Awarded for service

A retired soldier, the island’s new Chief Justice and a retired educator and trade unionist are recipients of the highest Independence honours for 2020.

Former head of the Barbados Defence Force, Brigadier Rudyard Lewis, and Chief Justice Patterson Cheltenham have been knighted, while the Order of Freedom of Barbados has been awarded to Patrick Frost for his dedicated service as an educator and for his sterling contribution to the trade union movement.

Sir Rudyard Lewis assumed command of the Barbados Defence Force in 1980. He was later given the responsibility for organising a regional security organisation and in 1982, was appointed regional security coordinator of the Regional Security System, serving in that capacity until he retired in 2003.

His command and leadership of the Caribbean Security Force during the Grenada Intervention in 1983 has been internationally recognised and acclaimed.

Expressing appreciation for the recognition, he told the DAILY NATION it was “nice to be recognised.”

He added: “I am sure that the soldiers and the people who were with me in the defence force would feel good that the defence force is recognised in this way.”  (GC)

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