Minstrel
Hero Member
story
A Canadian tradition that brings out the best
Salute to fallen soldiers a ritual worth exporting
Don Martin, National Post
From the first glimpse of flashing police escorts to the last black vehicle flashing under the Highway 401 overpass, the funeral procession takes only half a silence-filled minute to pass.
Yet they start gathering an hour in advance for a unique tradition Canadians have embraced to salute their fallen soldiers -- and there's growing international pressure for other military powers to follow suit.
They were shivering in a brisk wind on Highway of Heroes overpasses again this week, the general public joining firefighters standing atop an aerial truck and flag-bearing war veterans as the body of Trooper Marc Diab, Canada's 112th dead soldier, was whisked from Trenton air base to the coroner's office in Toronto.
This picturesque town of 6,300 an hour's drive east of Toronto was among the first whose firefighters took to the bridge to flash their lights as the procession flew by. The Legion branch joined in almost immediately and now upwards of 200 Brighton locals turn up for every fallen soldier's repatriation convoy.
Truck horns blare from below at crowds waiting on a bridge curb given a special night-before clearing by the town. Many are regulars who have never missed a soldier's final voyage, taking time off work in fair and foul weather to wave Maple Leaf flags.
And as the hearse goes by, flags snapping in the wind over Canada's busiest highway is all you hear as locals crane their necks for glimpses of family members waving. As Trooper Diab's convoy rushed below Thursday, a stretch limousine window was open, one sad face looking upward at the blurred spectacle of so many strangers waving back.
The concept of overpass sentinels is starting to spread. Large crowds are taking to Toronto overpasses and hundreds turned up last week on the far side of the metropolis as a soldier was transported home to the Niagara region.
The goose-bumping power of this salute is rooted in the spontaneous simplicity of its creation and growth.
The military has always had a multi-leveled protocol to prevent fallen soldiers from just fading away. There's a private soldier visitation for close comrades outside the morgue in Kandahar, the larger military ramp ceremony sendoff at the airfield and the repatriation service at Trenton.
Only the overpass salute inserts general public participation into the lineup.
Brighton TD Canada Trust mortgages manager Greg Kobold comes from a long military heritage and has witnessed the soldier procession about 20 times.
He keeps hoping every one is his last.
"I tear up every time and I guarantee I'll do it today because I know it's such a great loss for the families. Look at me," he says, suddenly blinking hard. "I'm choking up right now just thinking about it."
"It's to show respect for the family and how much we appreciate their loss. I just can't imagine going through what they have," says Yvonne Connolly as she waited for the hearse to drive by Thursday in a howling north wind.
"I don't care how cold it is, I try to make it here," adds senior Vera Mead. "It makes me want to cry. It's very sad with so many leaving all these young kids behind."
She pauses at the question of how witnessing so many returning dead makes her feel about Canada's military mission in Afghanistan. "They should come home," Mrs. Mead says finally. "I think they should quit fighting. It's a losing battle. But I'll always be here to support the families."
Perhaps it's the sheer volume of casualties in other countries, but there's nothing comparable to Canada's multi-staged treatment of its fallen anywhere in the world.
The London Evening Standard last year ran contrasting photos of Canadian versus British treatment of the fallen, heaping shame on how the hearses bearing U. K. soldiers
are only escorted by the undertaker's vehicle and usually get stuck in traffic.
The Highway of Heroes story has been covered by CNN and Newsweek magazine last month noted that "Canada may have an answer" with its overpass salutes as an option for Americans trying to respect family privacy while allowing the public to observe the human cost of combat.
Only because of heavy media and public pressure, President Barack Obama has ordered a review of the country's hidden and heartless U. S. casualty repatriation policy. Dead American soldiers now return home to a camera ban at the air base and are hustled off without ceremony to the mortuary and onward to burial. Photos of U. S. flag-draped coffins are almost always unauthorized.
Perhaps foreign military and political leaders who fear public displays of honour and respect for the fallen will become a public relations headache should stand in the blustery winter winds of a 401 overpass just once after a fallen soldier goes home.
They would quickly come to the conclusion that, when it comes to honoring its military dead, the world needs more Canada.
