Colonel Leonard Banfield, LVO, MBE, ED, JP

Colonel Banfield joined the Barbados Battalion of the South Caribbean Force in 1941 having just left the Cadet Corps at Combermere School, and was granted a commission as a Second Lieutenant in 1942. He was a Platoon Commander and a Company Commander during the war and served in Barbados, Dominica (as part of the Gale Force), St Lucia and St Vincent.

He was trained in Jamaica, British Honduras and Canada and specialised in weapons, unarmed combat and physical training. After he was demobilised as a Captain in 1947, he joined the Barbados Regiment and as was responsible for many of the improvements in the Regiment today. Among other Civil Service posts, he was the Assistant Superintendent of Prisons, before being appointed the first local Adjutant of the Barbados Regiment in 1964.

Colonel Banfield was responsible for planning and coordinating the military ceremony on the night  Barbados became Independent on 30 November 1966 and he was awarded the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his outstanding contribution. In the early 70s, he became Commanding Officer of the Barbados Regiment having successfully attended the Canadian Staff Course. It was his foresight and planning that shaped the Barbados Defence Force in its formative years.

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the formation of the Barbados Volunteer Force, he was promoted to the rank of Colonel and became the first Chief of Staff of the Barbados Defence Force (BDF) on 15 August 1979. Col Banfield coined the motto “Symbol of Excellence” which is the motto still being used by the BDF today.

Colonel Deighton Maynard, SSM, ED

Colonel Deighton Maynard was invited to join the Barbados Defence Force (BDF) on its establishment in 1979, having served in the Barbados Regiment and reaching the rank of Lieutenant.

Leaving behind a 20-year career as Games Master and a teacher at Combermere School, Colonel Maynard acceded to the invitation to join the BDF and was promoted to the rank of Captain.

On joining the BDF Colonel Maynard attended staff training in Canada and held various command and staff appointments such as Officer Commanding of the outpost at Harrison Point in St Lucy, Officer Commanding the Administrative Support Unit at St Ann’s Fort, Staff Officer Finance & Procurement, Staff Officer Operations and Training, and Commanding Officer of the Administrative Support Unit.

Colonel Maynard always maintained a keen interest in sports and coached the national hockey team to many outstanding successes. He was instrumental in the development of the Barbados Defence Sports Programme administered and in securing a key role for Barbados in the International Military Sports Council (CISM). Colonel Maynard was awarded the Silver Crown of Merit in 1990 for outstanding military service.

Colonel Maynard was appointed as Chief of Staff in 1999 and retired on 31 August 2003.

Brigadier Rudyard Lewis, GCM, CVO, ED, JP

Brigadier Lewis was born in the parish of St Joseph and attended Southborough Boys School and Harrison College. At Harrison College, he was a member of the Cadet Corps and rose to the rank of Cadet Under Officer. While still at school he enlisted in the Barbados Regiment where he attained the rank of corporal and received the Best NCO award in 1958 and 1959.

In March 1960 he opted to go to Jamaica to enlist in the re-formed West India Regiment and in 1962 he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant after two years as a cadet at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst where he received the prize for Best Overseas Cadet. On his return to Jamaica from Sandhurst, he learned that the West India Regiment was to be disbanded (with the collapse of the short-lived West Indies Federation) and accepted a place in the new Jamaica Defence Force, there being no full-time military in Barbados.

Lewis performed many duties with distinction in the JDF including Training Officer responsible for recruit and NCO training, Aide-de-Camp to the Governor General, and Officer in charge of boxing and Rugby. He retired from the JDF in 1977 at the rank of Major to accept an appointment in the Defence and Security Division of the Prime Minister’s office in Barbados, with special responsibility for the establishment of the BDF.

He was later appointed Deputy Chief of Staff in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and in 1980 appointed Chief of Staff in the rank of Colonel. In 1983 in recognition of his role as coordinator of the Regional Security System (RSS) he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier. Also in 1983, he received the award of national honour of the Gold Crown of Merit and in March 1989 he was honoured by Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II, being made and Commander of the Victorian Order.

Brigadier Lewis, a perfectionist and man with remarkable focus and insight, was the principal guiding force behind the successes and achievement of the Barbados Defence Force for nearly two decades. He retired in 1999, having maintained the admiration of those he led throughout his career.

Colonel Alvin Quintyne, BSS, JP, LOM

Colonel Quintyne enlisted in the Barbados Regiment in 1976 and later transferred to the Barbados Defence Force on its establishment as a full-time military force in August 1979. He served as a junior enlisted rank and attained the rank of Corporal. In August 1980 he attended Basic Officer’s Training in Canada and graduated from the Canadian Forces Officer Candidate School in August 1981. On 15 August 1981, he was granted a Queen’s Commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Regular Element of the Barbados Defence Force.

Since commissioning, he rose through the ranks of the Officers’ Corps attaining promotions to the rank of Lieutenant in September 1983, Captain in September 1984, Major in June 1989, Lieutenant Colonel in February 1996 and Colonel in September 2003.

Colonel Quintyne has held several command, staff and operational appointments in the Barbados Defence Force. Foremost among his many operational deployments was Operation “URGENT FURY”, the US-led intervention in Grenada in October 1983. He commanded and led the Barbados Defence Force’s contingent to Trinidad and Tobago in the aftermath of the coup attempt in 1990 and in November 1994 he commanded and led a Regional Security System combined military and police contingent to restore peace and order after the prison uprising in St Kitts & Nevis.

Colonel Quintyne is a graduate of the Canadian Forces Staff School, the Canadian Land Forces Command and General Staff College and National Defence University in Washington D.C.

Colonel Quintyne served as Barbados’ Defence Attaché to the Embassy of Barbados in Washington, D.C. during the period 2000-2002 and assumed command of the Defence Force on September 2003.

Colonel Quintyne has been awarded the Barbados Service Star, the General Service Medal, the Regional Security System Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, a Defence Board Commendation, the Service Medal of Honour and the Legion of Merit, the highest military honour awarded by the US Department of Defence to foreign military personnel.

Colonel Quintyne and his wife are the proud parents of two sons and one daughter