THE bodies of  Sergeant 19656 Robert Lawrence Pyle of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and his wife  Stacey Amanda Pyle nee Nicholson, were yesterday laid to rest at the Golden Grove Cemetery, following a hair-raising and truly moving Thanksgiving Service at the Golden Grove Seventh Day Adventist Church, East Coast Demerara.  Sergeant Pyle, who died in the line of duty was accorded a funeral with full military honours, with his last farewell being the mournful sounding of the reveille at the graveside, followed by the ultimate 21-gun salute.
Throughout the service, his body, clothed in full ceremonial attire and mounted in a flag-draped casket in front of the altar, lay alongside his wife’s.  She wore a pretty duck-egg green dress with silver embellishments and looked simply royal.
It was then that reality was driven home, in relation to the inseparable couple they were and what a wonderful union they shared throughout the seven years of their marriage.
The funeral was well attended.  On that occasion, all roads led to the Golden Grove SDA Church. There were literally hundreds of bereaved relatives, other mourners and sympathisers, ranks of the Guyana Defence Force and others at the service.  The church was filled to capacity and even the seats provided under canopies on the church yard did precious little to accommodate the overspilling crowd.  Others lined the roadway from the access road to the church.
And as the hundreds continued streaming towards the church, it appeared as though other activities in the neighbourhood were suspended for the remainder of the afternoon. At the church, the crowds of mourners literally inched their way past the two caskets to view and pay their last respects to Pyle and wife, Stacey Amanda Pyle.
Meanwhile, the ranks of the GDF made a striking impression, smartly and impeccably dressed in their ceremonial, camouflage and standard uniforms.
Also present were GDF Chief of Staff, Brigadier Mark Phillips, and Lieutenant Colonel Edward Roberts, who both delivered tributes on behalf of the army.
There were many glowing tributes in honour of the couple who was remembered as devoted; of exemplary qualities; dedicated as a family; loving and caring; ambitious and both dedicated to their duties; hardworking and soaring towards upward mobility and perfect examples to their workmates and indeed in the entire work environment.
WELL RESPECTED
He was well respected and appreciated by his peers, his subordinates and his superiors.Stacy was rated as an excellent nurse who had a passion also for the elderly as well as for less fortunate children.
And in a hair-raising revelation, the Matron of the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital where Stacy worked, revealed that Stacey  had agreed to give the nurse a ride home in her vehicle.  However, when Stacey was ready to leave, it was not convenient for the Nursing Supervisor to leave and so the car left without her.  It was that disappointment that saved her life. Or she too might have been killed in the accident.
Lieutenant Colonel Edward Roberts, in his tribute, recalled that Robert Pyle joined the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) on Wednesday, May 8, 2002.   He served the force faithfully for 13 years, seven months and 22 days.
Touching on his service and academic achievements, he recounted that Pyle graduated as a private soldier on the basic Recruit Course 0201 in August 2002, and was rated by the Course Representative as ‘a very intelligent individual’ with ‘well-rounded performance.’   In 2004, his rating by the Officer-in-Command was that he “Pyle is a disciplined and obedient solider who has shown that he has the ability to take on the responsibility as a Junior Non-Commissioned Officer”.  On such grounds he was promoted to Lance Corporal.
In 2007 another officer said of Pyle: “This soldier is professional, dedicated, hardworking and always eager to help.” The following year his rating read: “Lance Corporal Pyle has displayed very high levels of leadership qualities. This soldier is very disciplined and makes use of every opportunity to improve his knowledge and skills.”
Other ratings read: “An above-average student Lance Corporal has been complete, as it relates to his training attitude.  He has shown that he can achieve success under the worst of conditions.”
And incredibly, the common theme running through all his appraisals alluded to him being intelligent, dedicated, hardworking and task-oriented.
Such attributes earned him special promotion to Sergeant.  Throughout his time spent in the army, he was only once disciplined, and that was for failure to attend a physical training flag-raising parade, according to Lieutenant Colonel Roberts.
Roberts recalled Pyle carried the same work ethic to all the training courses he attended, where he always excelled. He also earned the Nobel Prize for the Skill-at-Arms course.  Early last year, he had started Portuguese classes because he was identified to attend training in Brazil.  Such was the confidence reposed in him by his superiors in the force.
“Sergeant Robert Lawrence Pyle was a well-rounded man, an excellent soldier.  I am sure an excellent husband, father, son and brother, whom I am confident is still “soldiering on.”   May his soul rest in peace,” Lieutenant Colonel Roberts said.
Meanwhile, Chief of Staff, Brigadier Mark Phillips, said the entire GDF mourns with the family, the relatives and friends not only of Sergeant Pyle, but the relatives of his wife Stacy Amanda Nicholson, nee Pyle.
GOOD SOLDIER AND FAMILY MAN
He concurred  that Sergeant Pyle was not only a good soldier, but also a good husband, family man, a good son and a good son-in-law.
“As we celebrate his life and that of his loving wife, both of whom were cut down in their prime, I wish to say, God knows best, as He has a plan for all of us.”
Soon after becoming Chief of Staff in September, 2013, Brigadier Phillips came to know Sergeant Pyle personally, and he was recommended by senior officers of the force to become the security representative of the Chief of Staff. Thereafter, he accompanied Chief of Staff Phillips on his fitness walks and jogging on the seawalls for security reasons.  From his personal assessment, the Chief of Staff said he was able to determine that Pyle was very dedicated, very ambitious and a very determined young man in a positive sense.
The Chief of Staff recalled too that Pyle was very dedicated and mission–oriented.  To Pyle’s credit, he was on one occasion able to resolutely apply all his skills, energies and determination in leading an operation to recover a pistol that had gone missing from a Commanding Officer (CO) when on time-off at home.
“Pyle was the corporal who was tasked to lead the search operation, and he literally worked the entire night and apprehended the person with the pistol at about 04:30 hrs the morning. [A] performance like that had to be rewarded and so he was promoted to Sergeant, and I will miss Sergeant Pyle.”
Chief of Staff Phillips also said that the GDF had a lot in store for Sergeant Pyle.
“I myself looked forward to seeing him grow and achieve greater things. Whenever I miss or enquire about Pyle he was somewhere on the border doing some kind on patrol or fatigue.  Pyle was a dedicated professional soldier and he liked doing his duties in the name of defence and security for all of us in Guyana,” the Chief of Staff said.
“As we celebrate his life and the life of his dear wife, let us all  remember this [as] not only as a great loss to his family, but a great loss to the Guyana Defence Force and indeed to Guyana and we all mourn his passing.  To his father, mother, sons, siblings, mother-in-law and other relatives, we in the GDF mourn with you and may his soul rest in peace family members,” the Chief of Staff concluded.

By Shirley Thomas