$1.9M raised for ex-servicemen
EX-SERVICEMEN who are members of the Guyana Legion are expected to benefit from a sum of $1.9M raised at the Legion’s annual reception held at Coghlan House, Carifesta Avenue, on Sunday, November 13. The occasion was the traditional ceremony to mark Remembrance Day 2011. The programme, chaired by General Secretary of the Guyana Legion, Kingsley Nelson, had as special guest Prime Minister, Samuel Hinds, officiating on behalf of President Bharrat Jagdeo, Commander-in-Chief of the disciplined services, who was unavoidably absent.
Key amongst the items on the programme, was the traditional raising of funds for the Members of the Guyana Legion (an annual feature). Donations totalling $1.9 M (in pledges and cash collections) were made to assist Guyana’s ex-service men.
The initial pledge of $1M was made by Hinds, on behalf of the Office of the President, followed by $200,000 on behalf of the Office of the Prime Minister.
Other donations came from:  Commodore Gary Best, Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force; the Guyana Defence Force; the Joint Services, and Digicel.
The money, the Legion’s General Secretary, Kingsley Davis said, is to be disbursed among 76 ex-Service men and their spouses, and the widows of servicemen who are deceased, as well as one lone surviving ex-service woman.
British High Commissioner, Andrew Ayre, delivered brief remarks on behalf of Queen Elizabeth 11.
The High Commissioner, on behalf of the Queen,  recognized and saluted the families of the bereaved, whose sacrifice, he said, must not be forgotten, and who deserve the United Kingdom’s support.
And Prime Minister Hinds, paying tribute to the memory of those fallen soldiers who served in World Wars I and II, alluding to the Guyanese servicemen, said that Guyanese who participated in the wars brought us great honour. Among them, he named his maternal uncle, John Bruce, who served as a Groundsman in the Royal Air Force, and his paternal uncle, Ulric Hinds, a leading Groundsman as well.
Albeit Prime Minister Hinds said, in remembering the two World Wars, we should remember not so much the glory, but the pain, suffering and destruction that war brings.
“Thus, I hope that we in Guyana would take that lesson from the wars that were fought in Europe in the last century, and be extremely reluctant to engage in destroying each other in physical battle,” he concluded.
The programme also included the presentation of trophies to the winning schools for the Guyana Legion’s Remembrance Quiz Competition.
Copping the first place was Queen’s College, while St. Joseph’s High emerged second place winner.  Trophies were presented by Prime Minister Hinds.