A salute to six Canada has lost
FORCES MEMBERS KILLED IN COPTER CRASH HONOURED IN EMOTIONAL RAMP CEREMONY
Canadians from coast to coast to coast watched as the six Armed Forces members killed in last week’s helicopter crash off the coast of Greece were welcomed home in a special ramp ceremony at Canadian Forces Base Trenton in Ontario.
The Cyclone helicopter crash which took place during a NATO training exercise off the coast of Greece remains under investigation. It represents the largest loss of life in one day for the Canadian Armed Forces since six Canadian soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan on Easter Sunday 2007.
The families of the six victims were joined by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, and General Jonathan Vance, the chief of defence staff.
Reminders of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has put the country in a state of lockdown since mid-march, were everywhere as the ceremony began, from the sparse crowd outside CFB Trenton to the masks and physical distancing of the victims’ families, military personnel and government leaders on hand.
The pandemic wasn’t the only difference from previous ramp ceremonies, which started in their modern form during the decade-long war in Afghanistan. There were also the pillows and military headdresses, a reminder that the remains of most of those lost have not been recovered.
Under partially cloudy skies, six hearses were lined up on the tarmac awaiting the arrival of the C-17 Globemaster as the families of the dead and missing Forces members met privately with a mask-wearing Trudeau in a building on the edge of the tarmac.
A short time later, the heavy transport aircraft landed and taxied to the loading area, preparing to discharge its precious cargo to those families and a grieving nation.
Only the remains of Sublt. Abbigail Cowbrough, 23, have been recovered. Her casket, draped in a flag, was loaded into one of six hearses sitting on the tarmac.
The others missing and presumed dead are Capt. Brenden Ian Macdonald of New Glasgow, N.S.; Capt. Kevin Hagen of Nanaimo, B.C.; Capt. Maxime Mironmorin of Trois-rivieres, Que.; Sub-lt. Matthew Pyke of Truro, N.S.; and Master Cpl. Matthew Cousins of Guelph.
They were honoured with headgear on pillows, each loaded into a separate hearse.
After a few minutes, the families climbed into waiting limousines that followed the hearses out of CFB Trenton, past a column of saluting troops before starting the traditional voyage west down the Highway of Heroes toward a forensics centre in Toronto.
The federal and Ontario governments had asked, because of COVID-19, that people stay home during the traditional procession between CFB Trenton and the Ontario coroner’s office where all military remains repatriated during and since the Afghanistan war have been taken.
A large contingent of Royal Canadian Legion 110 members from Trenton lined the side of the road, flying their colour flags as the vehicles exited the base.
“This is what we do for repatriations,” said Al Plume, Branch 110 first vice-president. “We come to pay our respects to those people who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.”
The day the crash was reported, Cowbrough’s father, Shane, posted a heart-wrenching message on Facebook.
“I am broken and gutted. Today I lost my oldest daughter Abbigail Cowbrough in the crash involving the Cyclone from HMCS Fredericton,” he wrote. “There are no words. You made me forever proud. I will love you always, and miss you in every moment. You are the bright light in my life taken far too soon.”
Cowbrough, Mironmorin, Hagen and Macdonald all graduated from Royal Military College in Kingston.
One of her RMC schoolmates, Elizabeth Audet, was in Trenton to pay respects with Belleville family David and Sue Clements and their son Hugo — who just completed his third year at RMC.
Audet, a Montreal native, said Cowbrough was the ultimate role model.
“She was an inspiration to so many people — everything she did was done as well as she could,” Audet said.
A native of Nova Scotia, Cowbrough was said to have been deeply moved by the recent shooting tragedy in that province and played Amazing Grace on the deck of HMCS Fredericton in tribute to the victims.
“That’s just the way she was,” Audet. “She cared about everyone.”