"It is sweet and honorable to die for one's country" --Horace.
Posted on 04/23/2002 1:22:56 PM PDT by bourbon
Hundreds mourn soldier
By ANGELA PACIENZA-- The Canadian Press
TORONTO (CP) -- Hundreds gathered at a downtown Mormon church Tuesday to bid farewell to a young war hero killed in Afghanistan, remembering him as a loving son, a brave soldier and a religious man who lived his life with honour and integrity.
"Ainsworth was the most unselfish and compassionate person I knew," Carolyn Dyer, younger sister of Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer, told the mourners.
"He taught me the meaning of love ... he was able to make your heart dance."
Family, colleagues and many who never knew the 25-year-old Dyer gathered at his funeral to pay their last respects on a sunny spring afternoon. He was to be buried with full military honours, including a traditional gun salute and trumpets playing out the Last Post and Reveille.
One speaker at his service broke into a lengthy song as a tribute to Dyer.
His funeral began just as six soldiers wounded in the same military exercise that killed him arrived in Edmonton from Germany.
"He's a young man taken from us too soon, so suddenly as to leave us reeling with the shock at the tragic circumstances we find hard to accept," said Christopher Chaggares, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a family friend.
Chaggares and other speakers at the funeral told the mourners of Dyer's spirituality and deep love for his father, Paul.
"I am struck by his ability to do two things simultaneously ... he towered over his father, but he always looked up to him," he said.
Dyer's coffin, draped in the Canadian Forces ensign, was carried into the church by members of his regiment, soldiers from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, and the brother of his fiancee, Jocelyn Van Sloten.
A composed Van Sloten, her father's arm around her, watched silently as the coffin was carried past her into the church.
Dyer, a paratrooper who loved sports, had a fighting spirit so strong he once finished a gruelling military triathlon with a broken foot and a commitment to love that moved him to propose to his sweetheart when he was called to war.
Dyer was laid in his coffin dressed in the uniform of the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.
Paul Dyer, and Dyer's mother, Agatha Dawkins, were to receive his medals, berets and a Canadian flag from the Canadian Armed Forces.
In prepared remarks, Bishop Stephen Brown said "Ainsworth's love and deep appreciation for freedom were demonstrated through his military service."
"He has set a high standard of integrity and achievement for his family to emulate. We are confident that you will take comfort in the quality of his life and in the memories you have of him."
About 40 members of Dyer's Edmonton-based regiment were brought to the funeral in two large buses and the crowd was dotted with military uniforms.
Among the dignitaries who came to pay their respects were Gov.-Gen. Adrienne Clarkson, Ontario Premier Ernie Eves, Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham, Mayor Mel Lastman, retired Maj.-Gen. Lewis MacKenzie and a U.S. Army colonel.
Dyer and three collegues were killed last week when an American F-16 fighter jet mistakenly bombed their unit during a live-fire night exercise in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Funerals for Sgt. Marc Leger, 29, of Lancaster, Ont.; Pte. Richard Green, 22, of Mill's Cove, N.S.; and Pte. Nathan Smith, 27, of Tatamagouche, N.S. will also take place this week in their home towns.
About 250 friends and family remembered Dyer Monday evening at a downtown funeral home, not far from the modest housing project where he once lived.
The soldier was fondly remembered by those who knew him as a joker who would do anything to raise morale, even allowing his buddies dress him up as a pussycat for Halloween.
Many thanks to our brave friends in Canada for the ultimate sacrifice. When push comes to shove, the "Echelon" countries (US, UK, Canada, Australia, NZ) are the only true force for freedom in the world. The rest are suspect at best.
Actually having served with both the US and Canadian Armies I’ve always the Canadian more professional.
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