After the parade…
THE Guyana Legion, umbrella body of world wars veterans and other ex-servicemen, raised $1, 516, 147 at its annual Remembrance Day reception.

Prime Minister Samuel Hinds addresses the Legionnaires Remembrance Day reception at Coghlan House Sunday.

The fund-raising began with a pledge of $1M, by President Bharrat Jagdeo, made on his behalf by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds.

The announcement was greeted, in the Coghlan House, Carifesta Avenue Legionnaires Headquarters, with loud cheers and expressions of appreciation, followed by a personal donation of $100,000 by Mr. Hinds.

The latter and the Head of State had both attended the Armistice Day wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph, on Church Street and Avenue of the Republic, also in Georgetown, earlier in the day but President Jagdeo was unable to be present at the fund-raiser, due to other official duties.

Chief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Commodore Gary Best, made a pledge of $250,000; Director of Prisons Dale Erskine gave $50,000 on behalf of the Joint Services Welfare Council; the Police, through Assistant Commissioner Krishna Lakeraj contributed $50,000; Ms. Irma Butters, of Hope Foundation, $14,207; Dr Jose Da Silva of Modern Optical Services $25,000 and other individuals made smaller contributions to the total.

British High Commissioner Fraser Wheeler addresses the Legionnaires Remembrance Day reception at Coghlan House.

Accepting the donations, Legion President, Colonel (ret’d) Carl Morgan remarked that the members, who are all retirees, depend wholeheartedly on such benevolence.

Prime Minister Hinds, in his remarks said, by participating in the yearly observance “we seem to recall, in particular World War I and World War II and those would who sacrificed their lives in the course of the wars.”

He remembered late Mr. Gershom Brown, the last surviving veteran of World War I, who, having nobly served and, fortunately, evaded injury, was an icon for posterity.

Mr. Hinds recalled that Brown was at every Remembrance Day function up to the time of his death, a few years ago and acknowledged former Legion President, Mr. Ivan Crandon, for his selfless service and erstwhile contribution towards promoting the work of the organisation.

The Prime Minister also mentioned other local veterans who would have aged considerably but must be credited for having served and lived through the wars.

The gathering at the Legionnaires reception.

He highly commended the coming together of the surviving World Wars veterans with ex-soldiers who did not necessarily go to war but saw service in the colonial times before the formation of the GDF.

Timely merger

“I would like to commend the members of both organisations for this timely merger,” the Prime Minister stated.

British High Commissioner, Mr. Fraser Wheeler, among the diplomats present, referred to the tragic loss of lives during the two wars, when soldiers would have left their families for the battlefields and never returned home.

He recounted the sense of relief experienced when the guns, eventually, fell silent.

Reflecting on the harshness of wars and the devastation they cause, Wheeler noted the sacrifices made by other generations, especially, the five British soldiers shot and killed one week ago at a national Police checkpoint in the volatile southern province of Helmand, Afghanistan, in an attack blamed on a rogue Afghan policeman.

The dead, three from the Grenadier Guards and two from the Royal Military Police had been mentoring and living with Afghan Police in a compound at the time of their November 3 deaths.

Wheeler, echoing the sentiments of his sorrowing British counterparts, paid tribute to the professionalism and courage of the victims, adding that their deaths were a typical illustration, as well, of the sacrifice made by British Commonwealth officers every year.

He described the red poppies being worn in countries around the world at this time as a symbol of the pain and heartache associated with the loss of lives on the battleground.

Others who spoke on the occasion included Brigadier (ret’d) David Granger, President of the Veterans foundation and Reverend Geoffrey Thompson, Chaplain of the Legion, who offered opening and closing prayers.

The programme, with guests overspilling the auditorium, was spiced with rich musical renditions by the Guyana Police Force Steelband and Female Choir.

Prizes were also presented to Queen’s College and St. Joseph High School for winning the Legion’s Quiz Competition and tokens to senior members of the Legion, in acknowledgement of their sterling contributions.