Last Updated: Monday,
November 27, 2006 | 7:38 AM ET
A suicide car bomber
struck a military
convoy near the
southern Afghan city
of Kandahar on
Monday, killing two
Canadian soldiers,
NATO says.
Cpl. Albert Storm
from the 1st
Battalion, The Royal
Canadian Regiment
Battle Group
was one of the
soldiers killed in
this suicide attack.
A Canadian
soldier takes
note over the
wreckage of a
suicide bomber's
vehicle after
the attack near
Kandahar.
(Allauddin
Khan/AP)
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Maj. Luke Knittig,
a spokesman for the
NATO-led
International
Security Assistance
Force, said
Cpl. Albert Storm
from the 1st
Battalion were
helping with
reconstruction
projects in an
area where there has
been heavy fighting
in recent months. "It is a sad day.
Every time we lose
soldiers, it is a
sad day," he said. Provincial police
chief Ismatullah
Alizai said the
attack occurred near
a gate that leads to
the city of Kandahar
after the bomber
drove up to a
military convoy. He
said the attack
killed one Afghan
civilian and wounded
another.
Canadian soldiers load a colleague's body into a helicopter after the attack. (Allauddin Khan/AP) |
The deaths mean 44 Canadian soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since Ottawa first sent troops to the troubled country in early 2002.Canada has more than 2,000 troops in the country, with the majority stationed in the volatile province of Kandahar.
Cpl.
Albert Storm, reminisced about past missions
and mused about his planned retirement a few years
down the road on the day before his death, a friend
said Tuesday.
Storm, 36, a Fort Erie, Ont., native, and Chief
Warrant Officer Bobby Girouard, 46, of Bathurst,
N.B., his battalion's regimental sergeant major and
a 29-year military veteran, were killed Monday when
a suicide bomber attacked their Bison armoured
personnel carrier just outside Kandahar city.
Storm, a decorated soldier who had served in trouble
spots around the globe, was just three years from
retirement, according to a friend, Cpl. William Guse.
Guse, a medic, served with Storm over 14 years ago
and had coffee with him on Sunday.
"I bought him a coffee and we talked about the past
and what we had done in the past," said Guse, with a
catch in his voice. "We kind of reminisced a bit and
he was talking about planning for his retirement."
"He was a soldier. He died doing what he wanted to
do, he thoroughly enjoyed the army. He enjoyed it as
much as he enjoyed planning for his retirement too."
Guse didn't know Girouard as well personally, but
said he was his platoon warrant officer in battle
school.
"He had a definite hand in shaping me as a soldier
and a man. I can honestly say that," said Guse, who
was born in Victoria. "I'm a better soldier for him
having been my platoon warrant in battle school."
Guse said he feels for the families of both men but
won't allow himself to grieve while still in
Afghanistan. That is something he will do when he
returns home.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper was among those
extending condolences to family and friends of the
fallen soldiers on Tuesday, saying their "resolve
and courage" represented Canadian "values and
beliefs in the finest tradition."
"We stand united in pride and pledge to remember
their sacrifice," the prime minister added in a
statement issued in Ottawa in which he said Canada
would "not be deterred from the mission to assist
the Afghan people achieve greater stability and
security."
"Our progress is gradual but we are determined to
achieve irreversible success," he said. ". . . I
know that Canadians stand proudly behind our
Canadian Forces as they carry out this mission."
Storm's older brother, George, remembered his
sibling as someone who loved the service.
"As a soldier, he was proud to be one," he said from
his home in Kenora, Ont.. "As a person, he was the
best. He would do anything for anyone."
George Storm said he was informed of his brother's
death "in the wee hours of the morning," when a
colonel from the 116th Battle Regiment knocked on
his door.
He said he had the unhappy task of informing their
elderly father, sister Beverly and another brother
Frank, who is still in the Niagara area.
"I'm the eldest. It was my job."
Girouard, a father of three, had been with his
family in Bathurst just last week, finishing a
three-week leave said his brother, Peter.
Peter Girouard recalled that his brother was
concerned about the situation in the war zone. "His
mood? It is depressing over there. Any war is, I
guess, depressing," he said.
"Last week he was with his family and he was
probably heartbroken he was leaving his family
again," Peter Girouard said.
He said the family had celebrated an early
Christmas, knowing Bobby wouldn't be with them on
Dec. 25. "It was a celebration week before he left
to go over, not knowing it would be his last week,"
Peter said.
Asked for recollections of his brother, he described
him as a serious man who loved his native province's
expansive woodlands, where he walked the forests and
loved to fish.
Both soldiers served with the Royal Canadian
Regiment, based in Petawawa, Ont..
It was the first deadly strike against the Canadians
in six weeks, shattering a period of relative calm.
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