GUYANA’S oldest surviving veteran from World War II, Mr Benjamin Durante has today turned 99, and is looking forward to seeing 100 next year, God’s willing. 

“Yes, I would like to be 100, if that is God’s will for me. I consider myself to have lived a productive life and if there is anything I should have done that I did not do, then I ask God to grant me the wisdom and obedience to do it in His name,” Durante pleasantly asserted.
For his 95th birth anniversary, he had a birthday bash, but this year he will be spending it quietly at his Goedverwagting Home on the East Coast. He will also be treating children at a Benevolence Home on the West Demerara today, contending: “How could one eat when children are hungry?”
But just three days ago (Sunday) he was engaged in a memorable activity which he considers to have brought him much pride, joy and appreciation for the gesture itself. That day being Remembrance Day, he attended the ceremony at the Cenotaph held in remembrance of those servicemen and women who lost their lives during World Wars I and II.
Later in the morning Durante was among the nation’s last 21 surviving World War II Veterans acknowledged at the Guyana Veterans Legion’s Remembrance Ceremony held at Coghlan House, the home of the Guyana Legions on Carifesta Avenue.
Their selfless contributions as they risked their lives in the line of service to country were hailed by Foreign Affairs Minister, Carl Greenidge (performing the function of President of Guyana); British High Commissioner, Greg Quinn; Canadian High Commissioner, Pierre Giroux; and Guyana Veterans Legion President, Lieutenant Colonel (retired), George Gomes, among others.
At the end of the programme, the hundreds of ex-soldiers and veterans enjoyed an afternoon of socialising and informal reflection, during which they were treated to food and beverages by the Legion.
Benjamin Durante enlisted as a member of the South Caribbean Forces with headquarters at Eve Leary in 1943 and continued to serve honourably for the next three years until the disbanding of the Force in 1946, following the end of the War in 1945. While in the force he was promoted to Lance Corporal in the Quarter Master Store.
After the force was disbanded he was made an offer to become a customs officer, but opted to become engaged in building construction, since he recalled always hearing his father say that “If you do carpentry you can’t be out of a job or a house of your own.” And so he did a correspondence course in construction with the Technical Institute of Great Britain.
Bus sadly, what he did not know at the time when he refused the Customs job, was that it was pensionable.
Some of the buildings on which he recalls working include: The Girl Guides Pavilion, the Salvation Army at South Road and Alexander Streets, a hardware store at the corner of Camp and Robb Streets; and working alongside Ashe and Watson Contracting firm.
ONLY THE ARMY
After leaving construction, Durante worked as a stevedore, loading and off- loading cargo on ships as they would come into the Georgetown harbour, but being a true soldier by nature, he found it to be of a different culture which he did not appreciate. This led him to concede: “When you talk about discipline, is only the army has that.” He eventually left the job.
He is now enjoying the comfort of his home and hard earned gains, being cared for by a caretaker and one of his younger daughters at Goedverwagting, East Coast Demerara.
Twice married and having fathered 12, (one of whom is now deceased) “Benjie”, as he is fondly called considers himself to have lived a full life, but not before spending four solid years as a serviceman in the South Caribbean Forces at Eve Leary, prior to the Guyana Defence Force coming into being. His first marriage was in 1943, the year before he entered the South Caribbean Force.
While yet in the construction business, Durante recalled, he was working on the Salvation Army building on South Road when an employee hurriedly came up shouting “Kabaka (President Forbes Burnham) dead!”
“At the time I as chipping at a door we were about installing and as I spun around something flew into my right eye. I did not know at the time what it was, but I can tell you it pained badly and had me doing it.”
He said his eye was washed and checked, but found nothing until one week later. He said he went to hospital at that stage and was told by the doctor that he had waited too long. A piece of green-heart was in the socket and had poisoned his eyes.
The eye became so inflamed it was red like blood, so much so, that children would scream and run when they saw him coming. The net result was that he lost sight in the right eye.
Years later the other deteriorated, so that he is now unable to see. That apart, all his faculties are functioning reasonably well; he has a good appetite, and claims to eat ‘just about anything’ his caregiver and daughter prepare for him.
Reflecting on his days in the South Caribbean Force, Durante shares an experience which he says has convinced him beyond the shadow of a doubt that the hand of the Lord is upon the nation of Guyana.
Durante recalled that one night he was keeping sentry when a German transmission mission was picked on a guard’s radio.
The radio indicated that the Germans were in British Guiana’s water, seeking intelligence on what they should do next.
Then came the reply: “‘Do nothing! The war is over.’ And that meant that Guyana was saved by the skin of the teeth,” Durante said.
Asked what action he thought they might have taken, he forthrightly responded: “They might have blown us apart.”