to move up and down
Beyond the call of duty: Master Bombardier to be awarded medal for valour
It was almost fully dark and the Canadian Leopard C1 main battle tank was resting awkwardly at a 60-degree angle, one set of tracks invisible in the water flowing down the wadi. For a vehicle with impressive “go-anywhere” capabilities, this tank was going nowhere. The return to base was on hold.
What had been a confident, show-of-force, quick-reaction rescue was suddenly a big, fat vehicle convoy target strung out along 500 metres of Afghan farm road. A Taliban mortar team’s dream.
I dropped into a handy ditch and three Canadian soldiers welcomed me with an offer of a smoke and a joke about tank drivers. But when a Kalashnikov started firing all three were on their feet, running in the direction of the sound. I ran after them — for about 10 paces until my brain caught up.
Master Bombardier Adam Holmes was the first to climb out of the trench that night in the summer of 2007.
This Thursday morning in Ottawa Master Bombardier Holmes will be awarded the Medal of Military Valour (MMV), in recognition for valour and devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy in 2010.
This is how he earned it.
Smithsonian takes a shine to National Post editor Richard Johnson’s raw images of life in war zones
This past week, Richard Johnson donated 20 of his illustrations to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, in the hope his artwork can continue to tell the stories of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq for generations to come.
The 45-year-old says his initial desire to head out into the field was born more out of frustration than anything else. “I find it at times personally very frustrating how little attention is paid to certain aspects of stories and for me the artwork is a way of making people pay attention to something they would normally not read,” he says.
With the long operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, Johnson says readers were growing numb to the “sanitized” images they saw of burnt-out cars. “Nobody wants to be traumatized by seeing too many dead bodies,” he says.
Instead, Johnson’s images capture the everyday reality of life on the ground through a more “raw,” artistic approach, according to Jennifer Locke Jones, chair and curator of the Smithsonian’s division of armed forces. “He never goes back to it, or fill it in, and do the ‘prettying up’ that other artists do,” Jones says. Instead, she says, Johnson draws in the field, sparking an “immediacy and freshness” that traditional war illustrations lack.
Photos of the day
Soldiers march under the Arch of Triumph during a military parade to celebrate Romania’s National Day in central Bucharest, December 1, 2011. (Bogdan Cristel/Reuters)
Photos of the day
Veterans attend Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge to observe a two minute silence as a mark of respect for the war dead on November 11, 2011 in Spean Bridge, Scotland. Armistice Day traditionally marks the end of the WWI when Germany and the allied forces signed the armistice signaling the end of hostilities on the Western Front. The cessation of the war officially took effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month and is marked annually by services of remembrance for all those who have fallen in wars and a two minute silence. (Photo: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
Photos: War letters
Brothers, Stephen and Frederic Vickers from St. Catharines were prolific letter writers during their World War two service. While Stephen an instructor stayed in Canada, stationed in Barriefield near Kingston, Ontario, Fredrick, described as a troop leader with the 15th Field Regiment of the Royal Canadian Artillery was stationed in Belgium, Netherlands and Germany at the end of the war. They both attended McMaster University in Hamilton where their letters are now archived. (Photos by Glenn Lowson for National Post)
Graphic: Honouring Canada’s fallen soldiers
107,161 Canadian soldiers have died fighting for Canada and in peacekeeping missions. With this in mind, the National Post’s graphics team reflects on the scale of the sacrifices of our troops. Each of the 107,361 dots in this image represents a Canadian soldier who was killed in combat or peacekeeping operations.
Photos of the day
South Korean honour guards perform during a welcoming ceremony for foreign military leaders visiting the Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition 2011, Oct. 18, 2011. (Jo Yong-Hak/Reuters)
Bronze plaques to line Ontario’s ‘Highway of Heroes’
The sacrifices made by members of the Canadian military and their families are being honoured with 26 bronze commemorative plaques that will be placed at intervals along the Highway of Heroes, which runs from Trenton, Ont., to Toronto.
“I enjoy the thought that I could be driving down the Highway of Heroes and see the plaques,” said Sergeant Cameron Laidlaw, 33, of the Royal Canadian Regiment. “It shows an appreciation to every military member. It’s good recognition from everyday people.”
The Highway of Heroes is the additional name for the stretch of Highway 401 that runs between CFB Trenton and Toronto. The bodies of fallen soldiers, upon being returned to Canada, are driven along this highway from the base to the coroner’s office in Toronto. (Tyler Anderson/National Post)
The Long Road
Read our special Afghanistan project featuring illustrations by National Post graphics editor Richard Johnson.
