In memory of those who kept us free

Laura Tanna,  Contributor

Some of us are blessed with good neighbours. Those of you who keep fit by climbing the rocky, pot-holed, eroding-around-the-edges and threatening-to-collapse road known as Mountain Spring, Kingston 6, might be surprised to learn that up to 12 years ago Daniel Theophilous Palmer, Esquire, lived just before the mouth of the spring.

 Every year, for Remembrance Day, he would dress up smartly, put on medals from World War II and sell poppies to raise funds for veterans. He was such an imposing sight that in 1995 I got out my camera to capture him for posterity. He died three years later after a gruelling battle with cancer.

He was the kind of neighbour who, if a reckless driver killed a helpless animal and the owner could not be found, he would burn or bury the body rather than leave it to rot or expect someone else to clean up the mess. He was the kind of disciplinarian who would haul his own son off to the police station if he thought he was involved in something he shouldn't be. He had no compunctions about doing his civic duty and enjoyed law and order so much that he welcomed serving on a jury and did it whenever he could. In fact, on February, 25, 1993, the Most Hon Sir Howard Cooke made Palmer a justice of the peace for St Andrew.

For my sins I'm on the board of the Museums of History and Ethnography at the Institute of Jamaica, and, on November 14, 2010, the travelling exhibition 'From War to Windrush', which was such a hit in London, that its run was extended to two years, will be opening here in Kingston. That deals with the great contribution Caribbean people made to winning the war and the subsequent migration to the United Kingdom which started with the first civillian ship, the SS Windrush, in 1948. Simultaneously, with 'War - Lest we Forget', the museum's staff plan to highlight in greater detail Jamaicans who were involved in the war. What better occasion than this to find out more about Mr Palmer?

Sharing memories

Alas! As too often happens, these questions should have been asked years earlier. Robert, the second to last son who lives in the home where Palmer died, was gracious enough to share what memories he could. He said his father had 18 children.

"Him said he did want 24 because things was cheaper by the dozen in dose times. He told me that when he was in the war there was a lot of dead bodies around him. They were attacking. Soldiers were coming an him have to lay down like him dead and put some blood on his face and pretend like he's dead, with another dead man beside him throw up on top of him."

Robert doesn't know where this battle took place but he does remember how his father was injured.

"When he was in the war he was running down to catch the soldier lorry to jump on it and he drop and fell. He hit his head and his head burst and he got quicksilver in his head."

Robert believes this injury led to his sometimes violent temper. As one of the last four children living with him, he notes:

"Life was rough with him fe him was a soldier an he use to take out dat anger. He was a serious man, you know. I have to run away when I was about 14 because it was hard to live with him. But it was thru him head sick, like him did have quicksilver in him head, it affect him, you know. Yes, we go thru a lot a rough tings but him was a good fada still, you know. Trust me. He really discipline me and show me not to tief or not to tell lie. Thru him in de aemy,him have dat aemy discipline. Yes, and when he was in the army, he used to do magic. So when the soldiers  dem gathered on pay day, himused towork masgic and shiow dem,and them used to give himmoney. He used to collect money from de soldiers whe he do himmagic.

"After him come back from war, here in Jamaica now, he couldn't get a job. So he write a letter to the governor general and tell him dat if him don't get a job he's going to hang himself and he get about a hundred telegram from all over. Well, him fe get a job after dat. Governor general let him get any amount of work he want after. I remember that he was a sailor at one of de time and then he come and be a warder, and then he was a security guard and he come back and help build Pegasus hotel, some kind of construction work him do on it. And the last thing I know him do was a Justice of the Peace. But him been to a lot of works and travel to 21 different country as sailor."

Mark, the son who knew him best, now lives in England. Perhaps it was his father's love of magic and showmanship which influenced this son, for Mark worked as a clown and roustabout with a circus in the UK, then settled down with his own mechanic business. He's the one who kept his father's medals. We'll just have to wait for his next visit before we hear any more about Daniel Theophilous Palmer's adventures.

I remember that he was a sailor at one of de time and then he come and be a warder, and then he was a security guard and he come back and help build Pegasus hotel, some kind of construction work him do on it.