Posted on 10/13/2004 4:15:43 PM PDT by Clive
Pall bearers carry the coffin of Lieut. Chris Saunders from St. Andrew's Church in Halifax. (CP PHOTO/Andrew Vaughan)
HALIFAX (CP) - A submariner who died following a fire on-board HMCS Chicoutimi last week was described Wednesday as a man who had a passion for life, was unswervingly loyal to his friends and shared the playful spirit of his children.
Those qualities were remembered during a full military funeral in Halifax - and at a memorial in Scotland - for Lieut. Chris Saunders, a 32-year-old father of two from Quispamsis, N.B.
Some 800 friends, fellow sailors and family members packed St. Andrew's United Church in Halifax to pay tribute to Saunders, the first Canadian submariner to die on duty in almost 50 years.
"What stands out about Chris the most for me was that he loved life; he embraced life as an adventure," Lieut. Pierre Chouinard said during the eulogy, which he shared with Lieut. Mike Meade.
"Anything he did, he did with passion, whether as a submariner, a mountain biker, a friend, a family man. He was totally dedicated," said Chouinard, who befriended Saunders when they attended military college in St-Jean, Que.
Chouinard was among nine naval officers who carried their comrade's flag-draped casket into the church.
Adorned with his officer's cap, a service medal and a ceremonial sword, the casket was placed at the front of the church, not far from the pew where his widow, Gwen, sat.
One of her two young sons - two-month-old Luke - slept on a relative's shoulder. Two-year-old Ben was kept in the church's nursery during the sombre, hour-long service.
Saunders, who served the navy for 14 years, died Oct. 6 after he inhaled fumes from a major fire that tore through Chicoutimi as it was making its maiden voyage to Canada. The electrical fire, which injured eight other sailors, left the sub drifting without power in rough seas off the coast of Ireland.
It took almost five days to tow the disabled sub to a Scottish port.
In Halifax, many of the mourners attending Saunders' funeral sobbed as the words to the Submariner's Prayer were read aloud.
"Give us strength when we go deep, and grant us peace where ere we sleep. For home and loved ones far awway, we ask You care for them each day," the prayer says in part.
Rev. Donald MacPherson, the minister who married Gwen and Chris Saunders, said during his sermon that the young submariner "loved his family deeply."
"I know that Gwen and Chris were best friends . . . that's what makes this so, so hard," the minister said.
MacPherson also said Saunders' eldest son, Ben, helped him recall the submariner's hopeful spirit earlier this week as the toddler frollicked with a bubble-maker in the family's backyard.
"In Ben's dancing, I saw life," the minister said. "I saw life that is Chris's and the stories that are Chris's. . . . I saw that spirit dancing in that small child."
After the service, Saunders' widow cradled her infant son and walked behind the casket as it was rolled out of the church and loaded into a waiting hearse. Saunders was later buried in Berwick, N.S., a small town in the Annapolis Valley.
The funeral was held simultaneously with the memorial service in Scotland, which was attended by Saunders' 56 crewmates from Chicoutimi.
In Rhu, Canadian chaplain Bruce Murray described Saunders as a man who loved submarines.
"He is in a place where there is no pain, no more sorrow; where every tear is wiped away," he said.
Besides sailors from Chicoutimi, the service in Rhu included crewmen from HMCS St. John's, a Canadian frigate that escorted the disabled sub to the Royal Navy base at Faslane, and HMS Montrose, a British warship that led the rescue effort.
Saunders died as he and two others from Chicoutimi's crew were being airlifted to hospital in Ireland by a British helicopter.
The submarine was towed to Faslane on Sunday - the same day the Saunders' body was met in Halifax by his wife and sons.
On Wednesday, Gov.-Gen. Adrienne Clarkson, Nova Scotia Premier John Hamm, and Defence Minister Bill Graham were among the mourners at the funeral.
Prime Minister Paul Martin, who was at the Halifax airport when the sailor's remains were brought home, is in the middle of state visits to Russia, Hungary and France and didn't attend either service.
After the funeral, Sam Mercer said the eulogy hit him hard because he knew Saunders as a little boy, growing up next door in Quispamsis, which is near Saint John, N.B.
"His oldest son is just a mirror image of Chris when he was little - just looks exactly like him," Mercer said outside church.
As a boy, Saunders played with Mercer's son, Dean, and traveled with the Mercers on vacations.
Saunders wasn't wealthy, said Mercer, and he had to cope with the separation of his parents at a young age. But he grew up to become a fine young man.
"He was very loyal," Mercer said, recalling how he'd once had a few drinks too many to drive and called Saunders late at night to ask him to pick up Dean.
"I'd hauled him out of bed, but he said, 'Anything for my best friend.' That pretty well says it all."
Saunders was the first Canadian submariner to die on duty since Laverne McLeod of Goderich, Ont., was killed on June 16, 1955 when a torpedo exploded aboard HMS Sidon, a British sub docked in England.
Saunders, a combat systems engineer, collapsed aboard Chicoutimi on Oct. 5 after he was overcome by smoke pouring from a sudden electrical fire.
His death the next day shocked the country because the Canadian navy had initially reported the fire was minor and none of the nine crewmen who suffered smoke inhalation were seriously injured.
Later, the navy revealed the fire had caused extensive damage and three sailors had to be evacuated for medical treatment.
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God bless him.
I made a joke about the Canadian navy in another post but joking aside I admit I am always saddened when someone loses their life in the line of duty. Hopefully this incident will prompt the Canadian government to procure more suitable equipment for its soldiers.
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