National Heros Day

Today Barbados celebrates National Heroes Day, a day when we pay tribute to some of those Barbadians who, over the decades, have rendered particularly outstanding service to our country and who, for this reason, have been designated National Heroes. This is fitting for, as one of those same Heroes the late Hugh Worrell Springer (now the Rt. Excellent Sir Hugh) once remarked: It is right that people aspire to greatness and also remember to honour those who deserve to be honoured. A nation without heroes is spiritually impoverished.

There are ten such Heroes, nine men and one woman, and their service to our country has been as varied as could be wished, but not one of them could have foreseen that he/she would one day be among that small group of persons to be designated National Heroes. Their contributions at times entailed great personal sacrifice and one of them, the Right Excellent Bussa, even risked and lost his life one of the many slaves who in the 1816 rebellion fought under the leadership of the freedman, Washington Franklin, desperately determined to free themselves from the intolerable burden of slavery. The revolt was crushed and its leaders and others executed, but their valiant effort to achieve freedom is commemorated by including one of them among our ten National Heroes. Across the years others of these select ten have in their different ways reached that pinnacle of achievement which justifies their inclusion among these few to whom, each year, we pay well-deserved tribute on Heroes Day.

Respect Due to all our National Heroes..