There were only a few people in attendance at the Beechwood Military
Ceremony due to a snow storm and bad weather but we were there to honour and
pay our respects to and for the families of the soldiers that lost their battle
with PTSD and took their lives, believing they could not continue on with the
hell they were still going through.
We not only honour the soldiers themselves and their service to Canada
but the soldiers’ families who continue to heal themselves and other families
who share a similar path. Their openness in sharing what they have gone through
since losing their loved one and the continued support of the Canadian Forces
soldiers they still have is something to behold.
The group called “Honour Our
Canadian Soldiers” (HOCS) are friends and families that have
provided a place, a venue for these families to gather once a year to honour
their lost loved ones and to hopefully bring attention to the problem of PTSD
and other medical distresses that would cause people to choose suicide.
12 Soldiers were honoured today, Saturday 21 Feb 2015. This is the day
that was chosen to not only honour those who have lost their battle to PTSD, but
to honour their service in the Military, and especially their families left
behind and to also speak out about PTSD and other distresses that our Military
may have in the hopes that this will bring about a change for them, another way
to handle their troubles without suicide.
I was so very privileged when Lise Charron and Jason Mullis (Funding Rep) asked
me to join the group in September 2013, and along with Rick Hummell we
attended the pre-meal with a few of the families of our lost soldiers, having
the chance to speak with them and learn more about what PTSD entails than we
knew before. The next day we met at Beechwood National Military Cemetery to
have a service with the SOS Soldiers tree and to honour our soldiers and their
families and show that we care. We care from the heart and will continue to
help all that we can whenever and wherever it is needed.
These particular 12 soldiers, with permission from their families to use
their names are:
Cpl Stuart Langridge, Cpl Anthony Reed, MCpl Bobby Saulnier, Lt Shawna Rogers, MCpl Victor Rémillard, Cpl
Adam Eckhardt, Pte Frédérick Couture, Cpl Jamie McMullin, Cpl Justin Stark,
MCpl Stéphane Legendre, Pte Thomas Welch and PFC Joshua Fueston (from the U.S.
Military).
We are hoping to bring more attention to the problems of PTSD amongst our
soldiers and even our allies if it comes to that, and to continue to have discussions
to find better ways of dealing with this major problem. As an added note, PTSD
is not restricted to just soldiers, but also to our fine first responders: police, firefighters and EMS crews that are “in
the trenches” every day.
We have for two years now gone to Beechwood no matter what the weather, shoveled
out to the plaque in front of the SOS tree and had a small ceremony to coincide
with the other ceremonies that have started in a few places in different
provinces. We will continue to hold these same candlelight ceremonies each 21
Feb along with other provinces until all families who have lost their loved
ones due to suicide have either found a candlelight place to honour them or
there is no longer a need to hold a new ceremony because we will have helped
with those suffering PTSD to take other routes to recovery.