Modern-day hero Tremayne Brown was among scores of people who participated in last Wednesday’s re-enactment of the march from Stony Gut to Morant Bay square in St Thomas, the site of the Morant Bay uprising.

Brown, who has been summoned to stand before the governor general to receive the Badge of Honour for Gallantry today following his heroic act last month, said he did not think twice about journeying to Stony Gut, where National Hero Paul Bogle lived, after he received an invitation.

After he rescued 12-year-old Renaldo Reynolds from raging floodwaters last month, Prime Minister Andrew Holness had suggested that Brown be given a national award for his bravery.

Having left Jamaica at six years old, Brown, now 24, said he was eager to learn all he could about Bogle.

When the Jamaica Observer arrived in Morant Bay square last Wednesday, Brown was seen paying keen attention to the people who sipped alcoholic beverages as they danced to the beat of drums in the boiling sun in front of the then Morant Bay courthouse.

Surprised by the Observer team’s arrival, with a huge smile on his face Brown stepped away from the gathering. Clad in a pair of blue trousers, burgundy T-shirt and a pair of slippers, his cuts and bruises from the heroic feat last month were still visible.

Seemingly exhausted by his walk from Stony Gut to Morant Bay, Brown explained that he arrived in Bogle’s district about 7:00 pm Tuesday evening.

“I learnt that Paul Bogle was a brilliant hero… I was told that he had money [so] he didn’t have to do what he did, and he wanted to help the people to come out of that situation. So for that, I respect him,” Brown said. “He didn’t have to do it; he did it out of love.”

In the years following emancipation from slavery, a new class of ambitious black Jamaicans rose up to challenge the status quo and the colonial elite. This led almost inevitably to the uprising in St Thomas in 1865, known as the Morant Bay Rebellion. Bogle was instrumental in the uprising, which rocked the foundations of Jamaican society.

In the meantime, in anticipation of today’s annual Ceremony of Investiture and Presentation of National Honours and Awards at King’s House, Brown said his suit was already prepared.

“I am overwhelmed. I am excited. I am nervous,” Brown said with a chuckle.

Meanwhile, founder of the Paul Bogle Foundation, Constantine Bogle, argued last Wednesday that nothing has been put in place by either of the major political parties in observance of the hundreds of lives that were lost during the Morant Bay uprising.

Bogle was a supporter of fellow National Hero George William Gordon, who was a fellow Baptist, landowner and a politician.

Bogle was one of the casualties of the 1865 Morant Bay uprising, so, too, the courthouse.

A statue of Bogle was mounted in front of the restored historic building in 1965. But, in February 2007, the courthouse was again gutted by fire. Bogle’s statue was also destroyed. It was subsequently removed.

Since then, neither the courthouse nor the structure have been restored.