Slain journalist honoured with Kandahar plaque
Michelle Lang memorial unveiled near media tent
Last Updated: Saturday, March 13, 2010 | 11:53 AM ET
CBC News
The Canadian military on Saturday unveiled a memorial to the first Canadian journalist killed in Afghanistan.
A memorial plaque at the Canadian military base in Kandahar, Afghanistan, honours Calgary Herald reporter Michelle Lang, killed by a roadside bomb in December. (Photo from Facebook) The plaque honours the memory of Calgary Herald reporter Michelle Lang, who was killed alongside four Canadian soldiers in late December.
The memorial plaque is affixed to a wooden post between the two media tents in the Canadian compound at Kandahar Air Field.
Beneath a photo of the journalist is the inscription, "In memory of Michelle Lang, journalist, Calgary Herald & Canwest, KIA 4:00 p.m. 30 Dec 2009, Kandahar city."
The Herald's editor-in-chief, Lorne Motley, thanked the military for the tribute.
"We're thrilled with the tribute, obviously, and very happy to see the military pay tribute to her outstanding dedication and her passion for life. The military has been wonderfully supportive through this experience — to the newspaper, to her colleagues, to her friends and family," Motley said.
"She was a happy person," said Canwest News Service foreign correspondent Matthew Fisher. "There was a glow, an aura about her."
He pointed to a door on one of the media tents, "through which Michelle would bolt out every day to get stories, coming out with great enthusiasm as with everything she did."
Lang, 34, was only two weeks into her first assignment as a war correspondent when the armoured vehicle she was travelling in struck a roadside bomb.
With files from The Canadian Press
