The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

YEARS after Cuban military jet fighters attacked the HMBS Flamingo, stirring national unity among Bahamians, some Royal Bahamas Defence Force survivors believe they have not been sufficiently recognised and are disappointed about not being compensated for what happened.

The May 10, 1980, attack on the ship, which killed marine seamen Austin Smith, Edward Williams, and David Tucker, as well as able seaman Fenrick Sturrup, is commemorated annually with wreath-laying ceremonies and statements from the prime minister.

For the young country, the event helped build national identity.

However, former able seaman Cladwell Farrington, the ship’s radio operator, wrote Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis in March 2022 to complain that although Cuba agreed to compensate the country $10m, not “a cent was spent on” survivors.

Relatives of the deceased received $100k.

“The only compensation we received was $75 for me for items in my locker, and they turned around and told us they will not be paying us again because we should not have had personal items on board,” said Mr Farrington’s letter, which he recently shared with The Tribune.

Mr Farrington claimed that some survivors developed medical conditions related to the attack.

The Tribune could not verify his claim that one marine still had a bullet in his hand.

“We have been fighting for years to get some form of monthly payments for hardship and mental anguish caused by this incident,” he said.

“Sir, please make it possible for us. We were blown out of the water, shot at in deep waters, terrorised in Ragged Island, but got nothing in return. We should be honoured just like all the other persons at Government House. The golden girls and boys got land and money, not that I am against them. We got nothing. We are the forgotten.”

Mr Farrington told The Tribune some survivors had concerns for years but kept silent because the government still employed them.

He said after the attack on the HMBS Flamingo, he and two others were soon assigned to another boat that caught fire.

“We had to jump off soon for life again,” he said. “We were under traumatic stress, and you will send them back out on a boat in that short space of time when other persons on the base could have done that?”

Former chief petty officer Gregory H Curry served for 37 years. He said he received injuries to his chest from the attack, and shrapnel was engraved into his back that had to be removed.

He said he overcame the ordeal but acknowledged that there were others who “really took it hard.”

“It’s just like we were never there,” he said.

“I know that it was part of the job at the time, but that was a trauma we wasn’t expecting to experience,” he said. “Some guys really took it hard and said, wow, because the government never even looked at us, and everybody else got compensated besides the actual guys who survived.”

Mr Curry said many survivors have stopped attending the annual ceremony commemorating the incident because it “makes no sense showing up.”

He said in the leadup to the 50th anniversary of independence, government officials discussed doing something big for the survivors. Ultimately, he said, they received a plaque with the faces of those who died during the incident.

“I questioned the commodore about it,” he said. “Why were we given the faces of our fallen comrades?”

“That really threw us off, and some of the guys were really angry about it. The government promised they had something big, and that’s what it was.”  

National Security Minister Wayne Munroe, asked about the survivors’ concerns, noted that Mr Farrington’s letter was sent to the prime minister and said his appeal was not “based on any recognised rights.”