President attends Guyana Veterans Legion’s anniversary service

President David Granger on Sunday attended the third anniversary church service of the Guyana Veterans Legion (GVL) at the St Sidwell’s Anglican Church.
The service was also attended by members of the Legion as well as Chief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Brigadier Patrick West, other senior GDF officers and the Director of Prisons, Carl Graham.
The GVL was established in April 2014 as a result of the amalgamation of the Guyana Legion and the X-GDF Association of Guyana. GVL President, Lieutenant Colonel (ret’d) George Gomes, in an invited comment after the service, said that since the merge of the organisations, a church service has been hosted every year.
“We need as much of God’s blessings as possible, so we always ensure we have a church service. I wish the general membership and our well-wishers in the wider community God’s blessings and we call on all old soldiers who are not members of the Legion to come join us. In unity, there is strength,” he said.
According to a report from the Ministry of the Presidency, Gomes said that the GVL inherited 20 World War II veterans from the Guyana Legion and 85 GDF veteran ‘shut-ins’ from the X-GDF Association and the GVL is working with the Government to ensure that the needs of these persons are met.
“We are eagerly awaiting the report of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) that was headed by Colonel Desmond Roberts. We know that that includes good things for us and we are waiting for the results to be published and for the implementation of what would be beneficial to us,” he said.
The CoI was the initiative of President Granger, who called for its establishment in order to examine the conditions and circumstances facing veterans of the GDF, the Guyana People’s Militia and the Guyana National Service (GNS); and to look into the living conditions of veterans and make recommendations for improvements. In 2013, a motion for the creation of the Commission was approved in the National Assembly under the previous Administration. The final report of the CoI was handed to Minister of State, Joseph Harmon by Colonel Roberts on March 3, 2017.
President Granger has, since taking office, pledged to ensure that the needs of Guyana’s veterans are better served in return for their service to country. At a Remembrance Day reception in November 2015, the President donated million to the GVL and announced that the Legion would benefit from an annual state subvention. The President also announced the establishment of a National Veterans Commission, a Veterans’ Trust and a Veterans’ Department (located at Base Camp Ayanganna). “The State acknowledges and accepts its obligation to assist our veterans to ensure that they, too, can enjoy a good life. The State will help to open opportunities for veterans when they leave active military service,” the President said at that event.