Continent

Abstract

In the early hours of October 25, Grenadians awoke to the buzz of helicopters and to parachutes like jellyfish falling out of the sky. For days Radio Free Grenada had crackled with warnings of imminent Yankee invasion. Yet for many Grenadians the memory of those first moments of looking up to the skies remains one of confusion, of fear as much as of hope of deliverance: Were they being rescued or attacked? Were they being delivered from the Revolutionary Military Council, which had taken power and ordered a 24-hour shoot-on-sight curfew after the killing of Bishop? Or were they on the verge of some new chapter of terror? Were the distantly visible planes Cuban, Soviet, or American? By 5:30 a.m., Radio Free Grenada dispelled their doubts, announcing that Grenada was under assault by imperialist forces and urging all Grenadians to report to their militias and defend their homeland. These official announcements alternated with the radio-station staff’s choice of music: reggae and calypso, Peter Tosh and Swallow and Short Shirt, Bob Marley’s “Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights,” and Small Axe’s “Stand Up, Grenada.”

Most Americans cannot remember what most people cannot forget.

Senator William Fulbright

It was right out of Apocalypse Now.

American medical student upon seeing US helicopters