Miles Williams celebrated his birthday on Friday May 7, 2013, his friend, former co-worker and employer Gerry Gouveia paid the follow tribute to him.
Georgetown Guyana 05-07-2013 – Tonight I personally asked many of you to join me here to witness and share this evening proceedings with me. Many times people live their lives, and do extraordinary things and then they fade away.
Life challenges and family obligations consume and direct what we do and where we go.
Ladies and gentlemen tonight I would like to tell you a story , a story about a Guyanese Special Forces ex-military officer, a Guyanese Military pilot and someone whom I consider a Guyanese hero.
Miles Williams, first of all today is his birthday and I ask all of you to raise your classes and wish him a happy birthday. He is the son of Tony and Dennis Williams, the famous anthropologist artist and historian. Miles is married to Pat and is the father of an 18 year old boy name Miles .
Miles joined the Guyana Defense Force (GDF) as a 2 Lieutenant and served as a paratrooper and Special Forces Officer before being transfer to the Air corps where he was trained as a pilot. He served under me in the air corps and flew with me as my copilot on many missions to save lives, rescue people and resupply our forces in the far flung reaches of our hinterland. In the early years as we flew together, there were no navigation aids to guide the airmen as we traverse the skies over our hinterland, we used pilotage and dead reckoning and the good old skill of recognizing and remembering the shapes of the mountains and the rivers as well as the colour of particular leaves on trees as we descend low to find the destinations we were looking for.
What always struck me about miles is his willingness to learn but more particularly he was always willing to volunteer to accompany me on dangerous missions as we venture out into the jungle at night to save people lives. Miles is a patriot and a dedicated humanitarian, he is lover of nature and is always at home in the jungle.
I remember a story of his dedication and determination, he was flying a Trans Guyana aircraft one day, and he got word that a plane was missing eh route to Ekereku, Immediately he diverted his plane and saw the smoke , realizing that time was of essence if anyone was alive in the crash , he made the decision to proceed and land at Ekereku and attempt a search and rescue over land. After landing he assembled a team of miners and the local police.
He told them of his plan and convinced them to accompany him as he ventured out to reach the downed plane. They quickly set out overland using only miles GPS bearing that he tagged while flying overhead the smoke. They were walking for hours over very rough terrain , valleys and mountain slopes and his team started to become doubtful of his sense of direction, they began second guessing him . He had to use all his leadership skills to encourage them to believe in him.
By this time it was getting late and he had to make a decision to either turn back or proceed knowing full well that night would trap them out in the open He pressed on and on , sometimes with loud protest from his team . Just as the sun was disappearing they started to see signs of broken trees and the smell of burn flesh. Miles knew at that moment they were close. Soon the horrible sight of the burnt wreckage was seen and it was evident that there were no survivors. By then the sun had disappeared and night was all around them.
As they look around for a place to bed down for the night, the rain started. The only Shade from the elements they had was one poncho, which they extended over their heads. They laid in a spoke and wheel pattern, their heads forming the hub under the poncho and theirs feet the spokes. That’s how he and his team spend the night until next morning when the search and rescue helicopter appear overhead. The helicopter sling down a chain-saw, which miles and his team used to clear a landing pad for the investigators and body recovering team.
This is the kind of Guyanese miles is. He is brave and is a skillful navigator in the jungle . He is a leader of men. During his years of service with Roraima, he served as our chief pilot and did many night medivacs, saving many lives.
He is a first class and skillful pilot whose involvement in search and rescued operations is well known amongst his peers. The day that Derek Leyoung crashed into the jungle in the OMAI area Miles was there, he immediately lead a team of OMAI security Personnel on an overland search and rescue mission.
Unfortunately by the time he reached the crash site, all he found were the dead bodies I remember meeting him at that crash site shortly afterwards and he and I load the body of the pilot in a body bag and carry the body of Derek up and down the jungle slopes and rough Terrain for hours as we made our way back to the runway. He was always ready , always willing , always brave , he is a natural pilot who used his skill to fly his planes into some of the most challenging and dangerous areas , landing on some of the shortest runways to bring food to the hungry , medical drugs to the needy, and medical evacuation to the critical injured . In 1996, as we were about to celebrate our country’s 30 independence anniversary, I made a decision to lead an expedition to plant the Guyana flag on mountain Roraima. I needed a partner to accompany me and the natural and easy choice was Miles Williams.
He was still on active duty with the army at the time and the command of the army had decided not to support the expedition, I did not know then, but Miles decided to go anyhow. So if you look at the Video documentaries and pictures, it looked as if I was there alone.
Again, when our lone aircraft was stolen and months after was found in the jungle of Columbia , Miles and I ventured out along with the Colombian army ,deep into the Colombian jungle to recover our plane.
Miles migrated from Guyana to Florida and before long miles became the Personal pilot of the governor of Florida flying executive jets all over the USA, South America and the Caribbean. Miles live every day looking forward to the day he could re-migrate to Guyana.
Today on his birthday, I applaud him; I would like to say thank you miles for your unselfish service to Guyana, to service beyond the call of duty. Tonight, I would like to offer you miles a small taken of our appreciation, I offer you this Roraima Airways award which I am honored to present to you tonight as a token of our appreciation for your service.
Thank you
