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Topic: Canadian reservist killed in afghanistan (Read 466 times)
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Fred Deadman
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Cpl. Kevin Megeney, a reserve member of the 1st Battalion Nova Scotia Highlanders, serving at Kandahar Airfield, succumbed to a gunshot wound shortly after 7 p.m., March 6, 2007. (DND / Combat Camera)
Col. Mike Cessford, deputy commander of Task Force Afghanistan, said on Tuesday, March 6 that enemy action has been ruled out.
Canadian reservist killed in non-combat shooting
Updated Tue. Mar. 6 2007 8:04 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
A Canadian reserve soldier was killed in a non-combat shooting in Afghanistan, the Department of National Defence confirmed Tuesday.
The soldier is identified as Cpl. Kevin Megeney, a reservist from Stellarton, N.S. and member of the 1st Battallion Nova Scotia Highlanders.
"We are looking hard at this," said Col. Mike Cessford, deputy commander of Task Force Afghanistan.
"No further details are available at this time regarding the circumstances surrounding this incident, although enemy action has been ruled out, since the incident occurred within the secure confines of Kandahar Airfield."
Cessford said Joint Task Force Afghanistan's National Investigation Service Detachment is investigating the incident.
Meanwhile, family members say Megeney, 25, was killed in a friendly-fire shooting. Megeney's sister, Lisa, told the Canadian Press that her younger brother was apparently in his tent when he was shot.
"It was friendly fire, that's all I know," she told CP as military officials briefed the family on the incident which DND says occurred just after 7 p.m. in Kandahar.
Military officials told CTV's Tom Clark in Kandahar that Megeney died from a single gunshot wound to the chest. "He was dead about 20 minutes after he was brought to the hospital here," said Clark.
Megeney, the youngest of three siblings, had been in Afghanistan since Dec. 8 with the Nova Scotia Highlanders. Generations of the Megeney family have enlisted with that regiment.
Lisa Megeney said her brother was excited to be going to the war-torn country, despite fears amongst family members that he might be injured.
"He said that he was going to help people," she said. "He wanted to turn things around, so the Afghanis could live like we live.... He took so much pride in it."
Military officials told CTV that the corporal will be honoured in a ramp ceremony.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he was "deeply saddened" to learn of the death of Cpl. Megeney:
"On behalf of the Government of Canada and all Canadians, I extend my sympathies to the family, friends and loved ones of Corporal Kevin Megeney, and I hope they can find strength in knowing that he will be remembered for his achievements and honourable service to his country," Harper said in a statement.
News of the incident broke as the Canadian military was expected to announce that a large group of reservists from Western Canada will be deployed to Afghanistan to compensate for a troop shortfall.
Reservists serve either in full-time or part-time position within the Canadian forces. Currently, there are 400 to 600 reservists in Afghanistan.
Megeney's death brings to 45 the number of Canadian soldiers who have been killed in Afghanistan since 2002. A Canadian diplomat also lost his life in Afghanistan.
Six Canadian soldiers have been killed in accidental or friendly-fire incidents since 2002.
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Gerry Connors
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RIP Soldier. My condelences to Cpl Megeney's family.
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Mike Blais
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RIP soldier....
Canadian soldier killed in non-combat incident
JOE FRIESEN
Globe and Mail Update with Canadian Press
Kandahar, Afghanistan — A Canadian soldier was killed at Kandahar airfield Tuesday, hours after a Canadian mechanized infantry company rolled to the border of Helmand as part of a large-scale NATO offensive in southern Afghanistan.
Corporal Ronald Kevin Megeney, 25, of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia was rushed to hospital at 6:40 pm local time suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest. He was pronounced dead at 7:02 p.m.
Colonel Mike Cessford, deputy commander of the Canadian Task Force in Afghanistan, said Cpl. Megeney was found in the area of the living quarters at Kandahar airfield.
Col. Cessford described the death as accidental, and said it is being examined by Canada's National Investigation Service. There will be a ramp ceremony for Cpl. Megeney, a reservist with the First Battalion, Nova Scotia Highlanders, in the coming days.
