By Kathy Ann Waterman
Sunday Express
August 31, 1997
Page 18
Retired coastguardsman Rawle Coa almost lost his opportunity to be part of history 35 years ago when he collapsed at midnight in the crook of a police officer's arm, just as he was hoisting the national flag.
Coa was honoured by the City Corporation in Independence celebrations last week as the man who raised the colours 35 years ago, signalling the end of British rule and the birth of a new nation.
He was the man chosen to raise the colours all right but he had help along the way.
The flag-raising ceremony was set for the forecourt of the Red House on Abercromby Street. Coa, 25, had been standing there for more than two hours under the lights in his stiff, white tunic.
"You have on this tunic and boots on your foot. You had the lights and heat and the crowd," Coa recalled yesterday.
The crowds had jammed themselves into Woodford Square. More than 40,000 people had gathered and the police were having a testing time keeping everyone under control.
A tall officer, acting Deputy Commissioner Eustace Bernard, was in charge. He had been moving up and down Abercromby Street with his walkie-talkie since 6 p.m. as the heat and tension climbed.
The Princess Royal was late. The show at Queen's Hall, which she had attended, had been delayed. For the flag to go up a second after midnight would be disastrous.
The princess's big, black car came down St. Vincent Street at full speed. The driveway to the forecourt had been widened to accommodate the car.
It was less than five minutes to midnight.
The princess was the guest of honour and the Queen's representative. As the VIPs got to their seats, the band of the Royal Marines played the "Last Post". An officer of the ship lowered the Union Jack.
Bernard had taken up his position at the base of the flag post. Coa's moment had come, time to do his duty and hoist the flag. He had been practising for days. But now he felt weak.
Bernard noticed the young, smart-looking sailor was swaying. He kept saying, "Swallow your saliva, man."
Coa tried manfully but crumpled into the crook of Bernard's left arm. Bernard pushed another uniformed man forward. "Pull the string," he told him. The fellow didn't hesitate and finished the job.
And so, the national flag was flown and Trinidad and Tobago became the fifteenth nation of the British Commonwealth.
Coa said yesterday the flag was about a foot from the top of the pole when he felt faint and instead of letting go and allowing the flag to slip back down ignominiously, he quickly wrapped the cord around the pole and the other man finished the job.
Coa knew the officer who helped raise the flag as PC Boyce. They had trained together in the police service. Coa later joined the Coast Guard, rising to the rank of chief petty officer. He retired in 1985.
Bernard became the first black man to head the police service and recounted the first Independence celebrations and the near miss with the flag-raising ceremony in his book, Against All Odds, published in 1991.
Until Coa named Boyce yesterday, Bernard had no idea it was a police constable who had taken the flag to the top. He'd always felt the police had deserved the distinction.
In 1962, both the Police Service and the Defence Force had lobbied for the honour of raising the colours. In the end, it took both of them to get the once-in-a-lifetime job done.
===============================================================