Remembering Lady Zoe Maynard & The Brave 11

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The British Legion Bahamas Branch has said that this year the focus is on their female veterans, more commonly known as the Brave 11.

A passage in the first chapter of Ruth Clarke Goodridge’s book “The Brave Eleven” describes how young the eleven Bahamian women were when they enlisted in the auxiliary territorial services – most in their early twenties, and one of the volunteers had just arrived at her eighteenth birthday.

That youngest volunteer was Zoe Cumberbatch – then known for being the youngest student enrolled and to graduate from government high school, she would later become known as Lady Zoë Maynard.

We sat down with two of Maynard’s children, Allyson Gibson and Clement Maynard III, to tell us about their trailblazing mother.

Gibson says her mother’s time in the ATS had undeniable ties to her love for democracy.

They can both recount many fond memories of reunions between the eleven women-

To help the British Legion in assisting remaining Bahamian World War II veterans or veteran’s widows, support the British Legion’s poppy sales this remembrance season.