Slain sergeant had asked aunt to pray for him

Estanislao Oziewicz, Globe & Mail, 5 Oct 06

Just before he left for Afghanistan, Sergeant Craig Paul Gillam told one of his aunts that he was apprehensive about his impending mission and asked that he be remembered in her prayers.

"He really didn't want to go, but I don't think he had much of a choice. I think he was scared," Irene Carter said yesterday by telephone from tiny South Branch, Sgt. Gillam's hometown in southwest Newfoundland.

"The night before he left I called him and said, 'Is there anything I can do?' "He said, 'Pray for me every day. Say a little prayer for me every day.' He was scared."

Ms. Carter said her nephew's wife, Maureen, and two teenage children, who live in Petawawa, Ont., his parents, Agnes and Graham Bishop, and extended family are devastated by his death. He had been in Afghanistan only a few weeks.

Ms. Carter said she and several other members of the family had driven from Newfoundland to Petawawa last summer to say goodbye to Sgt. Gillam.

"We never dreamed at the time it would be a final goodbye," she said, adding that it will be difficult to cope before his body is brought home for burial. "It's too long, the waiting before he is brought to final rest," she said. "It's going to be another week or so."

Sgt. Gillam, 40, and Corporal Robert James Thomas Mitchell, 32, of Owen Sound, Ont., are the first members of the Royal Canadian Dragoons, Canada's "senior cavalry regiment," to be killed in Afghanistan. They and other Canadian troops were attacked Tuesday in the Panjwai area, west of Kandahar, by Taliban insurgents using mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles.

They were part of a surveillance troop assigned to provide security for other soldiers clearing mines and other explosive devices for a future road-construction project.

Canadians were attacked in the same area again yesterday when an armoured vehicle hit a roadside bomb, slightly injuring two soldiers. Other troops were later fired on with guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but didn't take any hits.

Cpl. Mitchell, 32, leaves his wife, Leanne, and their three young children (ages 5, 3 and 2), as well as his parents, Carol and Bob, of Owen Sound.

Ms. Mitchell has been studying to be a police officer. She told Canadian Press that she would be releasing a statement at some point.

Cpl. Mitchell, known as Jimmy, grew up in Niagara Falls and in Owen Sound, where he attended West Hill Secondary School. He joined the military in 2001 after attending Niagara College.

He was a keen athlete and participated in iron-man and mountain-man competitions, and had applied for JTF2, the military's elite commando unit.

Gary Hass, his father-in-law, said that he was proud of the work that he was doing in Afghanistan and felt strongly that he was working toward the greater good.

"He was dedicated to his family and dedicated to his military career," he told the Niagara Falls Review.

At a short news conference at CFB Petawawa, Major James Follwell, second in command of the Royal Canadian Dragoons, said: "This is a time of mourning. Everyone in the regiment back home is feeling it, but we are also determined to ensure these soldiers and others did not die in vain."

Maj. Follwell said that Cpl. Mitchell was keen, well respected and loved his job. He said Sgt. Gillam, who was active in the community as a minor-hockey coach, will be remembered as a "realistic and approachable non-commissioned officer."