Dear Editor,
I was there at the National Park forty-two years ago when the British Union flag was taken down and our own Golden Arrowhead was hoisted by our own Major Robert Roberts. Immediately after that we were no longer British Guiana, but had become a sovereign nation – Guyana.
I was 25 years old and I was with a contingent of members of the United Force youth arm, the Guyana United Youth Society (GUYS).
There also were members of the PPP youth arm, the Progressive Youth Organisation (PYO) and also the youth arm of the PNC, the People’s National Congress Youth Organisation (PNCYO).
It was tough previous to our independence. We of the youth arms of these powerful political parties had our ups and downs, but we were all one on that night of May 26, 1966. I was there when Cheddi, Peter d’Aguiar and Forbes Burnham embraced.
Yes, we had our political differences, but we had achieved what we were fighting for and after our struggles British Home Secretary Duncan Sandys had no alternative but to grant our country its independence.