Cpl. Megeney had been in Afghanistan since December and was part of a unit providing security at the main entrance to the airfield.
"It was friendly fire, that's all I know," Cpl. Megeney's sister Lisa said from the family home in Stellarton, N.S. which is about two hours outside Halifax.
She said her younger brother was excited to be going to the war-torn country, despite fears amongst family members that he might be injured.
"He said that he was going to help people," she said. "He wanted to turn things around, so the Afghanis could live like we live. . . . He took so much pride in it."
Lisa Megeney said the family received a call Tuesday morning from someone at his base indicating that he had been shot in his left lung, but that he was still alive.
"He was yelling for someone to call his mother," she said.
The youngest of three siblings had volunteered to go to Afghanistan in the fall as part of the militia with the Nova Scotia Highlanders.
Since 2002, 44 Canadian soldiers and a diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan.
Canadian reporters in Kandahar were in a military-ordered lockdown and were unable to immediately provide any information related to the report.
There was no official confirmation of the report.
With a report from Canadian Press
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Mike Blais
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Stellarton mourns soldier shot in Afghanistan
Last Updated: Wednesday, March 7, 2007 | 9:57 AM AT
CBC News
Stellarton has lowered its flags to honour Cpl. Kevin Megeney, who died of a gunshot wound Tuesday in Afghanistan.
Mayor Joe Gennoe says the town was shocked to hear about the death of the 25-year-old reservist at the main base in Kandahar.
"It's a terrible thing," he told CBC News. "I happened to be in the Town Hall when I got the word and the chief of police and I, we went outside and put the flag down to half-mast."
Gennoe said he will offer the town's condolences to the family and do whatever is necessary to help them cope.
Megeney has been in Afghanistan with the 1st Battalion Nova Scotia Highlanders since early December.
The last time many people saw Megeney was in November, when 2,000 supporters rallied for the troops. In an interview with CBC News, he said he was overwhelmed by the show of support.
Eric Nowell, who knows the Megeney family well, said residents feel close to the soldiers.
"It's a moment of sadness," Nowell said. "We all know them. We know who they are and we know their families, and it's a tragic thing for all of us."
Former Nova Scotia premier John Hamm, also from Stellarton, knew Megeney.
"Losing a young man like that obviously will affect the entire community," Hamm said. "However, one of the things that has always impressed me is the determination of the soldiers who go to Afghanistan to represent us well and to get the job done."
The military investigation into Megeney's death continues.
The Defence Department said Tuesday Megeney was accidentally shot in the chest while in his tent, and enemy action has been ruled out.
Megeney is the eighth soldier from Nova Scotia killed in Afghanistan since 2002.
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blackdog
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kevin was a fine young man, i grew up playing with his father's brothers and sisters, i served in 1rhc with his father george megeney(later CPROC). my wife and kevins mother are first cousins. kevin will remain forever young, we will remember him.
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Mike Blais
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'He was one of the nicest students in the school'
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STELLARTON — The last time Kevin Megeney walked the streets of his hometown, he was a welcome sight.
"I remember seeing him just before he left. He was across the street and he waved," recalled an elderly woman who stopped on Foord Street on Wednesday morning to talk about the young soldier.
"He had such a nice big smile on his face."
She said he was "a fine young man" who "came from a really fine family."
Cpl. Megeney, 25, died as a result of a gunshot wound to his chest Tuesday in what the military calls a friendly-fire shooting at the NATO base in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
The soldier was with 1st Battalion Nova Scotia Highlanders, a reserve unit based in Pictou. He was part of a contingent of Canadian soldiers sent to Afghanistan on Dec. 8 and had been serving at Kandahar Airfield.
It’s believed he was shot while in his tent at about 7 p.m. Kandahar time. The military is now investigating the shooting but wouldn’t provide any details about the probe Wednesday.
Cpl. Megeney was the son of Dexter and Karen Megeney of Stellarton.
