Body of Canadian soldier arrives back in Canada
Last Updated: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 | 6:24 PM ET
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On a warm, sunny Wednesday in southern Ontario, the body of the 97th Canadian soldier to be killed in Afghanistan returned to Canada.
The Canadian Forces C-177 Globemaster plane carrying the remains of Sgt. Prescott (Scott) Shipway arrived on time at CFB Trenton, at 2 p.m. ET.
Shipway, an infantryman with the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Shilo, Man., died Sunday when his armoured vehicle hit a roadside bomb during a security patrol outside Kandahar city.
The trip home for his remains was a long and grim one for the giant transport plane's three-person crew. The flight departed from Camp Mirage, a semi-secret base in the United Arab Emirates, and didn't look back. It had no other cargo but Shipway's body.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment carried his casket off the aircraft as Shipway's next of kin watched. Close by were Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean and Defence Minister Peter MacKay, as well as the chief of defence staff, Gen. Walter Natynczyk.
None of them spoke. In the silence, the casket was loaded into a hearse, and minutes later it departed in a motorcade for Toronto, where Shipway's body will undergo an autopsy.
Shipway is survived by partner DeeDee Kacsmar, a six-year-old son and a four-year-old daughter.
His parents, Charlie and Sue, live in Churchbridge, Sask.
Shipway was known for his motto, "Never let a comrade down." When the Canadian military announced his death in Afghanistan, Shipway was remembered for his heroism when, in June 2006, he acted quickly in the midst of danger to save the life of a fellow soldier.
Canada has about 2,500 soldiers in Afghanistan, most of them stationed in the volatile southern province of Kandahar.
On Wednesday, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper pledged his party would bring most Canadian Forces home from Afghanistan by 2011, nine years after they were first deployed there en masse.
"I think you have to put an end date on these things – and not just because I don't think the Canadian public will want to continue after that," Harper said on the campaign trail for the Oct. 14 federal election.
"I don't even think the Canadian military, although they won't admit it, would want to continue after that point."
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