Posted: Aug 24, 2007, 4:46 PM CST
Special to Globe and Mail Update
May 31, 2007 at 12:09 AM EDT
I had never seen so many Canadian flags along Highway 401. From Trenton to Toronto, each and every overpass along the 170-kilometre route was adorned with Canadian flags, large and small. Some people attached a Maple Leaf to a wooden stick and waved it vigorously from side to side; others lowered the flag in a sombre salute for a solemn occasion.
This was the eight-vehicle repatriation cortège of Corporal Matthew
McCully, the young Canadian soldier killed on patrol in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb last week. We had just observed the return of Corp. McCully's remains on the tarmac at the airbase in Trenton and were now on our way to the coroner's office in Toronto. Riding in a sleek black limousine with Corp. McCully's family, I was an
escort officer assigned to the team assisting his family through this week's arduous journey. As we left the airbase and drove onto the busy highway, family members were still reeling from the gut-wrenching experience of seeing the flag-draped casket carried away from the airbus by his young comrades.
Many of them were in tears as they marched toward the hearse. The air inside our limousine was thick with emotion as we sat in silence
contemplating the ceremony that had unfolded before our eyes. After the Ontario Provincial Police led us away from the terminal, our attention was quickly drawn to several dozen people lining the streets of Trenton, many holding bouquets of flowers amid the dozens of flags fluttering in the wind. Several oncoming cars pulled over to the side of the road, their occupants getting out. It wasn't until we were driving under the first few highway overpasses
that we took notice of every bridge: Each was lined with more and more people, and as we drew closer to them, the people waved their flags more briskly so we could appreciate the scale of their salute. As we reached Toronto, the crowds were still lined up on each overpass and our drivers, by this time well practised in their response, slowed the limousines to acknowledge the demonstrations.
Accompanying those special flag-bearers were hundreds of police
officers, firefighters and ambulance service workers. With their vehicles parked in single file atop each overpass, sirens ringing and lights flashing, those proud men and women snapped such an impressive salute that it brought tears to the eyes for all who sat inside the limousine. The police officers who couldn't fit on the overpasses moved their cruisers into an extended line along each exit ramp, blocking oncoming traffic as they formed up on the roadside to salute.
Mesmerized by this tremendous demonstration of support, the family sat in quiet disbelief, seeing a ray of hope as they witnessed their fellow citizens sharing their pain.
I didn't know Corp. McCully. And little did I know this duty would
absorb so much more of me and my colleague, Capt. James Lindsay, when we were assigned this detail last Friday. Yet, in the few short days that we have been with Corp. McCully's family, we have grown as close to them as though they were our own kith and kin. We have come to know him through their memories and their emotional highs and lows.
The overwhelming intensity of their loss has shown us how frail the
>human condition can be but, it has also shown how much strength Corp. McCully's family has drawn from the hundreds of Canadians on the highway last Tuesday. The family wishes to publicly thank all of you who stood waving to their son.
Corp. McCully will be laid to rest with full military honours this
morning in his hometown of Orangeville, Ont. Please bring your flag to Tweedsmuir Memorial Church at 11:00 a.m.
Another sad day: click here to read the entire thread »