Hats off to Canada
Minstrel
A Canadian tradition that brings out the best
Salute to fallen soldiers a ritual worth exporting
Don Martin, National Post
From the first glimpse of flashing police escorts to the last black vehicle flashing under the Highway 401 overpass, the funeral procession takes only half a silence-filled minute to pass.
Yet they start gathering an hour in advance for a unique tradition Canadians have embraced to salute their fallen soldiers -- and there's growing international pressure for other military powers to follow suit.
They were shivering in a brisk wind on Highway of Heroes overpasses again this week, the general public joining firefighters standing atop an aerial truck and flag-bearing war veterans as the body of Trooper Marc Diab, Canada's 112th dead soldier, was whisked from Trenton air base to the coroner's office in Toronto.
This picturesque town of 6,300 an hour's drive east of Toronto was among the first whose firefighters took to the bridge to flash their lights as the procession flew by. The Legion branch joined in almost immediately and now upwards of 200 Brighton locals turn up for every fallen soldier's repatriation convoy.
Truck horns blare from below at crowds waiting on a bridge curb given a special night-before clearing by the town. Many are regulars who have never missed a soldier's final voyage, taking time off work in fair and foul weather to wave Maple Leaf flags.
And as the hearse goes by, flags snapping in the wind over Canada's busiest highway is all you hear as locals crane their necks for glimpses of family members waving. As Trooper Diab's convoy rushed below Thursday, a stretch limousine window was open, one sad face looking upward at the blurred spectacle of so many strangers waving back.
The concept of overpass sentinels is starting to spread. Large crowds are taking to Toronto overpasses and hundreds turned up last week on the far side of the metropolis as a soldier was transported home to the Niagara region.
The goose-bumping power of this salute is rooted in the spontaneous simplicity of its creation and growth.
The military has always had a multi-leveled protocol to prevent fallen soldiers from just fading away. There's a private soldier visitation for close comrades outside the morgue in Kandahar, the larger military ramp ceremony sendoff at the airfield and the repatriation service at Trenton.
Only the overpass salute inserts general public participation into the lineup.
Brighton TD Canada Trust mortgages manager Greg Kobold comes from a long military heritage and has witnessed the soldier procession about 20 times.
He keeps hoping every one is his last.
"I tear up every time and I guarantee I'll do it today because I know it's such a great loss for the families. Look at me," he says, suddenly blinking hard. "I'm choking up right now just thinking about it."
"It's to show respect for the family and how much we appreciate their loss. I just can't imagine going through what they have," says Yvonne Connolly as she waited for the hearse to drive by Thursday in a howling north wind.
"I don't care how cold it is, I try to make it here," adds senior Vera Mead. "It makes me want to cry. It's very sad with so many leaving all these young kids behind."
She pauses at the question of how witnessing so many returning dead makes her feel about Canada's military mission in Afghanistan. "They should come home," Mrs. Mead says finally. "I think they should quit fighting. It's a losing battle. But I'll always be here to support the families."
Perhaps it's the sheer volume of casualties in other countries, but there's nothing comparable to Canada's multi-staged treatment of its fallen anywhere in the world.
The London Evening Standard last year ran contrasting photos of Canadian versus British treatment of the fallen, heaping shame on how the hearses bearing U. K. soldiers
are only escorted by the undertaker's vehicle and usually get stuck in traffic.
The Highway of Heroes story has been covered by CNN and Newsweek magazine last month noted that "Canada may have an answer" with its overpass salutes as an option for Americans trying to respect family privacy while allowing the public to observe the human cost of combat.
Only because of heavy media and public pressure, President Barack Obama has ordered a review of the country's hidden and heartless U. S. casualty repatriation policy. Dead American soldiers now return home to a camera ban at the air base and are hustled off without ceremony to the mortuary and onward to burial. Photos of U. S. flag-draped coffins are almost always unauthorized.
Perhaps foreign military and political leaders who fear public displays of honour and respect for the fallen will become a public relations headache should stand in the blustery winter winds of a 401 overpass just once after a fallen soldier goes home.
They would quickly come to the conclusion that, when it comes to honoring its military dead, the world needs more Canada.
Hats off to Canada
Minstrel