The elderly woman on Foord Street who briefly talked about Cpl. Megeney blinked quickly to push back tears as she recalled the soldier. Wherever a Canadian flag was flying in this little town Wednesday, it was at half-mast in honour of Cpl. Megeney.
Just across the street from the old town hall, Kathy Spears stood inside her hair salon and art gallery watching traffic.
"It doesn’t seem real in our little town to have this happen to one of ours," she said. "They call it a friendly-fire accident but there’s nothing friendly about shooting a gun."
Although Ms. Spears said the young soldier wasn’t a regular customer of her salon, he had been in a few times.
"They’re such nice people, the Megeneys, and it’s a very sad time for them," she said.
Eileen English is principal of North Nova Education Centre in New Glasgow.
"I was his principal at Stellarton High School," she said. "He was one of the nicest students in the school who always had a smile on his face.
"He always said hello and he was always kind to others. That’s just the kind of fellow he was."
The school held a minute of silence on Wednesday.
Cpl. Megeney was the eighth Nova Scotian and the 45th Canadian to die while serving in Afghanistan.
Alex Morrison, a former honorary colonel with the Nova Scotia Highlanders, said it’s "highly unlikely" that Cpl. Megeney shot himself.
"It appears, on the face, one of those things where soldiers were, I don’t know, cleaning rifles, whatever they were doing," said Mr. Morrison, a retired lieutenant-colonel and founder of the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre in the Annapolis Valley.
"They might have been practising something. And I think, through an accident, someone squeezed the trigger of a rifle that had a round in it."
If another soldier is responsible for Cpl. Megeney’s death, "it would be awful," he said. "It will be on that man or woman’s mind from now until the time they die."
Troops at Kandahar Airfield are required to carry their weapons at all times, but they are rarely loaded.
It’s drilled into soldiers that "there’s no horseplay with weapons, no rounds up the spout unless you’re in an operational situation, and these guys were in a tent in Kandahar," Mr. Morrison said.
mmacintyre@herald.ca)
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’It appears, on the face, one of those things where soldiers were, I don’t know, cleaning rifles, whatever they were doing.’
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ranrad
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Awww dang , i hope we will all be careful with our speculations.. let us all let the investigation finish...it is a terrible tragedy .no matter what happened, and this young man died in the service of his country... he is a hero for all time....ranrad
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Mike Blais
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MARCH 8, 2007 - 13:30 ET
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Media Advisory/DND: Fallen Soldier Returning Home
OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(CCNMatthews - March 8, 2007) - Our fallen soldier, Corporal Kevin Megeney, a member of the 1st Battalion Nova Scotia Highlanders, is scheduled to return home to Canada tomorrow.
Where: 8 Wing Trenton, Canadian Forces Base Trenton, Ontario.
When: Friday, March 9, 1 p.m.
What: At the wishes of the family, media are invited to view the
arrival, though no interviews will be given.
Present to pay their respects will be The Minister of National Defence, Gordon O'Connor, and other dignitaries.
Corporal Kevin Megeney was killed March 6, 2007, from an apparent weapons-related accident on the Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Note to the Editor/News Director:
Interested media must contact Capt. Nicole Meszaros, 8 Wing/CFB Trenton Public Affairs Officer, who can be reached at (613) 392-2811 ext. 2041, mobile (613) 391-5233 or at: meszaros.nl@forces.gc.ca.
For flight information, contact the Air Passenger Terminal at 1-800-487-1186.
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Last Updated: Monday, March 12, 2007 | 1:36 PM ET
CBC News
The military's National Investigation Service has charged a Canadian soldier with manslaughter in the shooting death of a fellow soldier in Afghanistan.
Master Cpl. Jeffrey Walsh was killed last Aug. 9 when a gun went off during a routine patrol outside Kandahar. The military has been tight-lipped about the circumstances surrounding Walsh's death, but described the incident at the time as an accidental shooting.
Master Cpl. Jeffrey Scott Walsh was killed in Afghanistan last Aug. 9 when a gun went off during a routine patrol outside Kandahar.
