Bermuda bid farewell yesterday to celebrated soldier and political commentator Larry Burchall.

Mr Burchall, a former Regimental Sergeant Major, was laid to rest following a ceremony at the Wesley Methodist Church with Michael Dunkley, the Premier, acting Opposition leader Walter Roban and former premier Sir John Swan joining his family in paying tribute.

Mr Burchall’s brother, Roddy, said that Mr Burchall “spoke with military precision, with authority, his facts were correct and he wouldn’t be persuaded otherwise.

“To many people, Larry was many things,” Mr Burchall said. “He was an author, he was a political spokesman perhaps, financial analyst, he was a soldier.

“But to me, he was Larry Burchall my brother. His life is over, his work is done. Rest in peace my brother, rest in peace.”

Meanwhile, Arlene Kim, Mr Burchall’s daughter-in-law, delivered a message on behalf of wife Paddy, saying: “He was an active, hands-on, dedicated and loving father as we raised our two children and, of all his life accomplishments, he was most proud of his children.”

Mr Burchall joined the Bermuda Militia Artillery in 1961 and became the first black Bermudian sergeant major. He later went on to become the training officer for the Regiment, and was credited with masterminding the Regimental Honours Parade for Her Majesty the Queen, for which he received the Royal Victorian Medal as a personal award from the Queen.

After Mr Burchall retired from the Regiment he focused on his writing career, becoming a regular newspaper columnist for the Bermuda Times, Worker’s Voice, Bermuda Sun and Bernews.com, where he remained a contributor until his passing.

He also served as a strategist and campaign co-chairman for the Progressive Labour Party during the party’s 1998 victory and wrote several books, including Behind the Shield, Rise of the Faceless and Fine as Wine.

Lieutenant-Colonel Eugene Raynor, the honorary colonel of the RBR and a former commanding officer, told the congregation that he and Mr Burchall had been friends since their childhood growing up on North Shore.

The pair later joined the Bermuda Cadet Corps at the Berkeley Institute and continued into the Bermuda Militia Artillery, which later combined with the Bermuda Rifles in the desegregated Bermuda Regiment.

Colonel Raynor said Mr Burchall, who had passed an officers’ course, opted to remain in the Warrant Officers’ and Sergeants’ Mess because he “decided he wanted to be hands-on with the instruction,” although he later became a captain and training officer of the Regiment.

“He always had an idea of doing something better or different,” Colonel Raynor said. “He always presented those and sometimes they were rejected.

“Then he found a way of dealing with situations — to go and implement things anyway making things different, making it more fun for the people.”

Mr Dunkley, meanwhile, hailed Mr Burchall as a man of “high principle and good intention” and an “activist who knew when to act”.

He said: “Here was a man who had shed the grip of partisanship, who was standing for ‘Bermuda first’ — nothing more, nothing less — and it freed him to speak, freed him to say what he thought, freed him to call people out and to stare down those who opposed him.

“It was a form of courage for sure, but it was also an expression of freedom. And that is the way I came to see Larry Burchall — free to speak and write, free to encourage and implore; free to advise and direct — always for the sake of Bermuda, working hard to move it forward.”

Mr Burchall’s coffin was taken to and from the church on a Royal Bermuda Regiment gun carriage, accompanied by the Regiment Band and Corps of Drums.

The RBR carried the coffin to and from the service, draped in the Union Flag and bearing an officer’s sword, sash and headgear.