Highway of Heros!
My fingers dug into the steering wheel and I felt my chest tighten. I drove along Highway 401, from Trenton, Ontario to Port Hope, Ontario. Canadian Flags dotted the green landscape. On a good day I’d only see the flags wave in the grass. Today was a day where two Canadian solders were coming home, to their final resting place, so each overpass I drove under was crowded with citizens wearing red and proudly holding Canadian flags. They stood silently staring down the highway.
At the Port Hope Tim Horton’s, Laurie quickly serves doughnuts and stirs up a double double. When asked, “if the people are standing on the bridge because they are bring home a solider?” She only briefly glances over the overpass. Nods and quietly whispers, ” Yes. They are usually there about once a week.”
On the overpass they wait for the convey of black cars to drive past. They wait for the families to look up and know that their son or daughter, their brother or sister gave to people who care enough to stand out in the wind and rain to say goodbye too. I wait for they day when they no longer need to stand on the overpass.
CFB TRENTON — The bodies of two fallen Canadian soldiers were repatriated Tuesday in a moving, but all-too familiar military ceremony. Sapper Matthieu Allard, 21, and his close friend, Cpl. Christian Bobbitt, 23, died when an improvised explosive device blew up Saturday as they investigated another IED in an area west of Kandahar City.
Their deaths bring the number of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan to 127.
One diplomat and two aid worker also have been killed.-Canwest News Service: Wednesday, August 5, 2009-
Kuwait City, KUWAIT
Christine Oastler is a freelance travel writer, teacher and artist, currently living in Mahboula, Kuwait. Born and raised in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, Christine obtained her Bachelor of Arts at Trent University and her Bachelor of Education from Queen’s University. Currently traveling around the Middle East she finds herself riding the odd camel and embracing a new culture!