More than a milestone

Warrant Officer Elder Edward Bishop, a retired soldier who gave 39 years of loyal, efficient and outstanding military service, is Barbados’ newest centenarian.

Elder Bishop, who has won several awards for his service, received not only a special visit from Governor General Dame Sandra Mason this morning, but he was presented with a birthday gift from the Barbados Defence Force (BDF). A room in the Warrant Officers Mess was named the Elder Bishop Lounge.

“I could go another five years,” Bishop told members of the media as he sat in the room named after him.

“Good eating. Stay away from drugs and remember there is a God at all times. Anything that is digestible, I would eat. Don’t look for special foods. Eat what you can get to eat at any time,” he advised.

During a special ceremony which the Governor General also attended, the centenarian’s son, Fabian Bishop, delivered a brief reflection of his father’s life in the army.

Fabian said Elder Bishop became a full-time soldier on September 12, 1939, at a time when Britain declared war on Germany, and by the end of the war in 1945, he had risen to the rank of War Substantive Corporal.

In 1946, he migrated to Bermuda where he spent five years and three months working at the British DockYard Naval Facility.

“After his return to Barbados in 1951, he immersed himself in the operation of the Barbados Regiment as a soldier where he was the recipient of many awards and commendations, inclusive of Warrant Officer in 1973, [a number of] shooting awards, notably the Major H.S. Pinder Cup on 31st October 1974, the Royal Leicestershire 1st Team Award given on 4th December 1974, to name a few,” Fabian said.

On November 13, 1987, Elder Bishop was bestowed to the order of the Barbados Service Star in recognition of his dedicated service in the Barbados Volunteer Force, the Barbados Battalion of the South Caribbean Forces and the Barbados Regiment. The award was given by His Excellency, Governor General Hugh Worrell Springer on behalf of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Bishop retired from active service in 1991. “Everything in the military I enjoyed. Even up to now I enjoy the military,” Elder Bishop declared.

Chief of Staff of the Barbados Defence Force Colonel Glyne Gannum congratulated Elder Bishop on reaching his milestone and thanked him for his service to the military. (AH)