In­de­pen­dence Day in T&T can of­ten throw up some sur­pris­es, like the oc­ca­sions of the coun­try’s 40th an­niver­sary and 50th an­niver­sary.

In 2002, as the na­tion marked its 40th in­de­pen­dence an­niver­sary, the late for­mer prime min­is­ter, Patrick Man­ning, an­nounced that the na­tion’s first leader, Dr Er­ic Williams, would be award­ed the Trin­i­ty Cross- then the coun­try’s high­est award- posthu­mous­ly. Man­ning said then, “It is time to bring about the full force of how in­debt­ed this na­tion is to the orig­i­nal cap­tain of this fleet - the one who orig­i­nal­ly chart­ed our des­tiny.”

At the same time, Man­ning’s ad­min­is­tra­tion was con­sid­er­ing re­nam­ing the coun­try’s high­est ho­n­our.