{"id":29255,"date":"2026-04-08T20:38:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T00:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/?p=29255"},"modified":"2026-04-08T20:43:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T00:43:48","slug":"gdf-soldiers-honored-for-jamaica-relief-efforts-receive-humanitarian-service-medal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/gdf-soldiers-honored-for-jamaica-relief-efforts-receive-humanitarian-service-medal\/","title":{"rendered":"GDF ranks awarded humanitarian medal of service"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n\n<p>-by Celestine Chacon<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Forty-one ranks and one senior officer of the Guyana Defense Force have been awarded the Humanitarian Medal of Service\u00a0in recognition of their dedication and outstanding service.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Commander-in-Chief, President Dr. Irfaan Ali, presented the medals today during a welcome home ceremony at Base Camp Ayangana.&nbsp;The ceremony celebrated the troops&#8217; successful humanitarian mission in Jamaica,&nbsp;where they provided vital support in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While delivering the keynote address, President Ali noted that the Guyana Defense Force&#8217;s support to Jamaica&nbsp;reflects a significant evolution in its role.&nbsp;He praised the ranks for their steadfast commitment,&nbsp;recognising their contributions to the force&#8217;s distinguished legacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&#8220;You are true ambassadors.&nbsp;You embody the very best of what our nation stands for.&nbsp;You have demonstrated that the Guyana Defense Force is not only a protector of our sovereignty,&nbsp;but a champion of humanitarian values.You have made your country proud.&nbsp;And as your Commander-in-Chief, I salute you,&#8221;<\/strong> he said. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_7157-1024x683.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-29266\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_7157-1024x683.webp 1024w, https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_7157-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_7157-768x512.webp 768w, https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_7157.webp 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali (Photo Credit: Department of Public Information)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The head of state also underscored the government&#8217;s unwavering dedication&nbsp;to supporting fellow CARICOM nations in times of need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>&#8220;When disaster strikes anywhere in our region,\u00a0Guyana will answer the call.\u00a0That is who we are.\u00a0That is what we believe. That is how we act,&#8221;<\/strong><\/em> the head of state said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Forty-one ranks and one senior officer were deployed to Jamaica in early December 2025&nbsp;to assist with recovery efforts after the widespread devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa.&nbsp;The team, led by Commander of the Coast Guard Captain Vernon Barnett,&nbsp;successfully rebuilt approximately 200 homes during the mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>-by Celestine Chacon Forty-one ranks and one senior officer of the Guyana Defense Force have been awarded the Humanitarian Medal of Service\u00a0in recognition of their dedication and outstanding service.\u00a0 Commander-in-Chief,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29265,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[350],"tags":[488,885,370,884,412,405],"class_list":["post-29255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-488","tag-gdf","tag-guyana","tag-guyana-defence-force","tag-ncn-guyana","tag-ncn-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29255"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29269,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29255\/revisions\/29269"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}