Photos of the day
Afghan girls walk past a female Canadian soldier from 6th Platoon, Bulldog Company, 1st Battalion, 22nd Royal Regiment as she rests during a patrol in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province southern Afghanistan, June 13, 2011. Canada will end its combat role in Afghanistan by the end of July, after nearly ten years fighting in Afghanistan. (Baz Ratner/Reuters)
Canada left Taliban ‘on its knees’: Afghan commander
Canada’s efforts have left the insurgency in southern Afghanistan “on its knees,” says the commander of the Afghan troops who have been fighting alongside Canadian soldiers.
“It is a matter of fact that the Canadians sacrificed a lot here,” said Brig.-Gen. Ahmed Habibi. “I remember there were 400 or 500 Taliban in the area when the Canadians came to Kandahar in 2006. They are the ones who stood with us and fought not only in Panjwaii but across the province. The enemy is on its knees here now. The truth of it is that it is because of the hard work of the Canadians.”
Photos of the day
U.S. Army soldiers from the 2nd Platoon, B battery 2-8 field artillery, fire a howitzer artillery piece at Seprwan Ghar forward fire base in Panjwai district, Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, June 12, 2011. (Baz Ratner/Reuters)
Photos: Harper lauds troops on surprise Afghanistan visit
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Prime Minister Stephen Harper declared during a surprise visit with the troops in Kandahar on Monday that, because of their efforts, “Islamist terror” generated in Afghanistan “no longer represents a geo-strategic threat to the world — it is no longer a source of global terrorism.”
After addressing about 500 soldiers in a makeshift amphitheatre adorned with a gigantic Canadian flag, Mr. Harper told journalists, “We have to look at this mission as a great success, remembering that we did this in the most difficult province.”
Kandahar Journal: Oh Shura
The “Security Shura” is a regular meeting with the local village elders to discuss any security concerns they may have. This particular Shura was held in under a large tree in a farm field near the COP.
I helped Sergeant Tony Swainson load water into the back of a gator, and then hitched a ride to where some sixty villagers waited in the shade.
The scene was reminiscent of a big family picnic. Captain Legros started out by shaking the hand of everyone waiting. The soldiers took off their body armour. Plates of dates and nuts were passed out. The water we had brought was given out too. There were smiles and casual banter as we waited for everyone to arrive.
It was only as I stepped away from the group to try and get everyone in frame that the illusion of a casual gathering started to disintegrate. There were ANA sentries posted in the far distance every thirty degrees – then inside that a further phalanx of Canadians. And then for those who thought even that too trusting — there was this guy on a nearby rooftop.
Kandahar Journal: Respite
The LAVs were generally parked with their rear doors open and I thought perhaps I could sit within one of those and draw the scene beyond. Unfortunately most of them faced either concrete walls or Hesco barriers. But in the mix was a TLAV that faced the end of the Artillerymen’s tent. I stopped one of them coming out. Gunner Yannick Seguin was a little concerned about OpSec, but when I explained I was only drawing and not taking photographs he gave me the OK.
The to hatch on the TLAV was open and the rain – blown by the wind – occasionally spattered in through the gap onto the paper. The rain was brown. During a big gust I would hold the paper up against my chest. Like this I worked for the next couple of hours.
The sketch was really just that, a sketch. The perspective was interesting, and it was nicely rendered – I guess, but did not have any real value. Then a couple of the artillerymen came out and started playing darts just inside the tent canopy and I suddenly knew I was on to something. I drew all around them and then took a few pictures of them throwing the darts and headed back to the tent to finish it off. Later in the evening I had to clear this sketch for OpSec as I had drawn a little of the interior. But the Major he say “yes.”
Kandahar Journal: Grape hut patrol
We are sitting together on my railway tie when Private Jonathan Arseneau tells me. “We blew up once with our LAV just 300-metres from the gate. We were going out in response to a reported IED and as we pulled over we rolled on a pressure plate. It was a pretty big explosion.”
“There was so much dust when the IED went off … it was the dust that was already in the vehicle … I could not see my hand in front of my face. I had to wait almost a minute … so I could see if I still had my legs and my arms.”
Jonathan has great confidence in the LAV and never hesitated to get back in his replacement vehicle. “Two days later we were back on the same road … I feel pretty safe in a LAV.”
