Gigglers
Bodies of Canadian soldiers return home
Tuesday 21 February 2006 at 11:39 am
TRENTON, Ont. (CP) - The gun-metal blue Airbus 310 that arrived from the east this morning carried more than just the remains of two fallen Canadian soldiers. Fathers, sons, brothers and husbands, Sgt. Robert Alan Short of Fredericton and Cpl. Robbie Christopher Beerenfenger of Ottawa arrived home in caskets that bore the grief of three generations of family, the solidarity of a battalion and the weight of Canada's international commitments.
"The grim reality of today underlines what we mean when we say that our members of the Canadian Armed Forces are prepared to pay the ultimate price in the service of their country," Defence Minister John McCallum said on the windswept tarmac at Canadian Forces Base Trenton following the ceremony.
"We have received their remains with dignity. We mourn their passing with their families and we will say farewell to them with respect."
Short, 42, and Beerenfenger, 29, died Thursday during a patrol outside Kabul when their jeep hit a powerful explosive in a dry creek bed.
They are the fifth and sixth Canadian soldiers to die in Afghanistan - following the friendly-fire deaths of four others in April 2002 - and the first to fall since Canada took over primary responsibility for the 31-nation International Security Assistance Force in August.
Questions remain about what exactly destroyed their aging Iltis jeep and whether the unarmoured vehicle was safe enough for the kind of patrol work in which they were engaged.
"Today is not the day for that kind of question," McCallum admonished reporters.
Instead, it was a day of sad solemnity and respectful military precision to which few Canadians are accustomed.
An honour guard made up of soldiers from Trenton and CFB Petawawa, where the dead were stationed, stood sharply at attention in the bitter north wind. A haunting lament by the lone piper could barely be heard above the gale.
Pallbearers in full dress regalia had been flown from Petawawa to meet the soldiers' remains in Germany. They stood out sharply against the green battle fatigues of the six escorts from Camp Julien in Afghanistan, who will accompany the bodies of their fallen comrades until they are laid to rest this week.
Beerenfenger's metal casket was the first off the Airbus, and the wind whipped away the Canadian flag draping his remains. Short was next. In a few brief moments it was over, the two black limousines that carried the bodies to Toronto for autopsies slowly passing between the saluting pallbearers.
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Ray Henault, McCallum and representatives of the Canadian Alliance and Conservative parties were among the dignitaries, who were joined by Short's son Josh and brother Mitchell.
Short, a father of two, was the section commander and Beerenfenger, a father of three, was a mechanized infantryman on secondment to Para Company, 3rd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment.
Three other soldiers, Cpl. Thomas Stirling, 23, of Assiniboia, Sask., Master Cpl. Jason Cory Hamilton, 33, of Regina and Cpl. Cameron Lee Laidlaw, 25, of Oromocto, N.B., were injured in the blast.
Stirling, who was driving the lead vehicle, was thrown clear and suffered third-degree burns to his hands. He was sent to Germany on Saturday and is to return home for further treatment.
There will be a public memorial service for Short and Beerenfenger on Tuesday afternoon in Petawawa, where up to 3,000 people are expected. Their families will hold private funeral services later.
A larger family is already mourning.
In Kabul, soldiers at Camp Julien watched the repatriation of their comrades on television. They were packed into their respective messes - officers, senior noncommissioned officers and junior ranks. Some wept as they watched the coffins being taken off the military plane.
Col. Pat Stogran, who a year ago was the battle group commander in Afghanistan dealing with the accidental death of four of his soldiers by an American fighter-bomber, called it an emotional day in Trenton and said he couldn't miss the ceremony.
"We train our soldiers to persevere in the face of adversity, but you can't do away with the human side," said Stogran, who has since been stationed in Ottawa.
"We're one army; 60,000 personnel in the Canadian Forces may sound like a lot but we're really a small army, really close . . . . I feel a real kinship with soldiers who went overseas."
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