time of my return in 1962, the federation had collapsed. We were given a choice of going to Jamaica, Nigeria, joining the British army, or coming to Trinidad. I joined the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment with a British team doing training as we were just entering into independence.” Significant in his career, in 1980, David was commissioned to train the Barbados Defence Force for a year. “They had only a volunteer Force at that time so they wanted to expand. In Barbados, I was in charge of eight of us from Trinidad as well as a British team stationed there.” He was then reassigned to Antigua for another year to assist in the setting up and training of their army in preparation for their independence. “Antigua had no defence force so we had to create the whole works, from regiment band to training militia,” explains David.

“Military life has shaped me and made me the person I am. Everything I do is fashioned after my life in the army. I am very grateful for what the army has done for me. I do not regret any of these years,” he muses. Second in command to Colonel Joe Theodore for a number of years, David commends army life, especially for the responsibility it creates in a person. The Dopwell Room at Camp Ogden on Long Circular Road the officers’ mess, was named after Lt Colonel David Dopwell a few years after his retirement, in recognition of his outstanding service in the army. A sportsman prior to joining the army, he continued to be involved in sports and was the first battalion sports officer playing hockey and football for the TT Regiment. Sporting a T-shirt with the logo of the Queen’s Park Cricket Club, he chuckles when I enquire of his activities there, “I haven’t been there for some time. I am still a member, but if they start up a geriatric side, I will certainly join!” He recounts being “very active in the early days as a member of the Wild Fowl Trust, shooting alligators that were interfering with the ducks.”
A gift of an orchid plant from his wife eight years ago introduced David to the wonderful world of growing orchids. “They were so afraid that I would kill this orchid that I was encouraged to join the Orchid Society. Although I am not an expert, I manage to keep my orchids alive!” he laughs. He now has over 100 orchid plants, kept close by, as he delights in “making my orchids happy.” He spends time every day ensuring they are well cared for.

David is very involved in the Trinidad and Tobago Orchid Society  as he is part of the show committees. “One of my hobbies is carpentry; I actually work at home refurbishing old furniture. So when we have our biennial orchid show, I help with the design and setting up of displays. I really enjoy this.” Married to a Trinidadian, David enjoys a good family life with his children, grandchildren, and many close friends. He does a lot of fishing and pleasure boating. “I consider myself very fortunate; I try not to go against the current and to help wherever I can. I am very indebted to the army for the learning experiences I got, things that one cannot get in any university. As an officer, being responsible for your platoon and even their families, gives you a sense of responsibility that you cannot shirk. People nowadays want to go places, make money, but they do not want the accompanying responsibility. That is missing in the world today. People talk about wanting freedom but you cannot be free if you have ambition since you will always be responsible for people’s lives. You cannot do as you like because you are always affecting other people’s lives,” David says. The former commanding officer in the TT Regiment, orchid enthusiast, expert carpenter, fishing connoisseur, boating aficionado and family man, walks off with a smile. He goes to chat with the young men at the Cadet commissary, just a short distance away from Camp Ogden and the Dopwell Room.