(Department of National Defence) The 33-year-old soldier with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry had been six days into his second tour in Afghanistan. His father, Ben Walsh, said his son was seated in a G-Wagon armoured vehicle when another soldier's gun went off.
Master Cpl. Robbie Fraser, also with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, was charged Monday with one count of manslaughter and one count of negligent performance of duty, the NIS said Monday in a release.
Fraser is now stationed at CFB Shilo in Manitoba, where both soldiers were based.
Walsh grew up in Regina and Avonlea, Sask., about 80 kilometres southwest of the city. He was survived by his wife and three young children.
Continue Article
Walsh's father, who had been lobbying defence officials for months for details of his son's death, told CBC News Monday the charges closed "another chapter in our book."
"It really doesn't matter what charge would be laid," Walsh said from his home in Regina. "It's certainly not going to bring back my son.
"I would say it's like if I hit you in the head and you fell and died. It would be a manslaughter charge. It's a bit severe, but ... I guess in this case, it may be necessary."
Walsh added he sympathized with Fraser and his heart went out to the soldier's family.
"He and his family … are grieving now and in very, very much pain."
Another shooting investigated
The charges suggest there was no intent but there was negligence concerning Fraser's alleged role in the shooting, the CBC's Carolyn Dunn reported.
The charges come as the military is probing another mysterious shooting that claimed the life of a soldier at Kandahar airfield last week.
Cpl. Kevin Megeney, 25, a reservist from Stellarton, N.S., died Tuesday evening. He was a member of the 1st Battalion Nova Scotia Highlanders. Megeney's family told CBC News he had been shot in the chest while in his tent.
The NIS is an independent military police unit with a mandate to investigate serious and sensitive matters in relation to national defence property, employees and Canadian Forces personnel serving in Canada and abroad.
Walsh's father also said he hoped to attend some of the court proceedings in Shilo.
"I just hope the young soldier has a good defence and is well represented," he said.
A sad state of affairs.
Stew
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Mike Blais
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Stellarton prepares to bury soldier
‘We’re a very small, close community and we pull together’
By ALLISON AULD The Canadian Press
STELLARTON — Hundreds of bright yellow ribbons flap in a stiff breeze that blows down the main street of this plain, working-class community on Nova Scotia’s north coast.
The thin pieces of felt are stapled and tied onto anything that doesn’t move — telephone poles, light posts, notice boards and the door handles of streetfront stores.
They are a small tribute to Cpl. Kevin Megeney, a young Canadian soldier who townsfolk are preparing to bury as they come to grips with their own deep sense of loss and the grim reality of war in a far-off country.
"This is just a way to show support, so that when the family comes through town they know ‘we’re thinking of you,’ " Louise Crockett, who put up the ribbons with a few friends, said Wednesday in her small giftstore in the centre of Stellarton.
"We’re a very small, close community and we pull together. This is on our backdoor, so you have to do a little bit more."
Crockett says she decided to put up the ribbons and hand out smaller ones for people to wear on their shirts days after hearing that Megeney, a 25-year-old reservist from Stellarton, had been killed in his tent at the NATO base in Kandahar in what the military is calling an accidental shooting.
She said the news stunned the community — which sent a handful of young soldiers to Afghanistan in the most recent deployment shortly before Christmas — and provoked a mix of reactions.
"People were saying, ‘I don’t know if I’m more sad or more mad that a young life is gone,’ " she said. "And nobody really understands what they’re doing over there or why they’re over there."
Kim Weyman, 36, said although she didn’t know Megeney, she decided to adorn the window of her small hair salon on the main street with paper ribbons to show her support for the soldier’s family and the other troops still there.
"He’s not my brother, not my nephew, not my son, but he’s ours," she said as she trimmed a young girl’s hair. "He belongs to everybody here and he’s a hero and that’s enough."
One man who knew Megeney for the last five years said his friend always had a bright smile and could somehow find fun in even the bleakest of times.
"He enjoyed every minute of his life," Gibby Thompson, 21, said at a local coffee shop, reflecting on the last time he saw Megeney about a year ago.
