RCMP Memorial and Cenotaph Regina
Two Mounties who were killed while on duty 127 years apart will be honoured Sunday during a memorial service at the RCMP's training academy in Regina.
Const. George Johnston, who died May 23, 1882, is being added to the RCMP's Honour Roll thanks to the research efforts of a descendant who was curious about his family history.
Johnston was 21 when he died at Fort Walsh in what was then known as the Northwest Territories. Saskatchewan was not created until 1905. Indeed, Johnston served in the predecessor to the RCMP, the North-West Mounted Police. RCMP Memorial began in 1934
While Johnston was buried with full regimental honours, Glavin said his death predated the RCMP's establishment of a permanent memorial in Regina, which was set up in 1934.
He was looked after the way he should have been at the time, Glavin said. Then it went into history and out of people's memory.
This is a photocopy of a picture of Const. George Johnston circa 1879; the orginal was lost. (Submitted by Gibson Glavin)
Also on Sunday, the RCMP will memorialize Const. James Lundblad, who died May 5, 2009, in a traffic accident while on duty near Millet, Alta. Lundblad, 41, was doing speed enforcement on Highway 2A.
When a speeder raced past him, Lundblad tried to pull a U-turn and his police vehicle was hit by a grain truck. Lundblad had been with the force 8 years.
Glavin, who has been on the force for 24 years, says it will be a day of very raw emotions for Lundblad's family.
For his own family, Glavin says the service will provide a final bookend to the story. Johnston had been a Mountie for just under three years.
We can feel as if he's properly recognized as having given his life trying to provide service to the country and that's where he properly belongs.
The Honourable and Brave men and women of the RCMP serve our country Globally, Un, Embassies, Interpol are but a few of their postings.
May the Lord Bless and keep our RCMP Officers safe, A prayer to their members of the Invisible Army.
Recce Squadron of another fine regiment goes to battle the taliban. God speed and much success.
The RCD's of Petawawa begin yet another tour of duty in Afghanistan. God speed and return safely to your loved ones.
Troops from the Royal Canadian Dragoons reconnaissance team received an official sendoff at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa in eastern Ontario Wednesday.
On the same day, the bodies of Maj. Yannick Pepin and Cpl. Jean-Franois Drouin of the 5 Combat Engineer Regiment, based in Valcartier, Que., arrived at CFB Trenton after being killed by a roadside bomb southwest of Kandahar on the weekend.
Lt.-Col. Martin Frank said the latest team from CFB Petawawa will be patrolling in groups of vehicles as assigned by a battle group commander.
They'll be living in austere conditions, vacant compounds and the like out in the desert or out in the rural areas of Afghanistan, he said.
The team is given special training and equipment as its members are often the first soldiers sent to new sectors, Frank said.
To say the reconnaissance soldiers are sharing any extra risk over and above the other members of the battle group, I don't think that would be accurate.
Cpl. Ashley Farrell was among the members of the reconnaissance team heading out on their first tour of duty to Afghanistan.
When asked whether she was nervous, she responded: Not so much nervous yet, more anxious, I think, just to get everything done and get ready to go.
Other members of the team have already been on tour to Afghanistan.
In August, 72 NATO soldiers died in Afghanistan, the highest monthly toll since the war began.
So as we begin another week of the fall let us think of all our military and RCMP who have paid the ultimate price.
Nil Sine Labore
Robby
