– to complete Veterans home
PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday pledged $40M to the Guyana Legion which will see the completion of the National Veterans Rest Home in the Joint Services Housing Scheme, Lamaha Park, Georgetown. President of the Guyana Legion, Colonel (Ret’d) Carl Morgan, said that the idea for such a home was conceived more than 10 years ago and all that was missing was a place upon which it could be constructed.
Morgan said that then Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force, Brigadier Edward Collins, made available two plots of land in the Joint Services Scheme and the sod was turned on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Force.

Construction began a year later, Morgan said, with funds from donations by Government, current and former ranks of the GDF, both local and overseas. Those from the Ex-Soldiers Association of Toronto, Veterans of Los Angeles and the Ex-GDF Association of New York, and an annual donation from the widow of the late Major Michael Bissember, all contributed to the Home’s construction over the years, he added.
The Legion President said too that corporate assistance from John Fernandes Limited, Mekdeci Mining Company, Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company, Banks DIH and Scotia Bank saw construction getting along, as well as a buy-a-brick project which helped garnered much needed resources both locally and overseas. 
Morgan said that this gift from the President will see construction being completed by the first quarter of next year. Once opened, Veterans Rest Home will house between 16 and 20 vets and will be run by a board of stakeholders. (GINA)