"We were up all night and went for drive to look at a waterfall. We were enjoying it so much. . . . He was a very good man."
In neighbouring New Glasgow, family members and friends made their way into a funeral home as visitations began one day after Megeney’s body was returned home from CFB Trenton, Ont.
Lt. Ron Kronstein, spokesman for Joint Task Force Atlantic, said the plane carrying Megeney’s body arrived at Halifax Stanfield International Airport at about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Military and police escorted him back to Pictou County, where public viewing were to take place Wednesday night, Thursday afternoon and Thursday evening.
George Megeney, the soldier’s uncle, said as many as 5,000 were expected to attend a full military fineral to be held Friday in Stellarton at Our Lady of Lourdes Church.
Outside the funeral home, a young woman sat alone on the steps, holding her head in her hands while soldiers in fatigues passed by and headed inside.
People say talk of Megeney’s death has eased up slightly in recent days, with residents expressing both sadness and anger at what some say is a senseless death.
One woman who didn’t want her name used said she knew Megeney and has heard the conversations in coffee shops and local watering holes shift from astonishment that one of their own could be killed to acceptance that Canadian soldiers are facing worsening risks in the war-torn country.
"I think a lot of people here are realizing now that we are at war and it’s a shame that it takes the death of a young person for that to happen," she said. "Everybody’s pretty shocked and upset."
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Mike Blais
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Fallen soldier 'belongs to everyone,' town reflects
Hundreds attend funeral of Cpl. Kevin Megeney, 25, killed in Afghanistan
Last Updated: Friday, March 16, 2007 | 10:09 AM AT
CBC News
He was the early riser, the daring college roommate, the dedicated and proud soldier.
"Kev is the reason I can smile," Cpl. Brent Bowden told mourners in the little white church, where all of them gathered to bid farewell to Megeney, the 25-year-old soldier killed 10 days earlier in Afghanistan.
"Kev made me smile every day. Brother would be waking up every morning, going to work — during work, making fun of how much I ate at lunch," Bowden said of the red-haired corporal, breaking for a moment into a grin during the full military funeral service.
Megeney was shot in the chest March 6 while in his tent at the Kandahar airbase in an incident that Canadian Forces officials are calling an accidental shooting. In a show of solidarity and remembrance throughout his hometown of Stellarton Friday, hundreds of yellow ribbons were tied to poles along the streets.
Bowden, who served alongside Megeney and grew close with the soldier during their days together, flew back from the Kandahar base to Canada with his friend's casket.
On Friday, he recalled how his fallen comrade used to drag him from bed to work every morning.
'He felt Canada and the Canadians and the soldiers and his comrades, they were making a difference, they were making headway.'—George Megeney, uncle of Cpl. Kevin Megeney
"Kev had his alarm set for a quarter after 5," he said. "[He] would almost immediately put on some music, bang on the wall, yell over to me, make sure I was up because I never wanted to get out of bed."
Colin Gennoe, a resident of Stellarton, said Megeney "belongs to everyone here."
Gennoe, who lived with Megeney while he studied at the Success College of Applied Arts & Technology in Sackville, N.S., shared the story about the night he challenged his friend to a polar bear dive with him one Boxing Day.
"He said, 'Are you nuts?'" Gennoe said. But "we went down and I jumped in, and I get out of the water and I turned around and there was Kevin, running across the sand. And he jumped in too. I'll never forget that," he said.
Two families 'devastated'
The Megeney family has publicly stated they do not wish to see charges laid against the soldier believed to have mistakenly discharged the weapon that killed their loved one.
'He told me [serving in Afghanistan] meant a lot to him,' George Megeney said of his nephew Cpl. Kevin Megeney.'He told me [serving in Afghanistan] meant a lot to him,' George Megeney said of his nephew Cpl. Kevin Megeney.
They have also reached out to the family of the other soldier and have accepted that "this is one of those situations where two families have been devastated by a very, very unfortunate accident," Megeney's uncle, George Megeney, said Friday. The last time he spoke to his nephew was in January, when the soldier returned to Stellarton for a vacation and to celebrate his birthday.
