Fort Frederick Tunnels

The boys had such a great time exploring the extensive network of tunnels in Fort Frederick and nearby Fort Matthew. The forts have a fascinating history being initially constructed by the French in 1779, and further upgraded by the British during the colonial era. The forts also played a key role as strongholds in the final stages of the defense of the violent 1983 coup when the then elected Prime Minister (Maurice Bishop) was killed by firing squad along with 18 others. The US under President Reagan led a controversial invasion of Grenada to restore democratic order and protect 600 US students based at the medical university there. Several US Navy A-7 Corsairs and US Marine AH-1 Cobra raids were directed specifically at Fort Frederick. There were also land based attacks on the forts using US M60 Patton tanks.

At the time Fort Matthew, which is adjacent to Fort Frederick, had been converted into a mental hospital. Fort Mathews was accidently bombed being assumed to be part of the adjacent military complex killing 18 civilians in the hospital there. The UN General Assembly voted to condemn the invasion as as "a flagrant violation of international law" with even US allies Britain and Canada accusing the US of violating international law. It seems however that the majority of Grenadians supported the invasion. Grenada, who has been peacefully democratic ever since, now celebrates the date of the US invasion (25 October) as a national holiday called Thanksgiving Day.
Love Life, Love Photography

If you would like to learn a little bit more about my background in photography you can read the interview @photofeed did with me here.

Robert Downie
Love Life, Love Photography

_{All images in this post were taken by and remain the Copyright of Robert Downie - http://www.robertdowniephotography.com}