Alphanso “Styles” Allen, has got his wish of driving Captain Horace Burrell for the very last time today — to his final resting place.

Allen, a private in the army who served under Captain Burrell and later became his personal chauffeur for 22 years, had made a plea to be given the honour to drive his good friend once last time.

Captain Burrell, who died in the United States on June 6 after a year-long battle with cancer, will be laid to rest today at Up Park Camp after a Thanksgiving server at the National Arena beginning at 10:00 am. He was 67 years old.

“It would be one of my greatest honours to take Captain to his final resting place. It’s one of the greatest things for me and I think my wish came true. I hear that they granted it and I will take him to his final resting place,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

“It’s a great experience for the past 22 years I have been with Captain, moving him locally and internationally,” Allen noted.

“Captain made me push some doors…only in my dream, I expect to push those doors,” he pointed out, while shaking his head on reflection.

Allen’s partnership started with Burrell when he was a player on the much-feared Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) football team in the 1980s. That team comprises one Horace “Cement Kid” Samuels, one of the most feared defenders at the time; a lethal striker called Michael Tulloch, the talented Wayne Wonder, and goalkeeper Eric Curry.

Captain Burrell, who was a lieutenant at the time, was team manager of that JDF unit which won the premier league title in 1985 defeating Seba United, now Montego Bay United 1-0 courtesy of a Wayne Wonder goal. It was a spectacular triumph for the “Marching Men of the JDF” that had never happened before and has never happened since.

“I was in the army and he was even my commander once. That’s where his football started with us in the army where he managed the team and he took us to the premier league,” said Allen, a versatile utility player that played defender, link or forward.

“Captain was a great leader. It was nice because he dealt with it professionally. He took us off-duty and let us live together. He took us to Trinidad once and it was like a Jamaican team. The best treatment because Captain is a man, anything he wants, he gets,” Allen recalled.

Captain Burrell may not have played football at the highest club level, but Styles remembers him as an attacking player on the scrimmage field. “Captain likes to go forward.”

But with the fond memories flowing back, Allen wiped his face as he tried to contain his emotions. “I am trying to hold up and continue like he is still here, “ he ended.