From Urgent Fury: The Battle for Grenada
By Major Mark Adkin
Hardcover: 391 pages
Publisher: Trans-Atlantic Publications (September 1989)
ISBN-10: 0850520231
ISBN-13: 978-0850520231
pp 76-81
Abdullah called out. “Cormrades, turn round" The eight at the wall did so. Abdullah took out a piece of paper, saying: "This ls order from the Central Committee, that you shall be executed by fire. It is not my order, it is the Central Committee’s. They were ordered to face the wall again. Jackie Creft half-turned to plead, “Wait, walt, hold on; I’m pregnant!" just as Abdullah started to give his orders to fire. It was useless. The ever aggressive Mitchell replied: “No f--king Comrade at this time!" Abdullah shouted out, “Prepare to firei’ Weapons were cocked und raised; Joseph lay down behind his machine gun. “One, two, three, FIRE!” Bishop, in the center of the group, was hit a split second before the others, probably by the heavy bullets of Abdullah’s M-3. Virtually simultaneously three machine guns opened up with long, continuous bursts. The firing went on and on, well after all the bodies had collapsed in a heap. Abdullah described it thus: “The bodies fell backward. Some fell down slow, and some fell down fast." Gabriel expanded: “Bodies tripe open. Fitzroy Bain tripe was out, Maurice Bishop back, belly, and neck was cut, Jacqueline Creft hand fly off." The bodies were lying there, virtually in bits and blood. Pieces of flesh of the bodies were also stuck on the wall."
After a minute or so Abdullah yelled, “Cease fire," and went forward to inspect the mangled remains for signs of life. Incredibly there was movement. Abdullah told Gabriel, “Look Gab there’s a body over there not well dead; finish it off" He was pointing to Fitzroy Bain. Gabriel, fearful of refusing, fired one shot into his head? Next Abdullah gave Gabriel instructions to issue blankets and get the corpses taken to the bottom square and loaded onto a truck. When Gabriel expressed great reluctance to handle the bodies, Abdullah snarled, “I gave you a f--king order Gabriel." Gabriel complied.
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The mess at Fort Rupert was appalling. There were bodies, bits of bodies, and blood everywhere; vehicles continued to burn. The fire service had been summoned and quickly extinguished the flames, only to be given the task of assisting the soldiers in washing away the pools of blood that lay all over the bottom and top squares. Hoses were put to use, together with a whole crate of disinfectant bottles. Major Keith Roberts had been arrogantly keeping dozens of relatives and friends away, near the St. James Hotel, by firing his AK into the air. When the people did not move, he instructed the senior fire officer, Inspector Williams, to turn the hoses on them. Williams ignored the order and left.
Meanwhile, Vincent Noel had been brought down from the balcony of the headquarters building to be placed, still alive, on the ground. He was seen by several people, including Nelson, who had returned from checking his men on the cordon. Noel was being given a drink from a soft drink bottle. Shortly afterward Abdullah noticed he was still moving and was about to shoot him in the head when Nelson pushed the gun away saying, “No.” Noel did not survive much longer, however. He died of either shock and loss of blood or was finished off.
Immediately after the execution, Stroude confined the fort, ordering the guards to shoot any PRA attempting to leave. He then summoned a meeting for the garrison in the mess hall. He had some explaining to do. Redhead, Abdullah, Prime, and Gabriel, along with the soldiers, heard him say:
The purpose of this meeting is to outline to you the incident you saw here this afternoon. Maurice Bishop was not true to the Revolution. He was a f--ing traitor. That is why he had to be executed. Have no fear, be of good courage. The welfare programme will continue. The house repair programme will also continue, and tomorrow we shall select a committee called the Military Council that will run the country. We shall inform you.
It was not until late afternoon that Gabriel completed moving the bodies from the top square to the bottom one. In the process of this gruesome task, one soldier, a woman, fainted. The mangled remains, including those of Vincent Noel, were heaped onto the surviving Public Works Department truck under blankets. Austin then telephoned Redhead to confirm that under cover of darkness and the curfew, the bodies of Bishop and the others who had been executed were to be burned in a large pit, conveniently located behind the latrines at Camp Calivigny. The other dead civilians were to be disposed of by the undertaker, Eric La Qua, and others. All must be gone by morning. No proper identification or registration was permitted. At around 11:00 P.M. that night, Austin arrived at Fort Rupert to check on progress. Gabriel met the black Honda on the bottom square and saluted as Austin descended. “Gabriel, where are the bodies?" he asked. Gabriel pointed, and Austin walked across, lifted a blanket and peered down. Turning to Gabriel, he said, “These f--king trouble makers were supposed to dead long.” They then went to the top square, where Gabriel pointed out the site of the execution. Austin’s comment was, “Maurice bring that about for himself because he was not true.”
Some time after 1:30 the following morning, Gabriel was awakened in his office by a soldier telling him he was wanted on the bottom square. On arrival, Abdullah ordered him onto his jeep with some other soldiers; they were going on a mission. Of the yellow PWD truck there was no sign. Eventually the jeep stopped near Camp Calivigny in marshy ground. The truck with the bodies had bogged down. Abdullah and the soldiers were forced to transfer the remains to the jeep to get them to the pit. It was an unpleasant business. As Gabriel was later to say, “It was so stink.” Having got the bodies to the hole, Gabriel and the others were sent back to Fort Rupert, leaving Abdullah to carry out the actual burning.
The job was not completed until around midday on October 20; Abdullah worked alone and was short of wood and old tires, which were used to line the grave. The only known witness was a camp cook, Private Christopher Bowen, who described seeing the bodies, including those of Bishop, Whiteman, Creft, and both Bains, “frying as if you frying eggs in a frying pan.”
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