BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – IN commemoration of the 46th Anniversary of the failed armed attempt to overthrow the Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw-led Labour Party Administration and also to honour the men who repelled the rebels, members of the St. Kitts-Nevis Defence Force, dressed in combat fatigue, yesterday morning (June 10) marched through the Streets of Basseterre.
According to the Defence Force’s Public Affairs Officer, Captain Kayode Sutton, the significance of the march was to commemorate the bravery and selfless commitment to duty by soldiers of the then St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla Defence Force to repel the intruders.
“The march through the streets of Basseterre this morning is to commemorate the June 10, 1967 attempted invasion of Camp Springfield. It is just to commemorate the 46th Anniversary of that event. It is also to honour the efforts of members of the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla Defence Force who were at Camp Springfield at that time. We are not honouring just the effort of one soldier, we are honouring their collective effort because soldiers work as a team. So we are honouring their efforts, their bravery and their commitment today.”
In response to the question of some people saw the march as a show of force at a time when the government is perceived to be under pressure to debate the Motion of No Confidence that was before the Parliament since December 2012, Sutton claimed that was far from the truth.
“What we did today is not out of our routine. We are not politicians…we are professionals. We march through the streets of Basseterre at different times. Every month, for training purposes, we would have a platoon marching through the streets of towns and villages around the country. And the same is being done by a company on a quarterly basis.
“So this is not the first time we have been engaged in route marches. Furthermore, we would like it to be understood by all and sundry that the St. Kitts-Nevis Defence Force is not loyal to any political party, group or individual. The members of this prestigious institution honestly and assiduously carry out the Force’s mandate to protect the Federation and its inhabitants and we all live up to the motto of ‘Country Above Self’. Therefore, it is foolhardy for people to believe that a route march intended to honour the efforts, bravery and commitment of our soldiers is aimed at a show of force to intimidate the populace.”
St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla was an associated state of Britain but Anguillans had wanted to secede, and on Saturday, June 10, 1967 an armed party which included a number of American mercenaries landed at Fig Tree with the aim of overthrowing the government.
It was however a failed attempt.
According to a book published by Anguillan authors Colville Petty and Nat Hodge, the attack on St. Kitts was the brainchild of Ronald Webster and a prominent Kittitian. Atlin Harrigan, one of the leaders of the Anguilla Revolution advised Webster that he was making a mistake but Webster strongly believed that Bradshaw’s government could have been toppled by armed force.
The book also states that Webster was misled by political personalities in St. Kitts into believing that a majority of Kittitians were prepared to take up arms against the Government. This illusion compelled him to join forces with Bradshaw’s political enemy in St. Kitts in an effort to oust Bradshaw.
Following the failed attempt, Anguillans voted by Referendum on July 11, 1967 to secede from St. Kitts and Nevis, which resulted in 1 813 votes for and five against. However, it was not until December 19, 1980 that Anguilla formally disassociated itself from St. Kitts and Nevis to become a separate British dependency.
