Farewell Service Held For Ex-Chief Of Defence Staff

The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) on Friday held a funeral service for a former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Achilles Harry Kwami Dumashie. He was 64 years old. Air Marshal Dumashie held the appointment of CDS, the highest appointment in the GAF, from 1988 to 1992.

He was commissioned into the Ghana Air Force on September 30, 1961 and retired on April 5, 1998 after 37 years of active service. He died at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra on December 20, 2002 after a short illness.

The farewell funeral service, which was preceded by a wake-keeping on Thursday and was attended by the top brass of the GAF, service commanders, senior officers of the military, the family and friends of the bereaved, civilian employees of the Ministry of Defence as well sympathisers.

The late Air Marshal Dumashie was given full military honours reserved for Generals, before his body was conveyed from the church to the Air Force Base in Accra and was flown by helicopter to his hometown at Dzelukope in the Volta Region for interment on Saturday, February 1.

Air Marshal Dumashie was born on June 4, 1938 at Dzelukope-Keta. After completing his basic education, he gained admission to Mawuli Secondary School, Ho, in the Volta Region from 1955 to 1959, where he obtained the West Africa School Certificate.

He had his basic military training at the Ghana Military Academy at Teshie, near Accra and was commissioned into the Ghana Armed Forces after undergoing Pilot Training at the Flight Training School at the Air Force Station in Accra. He left behind a wife and six children.