ForumGarden

This is sad, and not the first time a Canadian "peackeeper" has been killed. I nearly lost my cousin in a similar attack..... pity our title as a peacable nation means naught.....

Capt. Goddard remembered as a 'good soldier'

CTV.ca News Staff

Capt. Nichola Goddard was remembered by her father as "a good soldier who died a soldier's death" Friday, as close to 1,000 people packed a church in Calgary for her funeral.

Goddard, 26, was killed in Afghanistan on May 17 when the light armoured vehicle she was riding in was struck by a rocket propelled grenade during an ambush by suspected Taliban insurgents.

She is the first female Canadian soldier to be killed in combat.

The flag-draped casket carrying Goddard's body arrived at Calgary's St. Barnabas Anglican Church, carried on an artillery gun carriage and accompanied by a military Guard of Honour and honourary pallbearers.

Close to 1,000 mourners packed the church for the ceremony.

Her husband, Jason Beam, described how the couple met on the second day of basic training and how their life together had been an "excellent adventure" ever since.

"She introduced herself as Goddard and I responded 'I'm Beam.' I never thought that two-second conversation would develop into the relationship it did," Beam said.

He remembered camping trips the couple took, walking their dogs together, and described her as his best friend.

"I'm going to miss you so much Nic," Beam said. "I still can't believe you're gone. I'm going to miss your smile, your laugh and your company. But most of all I'm going to miss having my best friend to share my life with. I love you."

The funeral is being held in the same church where Goddard and Beam were married three-and-a-half years ago.

Her father, Tim Goddard, described her as a much loved daughter, wife and sister.

"Yours was short life but a good one. You had so much promise, so much potential, and the world is a far lesser place with your passing."

He also paid tribute to her adventurous spirit.

"As a soldier she lived in Manitoba, she spent many months in Gagetown in New Brunswick, and she fought forest fires and conducted avalanche control in British Columbia. She has lived and worked from sea to sea. And the only province she never got to visit was the Yukon," he said.

Goddard also announced that a memorial scholarship has been created in his daughter's name. It will be obtainable through the University of Calgary, and will be available to citizens of Papua New Guinea, where Goddard was born, Afghanistan where she was killed, and to Canadians of First Nations, Innuit or Metis descent.

Goddard also took a moment to comment on the Conservative government's recent decision to ban media from repatriation ceremonies at Canadian military. He said he would like to believe his daughter died to "protect our freedom," and said he was troubled by the decision to keep media "outside the wire."

"I cannot support the privacy decision. There was room on the tarmac for a military videographer and a still photographer. They did not intrude on our grief. I can see no reason why a shared feed arrangement could not be made with one television camera, one press photographer allowed at the ceremony and a truck."

He said he hoped people across Canada and around the world would be able to take part in his daughter's funeral via television broadcasts and internet feeds.

Goddard's body is expected to be buried in the National Memorial Cemetery in Ottawa next month.

The cemetery was established in 2001 at the urging of Gen. Romeo Dallaire, now a senator, who believed Canada needed something akin to the U.S. military burial grounds at Arlington, Va.

However, the decision to bury Goddard in Ottawa was made because of its central location, not because of her role in history, said a spokesperson for the Goddard family.

The spokesperson said the family is scattered across the globe, and has friends and relatives across the country.

Any Canadian soldier who is killed in the line of duty or who has been honourably discharged may be buried at the National Memorial Cemetery.

Including Goddard, 16 Canadian soldiers have now been killed in Afghanistan since 2002.

The ambush that claimed Goddard's life occurred about 24 kilometres west of Kandahar, after Canadian troops were called in to support Afghan troops fighting insurgents in the Panjwai region.

That's sad Minks

Terrorists don't see anyone as peacekeeping, if your in their way of destruction it's oh well sh*t happens to them.

That woman died for what she believed in. She was trying to make the world a better place, as opposed to those evil people who killed her.

When good people die fighting evil, we often wonder...was it worth it? Was it worth the pain and sacrifice?

All you have to do is look in the history books to the times when evil has won and dark days descended. Mankind's evil side covered the valleys with the blood of massacred innocents and a dark cloud covered the minds of hearts of the survivors.

This woman fought for light and life. She followed her heart and was true to herself. That is the best that can ever be said of any of us.

too true Jives, I know, I just get frustrated at the mindless killings of everyone. Guess cause this is local, I felt it more.

They even kill their own people, hunny. It doesnt make sense. And being a peacekeeping nation DOES mean something. 'Blessed are the peacemakers'

minks wrote: This is sad, and not the first time a Canadian "peackeeper" has been killed. I nearly lost my cousin in a similar attack..... pity our title as a peacable nation means naught.....




The sad fact is there isn't a peace to keep in Afghanistan. We are there to oppose the forces of the Taliban and the extremists.

Our reputation as a peacekeeper means nothing to these terrorists. We are nothing more than infidels to them, worthy of death.

They don't differentiate between Canadians, British, Americans, Italians, Germans, Poles, or any other nations of the U.N. sanctioned Allied forces.

R.B.

"I cannot support the privacy decision. There was room on the tarmac for a military videographer and a still photographer. They did not intrude on our grief. I can see no reason why a shared feed arrangement could not be made with one television camera, one press photographer allowed at the ceremony and a truck."


Let's hope that this remark causes Stephen Harper to reconsider his unfortunate decision to copy the actions of his idol, George W. Bush.

R.B.

I notice that you at least put "peacekeeper" in quotation marks, Minks. Peacekeeping has traditionally been separating warring factions, a policing function, and Canada has had a long and honourable tradition of it. That's not what NATO's role in Afghanistan is, by a long shot.

The phrase which NATO spokesmen and military leaders use most often seems to be "enforcing security", not Peacekeeping. It crops up time and again in their briefings. The statement when Canada took overall command of the region at the end of February was that "Brig-Gen David Fraser of Canada vowed to improve security in the region, seen as a focal point of a Taleban-led insurgency, and eliminate the elements intent upon disturbing peace and harmony." - slightly less impartial than Peacekeeping in any normal sense. Eliminate? That's a euphemism for kill, I'd suggest. NATO provides command and high-intensity support to coalition-trained Afghan forces who bear the brunt of the action, to the tune of 1600 dead in the Southern Afghan region during the previous four years compared to "17 coalition forces" (those figures are a quote from the Head of the US-led coalition combat operations in Afghanistan Maj-Gen Benjamin Freakley during the handover process). Backing one side isn't peacekeeping in anyone's dictionary. Canada is in Afghanistan to impose a coalition victory.

"Mankind's evil side covered the valleys with the blood of massacred innocents and a dark cloud covered the minds of hearts of the survivors."? That's so bathetic. What has it to do with Afghanistan, Jives? Here's this month's State Department Background Note On Afghanistan: "During the period of Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the U.S. provided about $3 billion in military and economic assistance to Afghans and the resistance movement." - that's where all this has come from. That's who's being "eliminated" now. Mankind's evil side? Jives, you're an emetic.