July 23, 1961 Seychellois recruits leaves for the British Army … |29 July 2021

Gilbert Eliza remembers

On Friday July 23, last week, 78-year-old Gilbert Eliza was in the vicinity of the Mahe quay on his way to do some personal transactions at the Independence House and he remembered that 60 years ago to the day, he took the same road to board a vessel on his way to join the British Army.

Overtaken by memories of this memorable and exciting day, Mr Eliza did not hesitate to pop in at the Seychelles NATION office situated on Laurier Road to share his memories with us and the rest of Seychelles and possibly the world.

“I was so young, aged only 18 years old at that time and full of excitement and mixed feelings. I still recall my mother carrying my small suit case. This made me somewhat sad especially after boarding when I saw her standing on the quay together with relatives and family members of the other recruits waving me goodbye with her small scarf. This was the last time I was going to see her because she died two years later at the mere age of 43 years old,” Mr Eliza recounted to Seychelles NATION.

Mr Eliza was among a group of 99 young men who boarded the R.M.S Kampala for Mombasa, Kenya that day and they would later take a train to Nairobi and subsequently a plane to London to join the British Army.

‘’A memorable and exciting part of my life. I can still recall it,” added Mr Eliza.

He still vividly remembers the recruitment process which took place a month before in June at National House.

“It was really a moment of great excitement and high expectations for the group of 200 young Seychellois and for the country. The recruitment meant a great relief for the country as the group would be sending money back to support their parents and families,” he said.

Mr Eliza remembered that such calls for recruitment were seen as a great opportunity for career development for young Seychellois at that time and it was seen as an opportunity not to be missed and everybody scrambled for a place.

Altogether 200 young men and 25 women were recruited in that batch. Recruitment included a written examination to know their education level following which the batch was sworn in on July 18, 1961 also in a ceremony that took place at National House.

The batch, which was then divided into three different groups, started to leave Mahe and Mr Eliza recalled that he left for Mombasa in the second group of 99 young men on July 23, 1961. But he recalls that it took around six weeks before all of them reached London and he was among the last group to board the plane for this life-changing journey after he had spent six weeks in Nairobi before securing passage on the plane to London.

Once in London, the young Seychellois were each assigned different duties and responsibilities. They worked as drivers, health workers including as nurses, army officers in different regiments including infantry and artillery units, education, mechanic among others.

“We were all assigned our different duties and responsibilities and as for me I was an army driver transporting everything from food, water to arms, ammunitions as well as soldiers at any time that I was called in to do so,” Mr Eliza recalled.

He said he remained in that job for eight years only. He stopped because of some health problems but remained in England where he continued to work as a driver with the London Postal Services. Altogether he remained in England for 42 years where he got married and raised his family before returning to Seychelles as a retiree a few years back.

Now residing at Ma Constance, Mr Eliza says he has no regrets because he has worked hard and invested well so he can now enjoy his retirement.

At present he is working towards reviving the Ex-Servicemen Associations. He says there are around 25 ex-servicemen who are still alive, but not all of them are members of the association and active.

“I am trying my best to revive the Ex-Servicemen Association so that the remaining ex-servicemen would not be forgotten, but receive the recognition they deserve,” said Mr Eliza.

Marie-Anne Lepathy