On Thursday, Lieutenant Colonel Alvin Ryan was presented with the British Empire Medal by Her Excellency The Governor, Mrs. Sarah Tucker, at an intimate Reception hosted by Her Excellency and Mr. Howard Tucker.
This follows Lt Col Ryan’s recognition in His Majesty The King’s Birthday Honours List earlier this year for his services to Disaster Management and The Royal Montserrat Defence Force (RMDF).
The British Empire Medal is granted by the monarch of the United Kingdom in recognition of meritorious civil or military service. Recipients are entitled to use the post-nominal letters “BEM” with special privileges to use St Paul’s Cathedral for funerals, baptisms and weddings.
Before presenting Lt Col Ryan with the medal, Her Excellency the Governor gave a brief speech, highlighting the numerous achievements, leadership and commitment demonstrated by Lt Col Ryan throughout his career. Amongst the several examples given, the Governor noted Lt Col Ryan’s role in the search and rescue efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and the volcanic eruptions in the 1990s. Her
Excellency noted Lt Col Ryan was the first officer of the Force to be promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and highlighted his role at the Coronation of The King Charles III in London.
Her Excellency said: ‘Leadership is about integrity, resilience, courage and humility. It’s about creating a vision: an idea that other people buy in to and that engenders support and loyalty. In the relatively short time I have known and worked with Alvin, he has demonstrated many of the key strengths of leadership, he breathes commitment and reliability and we are very lucky to have him!’.
Her Excellency publicly thanked Lt Col Ryan’s for his support and friendship to Her as Governor.
After thanking the Governor, and Her team for organising the event, Lt Col Ryan expressed his gratitude for the recognition. Recalling two pivotal moments of his journey, Lt Col Ryan spoke about his role as an adult Cadet during the Volcanic crisis, working with the Defence Force to safeguard the community of Montserrat, and his leadership role at the Coronation of His Majesty The King, where he represented the RMDF and Montserrat.
Lt Col Ryan said ‘On my journey thus far, I have not been walking alone. I would like to recognise the support of my family and extended family, friends, my presently serving troops, past members of the RMDF and Cadet Corps and the community at large’. He also noted: ‘The British Empire Medal is awarded for meritorious services and having received this award, it gives me joy and a sense of pride knowing that I was able to accomplish that’.
