Saying goodbye
Published Friday January 9th, 2009
Service today | 2RCR commander says unit needs to grieve
A memorial service for three soldiers killed last month by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan will be held this morning at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown.
The service, set for 10 a.m. at the headquarters building of The Second Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment (2RCR), is being described as a "low-key, intimate affair."
The memorial isn't open to the media or the public.
Attendance is limited to family members, close friends of the fallen soldiers and to 2RCR colleagues.
Cpl. Thomas James Hamilton, 26, a native of Truro, N.S.; Pte. Justin Peter Jones, 21, of Baie Verte, N.L.; and Pte. John Michael Roy Curwin, originally from Mount Uniacke, N.S.; were killed Dec. 13.
The three soldiers were part of a patrol in the Arghandab district of the country when a roadside bomb detonated near their armoured vehicle. Another soldier was injured.
All of the soldiers, members of Golf Company, were part of a quick reaction force.
They were responding to concerns that a suspicious object was placed along the roadway west of Kandahar City when the deadly explosion occurred.
Lt.-Col. Geoff Parker, the commander of 2RCR, said the decision to keep the service private was made so that the soldiers could mourn among themselves.
"There's a certain dignity that comes with privacy that enables us to come together with the families," Parker said. "That's what I am hoping to achieve here - allow the soldiers an opportunity to go through a normal process of acknowledging the deaths of their three comrades."
Parker said media exclusion was an "unintended consequence'' of trying to keep everything at the intended scale.
The three soldiers are being remembered by their friends and colleagues for the way they impacted lives - both in an out of uniform.
Hamilton was due to fly back to Canada on Christmas Day for several days of leave and was set to spend time with his four-year-old daughter Annabelle, who lives in the Fredericton area with her mother. He loved his job and had volunteered for his third tour in Afghanistan.
"He tried as hard as he could to get himself into Golf Company so that he could go back," his ex-wife Heather Peace said in an earlier interview.
Curwin and his childhood sweetheart Laura lived in Oromocto with their three children - Makayla, Michael and Jenna.
He was loved by everyone who knew him, his family said in a December statement.
Jones had just recently returned to Afghanistan from Newfoundland, where he celebrated an early Christmas with his family and marked his grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary.
"Jonesy" loved his family, his friends and his country, the Jones family said in a statement.
Parker said he understands and appreciates that some people within the community might have wanted to attend today's memorial, but he hopes the recent funerals of the soldiers met that need.
"I appreciate the sentiments, and I am not trying to cause offence, but I am trying to have a memorial for the unit and not have a broader community memorial service."
A bigger service including the media and general public wouldn't allow for the closure needed at the unit level, he said.
At the time of the three deaths, Canada had lost 103 soldiers and one diplomat since the military mission began in 2002.
That figure has since jumped to 107 this week. The latest to die is Trooper Brian Richard Good, 42, of CFB Petawawa in Ontario.
Good was killed and three others wounded Wednesday when an explosive detonated near their armoured vehicle in southern Afghanistan.
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