Pomp and splendour for old sailor’s final journey

RETIRED Commodore Mervyn Oliver Williams, the first national of this country to become Commanding Officer of the Coast Guard and Chief of Defence Staff, was buried yesterday after a military funeral filled with pomp and splendour.

The Church of the Assumption in Maraval was packed to capacity, many of them VIPs in the political and military spheres. Following the 90-minute service, the casket was placed on an open carriage which was accompanied by Coast Guard officers and soldiers in a march along Long Circular Road to the Military Cemetery, Long Circular. Williams, 74, holder of this country’s highest award, the Trinity Cross, as well as a Medal of Merit, was described by his son, Reginald, as a true patriot who was willing to lay down his very life in defence of his country. “My father was a truly wonderful man, who was devoted to his wife and family and also loved his country,” Reginald said at the start of the funeral service.

Prominent among the mourners were Prime Minister Patrick Manning, Education Minister Hazel Manning, former Senate President Emmanuel Carter, International Criminal Court (ICC) judge Karl Hudson Phillip QC, former President Sir Ellis Clarke, former First Lady Zalayhar Hassanali, Ann-Margaret Robinson, daughter of former President Arthur NR Robinson, National Security Minister Howard Chin Lee, Commissioner of Police Hilton Guy, cultural aficionado Aubrey Adams and former Miss Trinidad and Tobago Nicole Dyer. Also attending the funeral were retired Brigadier Joseph Theodore, Major General Ralph Brown, Brigadier John Sandy and Brigadier Carl Alphonso.

In the eulogy, retired Chief of Defence Staff Major General Ralph Brown described Williams as a “most extraordinary soldier and man”. Former Defence Force Chaplain, Fr Kennedy Swaratsingh delivered the homily, during which, he sang a verse from David Rudder and Carl Lewis’ hit song “Trini to the Bone”. Fr Swaratsingh said in a day and age where many people considered Trinis as being most unpatriotic, Commodore Williams stood out as a “shining example”. “I can only pray and hope that his life would serve as an inspiration to the young ones for how to be patriotic,” Fr Swaratsingh said. Major General Brown said had it not been for Commodore Williams’ “astute” handling of the 1970 mutiny, history could very well have told a different tale.  Ironically, one of the main “lieutenants” in the 1970 mutiny, Raffique Shah, was at Williams’ funeral and recounted old battle stories with retired soldiers. Williams leaves to mourn his wife of 46 years, Evelyn. and three sons, one of whom, Mark, is a Lieutenant Commander.