"He told me [serving in Afghanistan] meant a lot to him," he said. "He's seen the conditions under which some of those folks are living … and he felt Canada and the Canadians and the soldiers and his comrades, they were making a difference, they were making headway."
The plane transporting Megeney's body arrived in Nova Scotia Tuesday.
Megeney, a reservist, was a member of the 1st Battalion, Nova Scotia Highlanders and had been in Afghanistan since December.
He was the 45th Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan since 2002.
II
Soldier remembered for his bravery and commitment
CTV.ca News Staff
Updated: Fri. Mar. 16 2007 6:38 PM ET
Cpl. Kevin Megeney, killed in Afghanistan earlier this month, was remembered today as a "great soldier and a great friend" at his funeral in Stellarton, N.S.
His flag-draped casket was carried into the Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church by military pallbearers as a bell rang overhead.
Inside, about 100 family members, and hundreds of soldiers, reflected on Megeney's life during the full military funeral.
Dressed in his desert fatigues, Cpl. Brent Bowden, who served with Megeney, delivered one of the eulogies in honour of his friend "Kev."
""I am proud to be his partner, proud to know Kev. Kev was my best friend," Bowden said.
Bowden described Megeney as a soldier who was prepared for the dangers of Afghanistan but believed in the mission.
"Every time he put on the uniform, wearing the Canadian flag on his shoulders, Kev was proud."
"He believed in the mission -- that was his reason for serving -- that was his reason for going. He wanted to help," Bowden said.
Through tears, Bowden said his friend should be remembered as someone who "paid the supreme sacrifice for his country."
"He was a great soldier a great friend to be relied on for anything no matter what it was," said Bowden.
The 25-year-old, a member of the First Battalion Nova Scotia Highlanders, was killed in his tent at the Canadian base in Kandahar on March 6 by a gunshot wound to the chest. He died 20 minutes later from the wound.
Military officials have confirmed that Megeney was shot in the chest but have yet to verify if he was shot by another member of his platoon.
Megeney was a 'fine man'
Robert Morrison, whose son and Megeney were childhood friends, described the soldier as a fine man.
"Everything good - just full of life, a gentleman, 100 per cent," said Morrison.
"Everyone could talk to him. He's just a nice guy."
As more than 200 filed into the church, Morrison said Megeney's home town, which is on the North West coast of Nova Scotia, was stunned by the news of his death.
""It's a shock, everybody's in shock," Morrison said.
"But the support has been great. The town has all come together. You can tell everywhere you go. Everyone you talk to, it's all about Kevin."
Megeney's uncle George Megeney said the death of the infantryman not only affects his family, but the family of the soldier who fired the shot.
He called his nephew's death, a "very, very unfortunate accident."
Speaking to Canada AM on Friday, Megeney's cousin, Brian MacLeod, said the family is focusing on Kevin's accomplishments.
"The funeral today will be about celebrating Kevin's life not just as a soldier but as a friend and family member," said MacLeod.
He said the family was coping well.
"There's been a lot of grieving but also a lot of reflection and thinking about those happy times with Kevin."
MacLeod described his cousin as someone with "a great sense of humour" who was "not a leader of the pack but very influential in any group he was ever a part of."
Local residents are also honouring Megeney with a yellow ribbon campaign.
"We're not a large community... but if you go up the main street of Stellarton you'd see ribbons on every street post, door, window -- the community has certainly banded together and given us a lot of support."
Megeney, who volunteered to go to Afghanistan in December, is the 45th Canadian soldier to be killed there since 2002. He is the eighth Nova Scotian to die during the mission.
"It takes a lot to travel to a warn-torn country to do his job," Bowden said.
"We all know the risks. We all know what might happen. But above all, we all know what we're there to do. Kev did his part with pride and honour."
The son of Karen and Dexter Megeney, Kevin was born in New Glasgow, N.S., and joined the reserves in 1999. He had two older siblings.
Since 2002, six Canadian soldiers have been killed in accidental or friendly fire incidents.
With files from The Canadian Press
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
Pro Patria
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