Page 331 - They Also Served
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Ken Barnes 1960.
Roderick Kendrick Barnes was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on 23rd August 1935 and educated at St Mary’s College on the island. Joining the West India Regiment in 1956, he moved to Jamaica and was one of the first two from the regiment to attend Intake 25 at Sandhurst in 1958 as part of the initiative to build a post-independence army. When the island gained independence in 1962, Barnes transferred to the newly created Jamaica Defence Force (JDF).
A major in 1965, he later commanded the 1st Battalion Jamaica Regiment. Promoted to colonel in 1973, he was the defence advisor at the Jamaica High Commission in London and greatly enjoyed returning to Sandhurst to support some of the 200-plus Jamaican officer cadets who have trained at the Academy.
In October 1983, radicals overthrew and murdered Maurice Bishop, the prime minister of Grenada. Several Caribbean leaders appealed to US President Ronald Reagan for assistance and the invasion of Grenada took place. To give the US intervention local legitimacy, a combined Caribbean Security Force was created to take part in the
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