Howard Parker, a former Soldier/Royal Engineer assigned to Anguilla in 1970, has fulfilled a dream to return one day to the island which British troops stormed in an invasion, the previous year, and then began a period of infrastructural development.
An Army Instructor at the time, and about 24 years old, Corporal Parker spent nine months in Anguilla in a canvas camp erected in The Valley area. On occasions, like all the other British Marines, he appeared in uniform and served as an armed guard. But essentially one of his important roles was to serve in the capacity of a Royal Engineer involved in road construction, building the original Road Bay Jetty and The Valley Primary School, as far as he can remember.
It was in that capacity that he worked alongside such Anguillian young men, at the time, like Hugo Rey whom he visited to renew acquaintance, and others whose identities escaped his memory.
At Island Harbour, where he holidayed at the Arawak Beach Inn during his entire week’s visit, he succeeded in finding the remains of the rock crusher owned by the late Feddy Webster, and recalled the days he spent there as the machine spewed out the crushed stones for some of the road work in which he was involved. He was however unable to locate the exact site of the Army Camp in The Valley where he stayed forty-five years ago.
One of the first things Howard Parker did, shortly after his arrival, last week, was to visit Heritage Collection Museum at East End where its Curator, Mr Colville Petty, has a large display of artifacts about the Anguilla Revolution and the British invasion.
Parker’s visit there was to get firsthand information about the island’s history – as all visitors should do. “It is a fantastic display,” he commented, as it reminded him of an important part of the island’s colourful history of that particular period during his sojourn. Further, he was delighted to view displays of other artifacts which documented different periods of Anguillian history he was unaware of.
The former British Soldier/Engineer was taken aback to find a very built-up Anguilla with many homes, villas and hotels, compared to 1970 when there were not many buildings and very few roads.
He had been planning his belated return trip to Anguilla for a long time, and wanted his wife to accompany him. Unfortunately, she died six months ago, but he nevertheless undertook to fulfil his dream of seeing Anguilla once again. He is grateful to his daughter for booking him at Arawak Beach Inn and, according to him, “I have it in my head to come back again”.
Howard Parker
