Sacrifice not in vain
Friend says she was motivated by sapper’s death
When her friend Steven Marshall was killed by a Taliban IED, Cindy Veilleux says she was more determined to carry on the work that led to his death.
Then based in Edmonton, the member of 1 Canadian Engineer Regiment recalls the day in October 2009 when Calgarian Marshall, 24, was killed by the roadside bomb while trying to clear an area 10 kilometres southwest of Kandahar City in Afghanistan.
“He was on patrol and put his foot on an IED ... it was very sad,” said Veilleux, who left the forces three years ago.
“I knew Steve for a long time and you get so close, it’s almost like your own family.”
Veilleux, now 30, rushed to the scene of the explosion.
“They were scared we’d come into contact, but we didn’t,” she said.
What most would consider a nerve-racking job — scouring Afghan roads to detect and mark planted explosives — was a task Veilleux said she relished.
“I really liked it — you train so many years and then you get the chance to do it and you like to help other people,” she said.
And the death of Marshall served only to motivate her.
“It gave me a bigger push — they served to give their lives to their country and it made me try harder,” she said.
The Quebec native, who served seven months in Afghanistan from 2009-10, said she couldn’t calculate how many IEDs she found.
“A lot, we found a lot — in Nakhonay village they had IEDs everywhere,” said Veilleux.
After Canada’s sacrifice, it’s painful to watch the Taliban re-exert their influence, she added.
“I’m not really surprised ... Canada should have stayed longer,” said Veilleux.
Marshall was the 133rd of 158 Canadian soldiers killed in the Afghan war.
It’s just one of the deaths that’s kept Veilleux coming back to Remembrance Day ceremonies while maintaining a bond with living colleagues and families of friends who didn’t survive the war.
“You stay pretty close. I know how hard it can be for the family, so I try to be there as much as I can for Murray,” she said of Marshall’s father.