CFB TRENTON, Ont. - The mournful
strains of "Amazing Grace"
mingled with traffic noise at a
sombre repatriation ceremony
Tuesday to honour the latest
victims of Canada's military
effort to bring order to
Afghanistan.
With
dignitaries and family on hand,
the flag-draped coffins of
Quebec-based Cpl. Nicolas
Beauchamp, 28, and Pte. Michel
Levesque, 25, were lowered from
a military transport to waiting
hearses. Beauchamp, of the 5th
Field Ambulance and Levesque, of
the Royal 22nd Regiment, also
known as the Van Doos, were
killed Saturday in a roadside
bomb blast, becoming the 72 and
73rd soldiers to die in
Afghanistan since 2002.
Beauchamp's spouse, Cpl.
Dolores Crampton, a medical
technician based with the same
unit, accompanied his body back
to Canada.
Crampton laid flowers on his
coffin before returning to stand
with Defence Minister Peter
McKay and Chief of Defence Staff
Gen. Rick Hillier on the
windswept runway. Also on hand
was Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean and
about 100 members of the public,
who pressed against the fence
that circles the base to watch
the ceremony. "I feel they need
some respect," said Florence
Whiten, of nearby Trenton, Ont.,
whose husband was a veteran of
the Second World War. "I don't
really support the mission, but
I support the troops."
An Afghan interpreter was
also killed in the blast, which
struck their light armoured
vehicle about 40 kilometres west
of Kandahar City, near the
forward operating base known as
Ma'sum Ghar. Three other
soldiers based out of CFB
Valcartier, Que., were also
injured. "We just like to give
our support to the families -
let them know that we care,"
said Joan Ruttan, of nearby
Belleville, Ont.
Beauchamp and Levesque were
both based out of Valcartier. As
the CC-150 Polaris carrying the
bodies arrived at this eastern
Ontario base, Anne Marie Roberto
said she and her daughter were
on hand because her soldier
husband and Beauchamp had become
friends at Valcartier.
"It's just a respect to come
out for him and his family -
what they're going to go through
- they need a lot of courage,"
Roberto said, adding she wanted
to thank Beauchamp "for what he
did." Roberto's daughter
Alexandra, 7, said she, too,
thought it important to be there
for the ceremony. "It is
important," Alexandra said. "One
of my dad's friends is dead."
In a statement, Beauchamp's
family remembered him as a
soldier dedicated to making a
difference. "Nicolas was strong,
generous, proud and convinced
that he could make a difference
in this world," the family said.
Levesque had returned to
Afghanistan from leave just a
week ago after he got engaged to
his 18-year-old girlfriend, who
is pregnant. His family said the
native of Riviere-Rouge, Que., a
small village in the Laurentians,
was proud to serve in
Afghanistan. "He will never
cease to live among us and in
our hearts," Levesque's family
said in a separate statement.
"He will always be a hero to
us."
