Victoria ceremony honours those who served and died in Afghanistan
Close to 100 people gathered Thursday morning in the wet and cold at the memorial behind Victoria’s courthouse to honour those soldiers who served and who lost their lives in the war in Afghanistan.
Retired Col. Jammie Hammond served in Afghanistan and spoke briefly at the ceremony, which took place at 10 a.m. and was intended to compliment other Remembrance Day ceremonies in the region.
“I think it’s important that Canadians reflect on what we did in Afghanistan,” said Hammond.
That's a sentiment echoed by Lt. Col. David Proctor, who also served in Afghanistan and said the ceremony was a meaningful way to honour those who fought for Canada in the war.
“It’s a perpetual reminder that the freedoms and the privileges are not free,” said Proctor.
A total of 163 Canadians were killed in Canada’s deadliest engagement since the Korean War. Among them were Lt. Andrew Nuttall — a former University of Victoria student whose mother laid a wreath for him Thursday during the ceremony — and Michelle Lang, a Calgary Herald newspaper reporter who was killed along with four soldiers, when their armoured vehicle struck a roadside bomb in December 2009.
The journalist’s aunt, Catherine Lang, was at the ceremony Thursday, and said it meant a great deal to their family.
“The last thing we want is for people to forget,” she said.
The sacrifices of those who died in Afghanistan and those who returned, many of them wounded, are especially unsettling this year. The country they helped protect was overtaken by the brutal Taliban regime in August, when the Americans pulled out.
It’s a tough reality, Catherine Lang acknowledged, noting what it would mean to her niece, Michelle.
“She would be as devastated as we are with the outcome following the U.S. troop withdrawal,” said Lang.
Still, those sacrifices were not in vain, said Lt. Col. Kirk Jones, who served in Afghanistan and attended the ceremony with his family, including his daughter and grandchildren.
“We have a whole generation of girls, of women, that got to go to school, got educated and got to know there’s a whole world out there, so I don’t ever feel it’s for naught,” said Jones.
Hammond also pointed to the impact on an entire generation of Afghans.
“Twenty-five million Afghans who are under the age of 25 actually got an education, and we now have a literate generation, which didn’t exist before, so I think that’s a contribution to the future,” he said following Thursday’s ceremony.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
Residents of northern Alberta First Nation told to shelter in place
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.