'Be proud; you deserve it,' general tells Canadian troops receiving service stars
Ottawa soldier among honourees also carries great-grandfather's medal from 1897
Last Updated: Tuesday, January 1, 2008 | 11:54 AM ET
CBC News
An Ottawa soldier based in Afghanistan whose great-grandfather fought in the same part of the world 110 years ago was among about 150 personnel honoured with service medals during a ceremony in Kandahar Tuesday.
Maj. Walter Taylor's ancestor served in the Tirah Campaign in 1897-98 in what was then India and is now a region of Pakistan close to the Afghanistan border.
'I guess it's a bit of a talisman.' —Maj. Walter Taylor
The latest in a long line of military men in his family, the 33-year-old Taylor carries in his breast pocket a British army medal that Pte. Charles Taylor earned in 1897.
"Before coming on this mission, my father, who inherited the medal, gave it to me to take along as a token of family history," said Taylor, who serves with the 53rd Field Squadron, Field Engineers in Afghanistan.
"I guess it's a bit of a talisman as well, for good luck."
Now he has a medal of his own to bring back to Canada, one of about 150 General Campaign Stars awarded Tuesday by Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche, commander of the Canadian forces in Afghanistan.
"Hopefully someday one of my children will be as proud to inherit my medal as I was to inherit his," Taylor said of his great-grandfather's medal.
General delivers thanks
During the ceremony at Kandahar Airfield, the general thanked the troops for their service.
"I would like to congratulate all of you who receive this medal today. Be proud; you deserve it."
'It's very important to all of us and it shows that we have responded to the call of our country.'—Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche
Laroche later told reporters the General Campaign Star represents sacrifice and duty.
"It's very important to all of us and it shows that we have responded to the call of our country."
Capt. David Holsworth was one of the soldiers on parade at Kandahar to have the star pinned to his chest.
"It's been a long five months," said the combat engineer, who had three soldiers in his unit wounded in a bomb attack just a few weeks ago.
"It feels nice to get a little pat on the back and a medal like this."
Families support mission
Laroche also told the soldiers that the families of their dead and injured comrades have told him they give Canada's soldiers their full support to carry on with the mission.
"Over the last days, I've spoken with the vast majority of the families of our departed, I've also called our injured, and I can tell you that all these people, the families who have lost one of their loved ones, are giving us support and they are supporting with all their hearts," he said.
The medal ceremony was held just one day after the latest fallen soldier, 27-year-old Gunner Jonathan Dion of Val-d'Or, Que., was honoured at a ramp ceremony in Kandahar.
Dion's remains will arrive at CFB Trenton in Ontario on Wednesday afternoon.
A very different mission
Taylor said his mission is worlds apart from the work carried out by his great-grandfather's unit more than a century ago, as the British attempted to subdue Pashtun tribe members in a valley in modern Pakistan.
"The main difference is that when the British were here in the 1890s, it was to colonize the area against the will of the people," he said, "whereas right now, we're here at the behest of the democratically elected government of Afghanistan in order to provide assistance to them, in order to provide security and stability within their own country."
About 2,500 Canadian soldiers are serving in Afghanistan, contributing to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) by battling pockets of Taliban insurgents and aiding reconstruction efforts in the war-scarred country.
