Captain Nichola K.S. Goddard killed in Afghanistan (17 May 2006)

[JasonH]

Grenade attack killed soldier

GEOFFREY YORK

From Friday's Globe and Mail

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — Captain Nichola Goddard was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade while she was riding in an LAV armoured vehicle during heavy fighting with Taliban guerrillas, military sources said yesterday.

The Canadian military still has not disclosed the exact cause of her death, which occurred on Wednesday near Kandahar, but sources said that she was in an LAV III, the latest model of Canada's light-armoured vehicles.

According to one source, the grenade did not penetrate the LAV, but bounced upward and hit the turret, creating shrapnel that hit Capt. Goddard in the face.

As an artillery forward observation officer, she would have been standing in the hatch to help direct Canadian fire at enemy targets.

Capt. Goddard was the first Canadian female combat soldier ever to be killed in battle. Her body was scheduled to be flown home to Canada Friday morning on a C-130 transport plane after a ramp ceremony at the Kandahar Air Field, the main coalition base in Kandahar.

More than 100 people, including Capt. Goddard, have been killed in an unprecedented string of attacks that started late Wednesday and concentrated in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, The Associated Press reported.

Islamic militants, some armed with machine guns, battled Afghan, U.S. and Canadian forces and exploded two suicide car bombs Thursday, some of the deadliest violence in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban.

An Afghan army commander, whose troops were involved in the battle, said the Canadian military needs tougher vehicles to survive rocket-propelled grenade attacks. "Canada is a modern country and it should have more modern vehicles or tanks to resist an RPG," General Rahmatullah Raufi said.

"It would be better if they use vehicles that are similar to the U.S. military vehicles," the commander of Afghan army forces in southern Afghanistan added in an interview yesterday. "The RPG is a very modern weapon and it can destroy an armoured vehicle."

Gen. Raufi praised the performance of the Canadian troops who supported the Afghan army and police in battle against an estimated 100 to 200 Taliban insurgents in the Panjwai district on the western gateway to Kandahar.

"In this battle, the Canadians fought well," he said. "We were very happy with them."

But the Canadian troops are not as experienced or as well-equipped as the U.S. soldiers who preceded them in Kandahar, the commander said. "The Canadians are new here, and they don't have enough experience in these areas. We hope they will bring more modern vehicles and equipment."

Canadian officers in Kandahar have promised a briefing today to give details of Wednesday's battle. They are likely to defend the LAV III, which has proven popular among Canadian soldiers for its speed, mobility and its ability to withstand enemy attack.

Capt. Goddard, of the First Royal Canadian Horse Artillery based in Shilo, Man., is the 17th Canadian to be killed in Afghanistan since 2002. The death toll includes 16 soldiers and one diplomat.

She was remembered by soldiers in a sad moment at the beginning of a concert by Canadian music stars at the Kandahar Air Field last night.

"Operations in the last few days have been intense," said General David Fraser, the Canadian officer in charge of the multinational brigade in Kandahar, in a brief speech at the opening of the concert.

"There are some Afghans tonight who are living and sleeping a little bit easier ..... because some very bad people have been taken off the streets. Unfortunately there is a cost to that."

Some of Wednesday's battle took place in a populated area, and doctors in Kandahar reported yesterday that three civilians were injured. They said a five-year-old child was badly hurt by a rocket from a U.S. helicopter that entered the fight to support Canadian and Afghan ground forces. The other two civilians were adults who were wounded by gunfire, the doctors said.

An Afghan soldier was killed and three others were injured in the same battle, Gen. Raufi said yesterday.

The battle left 18 Taliban insurgents dead, while another 26 were captured, according to a statement yesterday by the U.S.-led coalition.

"The defeat of the enemy in Panjwai is a direct result of the skill, valour and commitment of Canadian and Afghan national security forces," the coalition statement said. "This well-organized, co-operative engagement was exactly the operation needed to restore security to Panjwai, where extremists have been intimidating and threatening the people," it added.

"This dynamic, complex operation demonstrates that insurgents do not operate freely in southern Afghanistan, and that Canadian and Afghan national security forces are fully capable of defeating this enemy wherever they operate. No sanctuary is too formidable or too remote. These extremists will be defeated at every encounter."

Female soldiers such as Capt. Goddard are considered to be an oddity by many Afghans. In provinces such as Kandahar, most women are almost always obliged to be shrouded in an all-encompassing burqa when they venture outside.

Gen. Raufi said he would prefer to see female soldiers relegated to back-up roles such as logistics and communications. They should not be on the front lines of battle, he said. "Men are better at fighting," he said.

Yet he praised Capt. Goddard for her sacrifice. "Canada should be proud of this woman. She came to our country to help the people and bring security."

RIP  :'(

 

[wildman0101]

rest in peace mam 
stand down 
                                                  scoty

 

[Kev T]

Thank you ma'am for all that you have done for Canada and Afghanistan. We will never forget your sacrifice. We will also never forget all our other troops serving overseas. God bless you all. 

 

[mechanic_chick]

RIP Ma'am. 

I send my deepest sympathies to her family who loved her greatly , her husband , her friends , and to the guns.

I know its a tough time here in Shilo right now.. I never had the pleasure of meeting her , saw her around numerous times at the Canex ( as well as the other soldiers fallen from CFB Shilo ) , she seemed to really love her job and do well at it. I hope some day I can have something close to Nichola's passion for the military.

 

[CSA]

R.I.P. 

 

[redleafjumper]

My condolences to Nichola's family and friends.  The loss of someone as special as her always makes one wonder what she might have gone on to do, given more time.

R.I.P. 

 

[The Bread Guy]

Shared in accordance with the "fair dealing" provisions, Section 29, of the Copyright Act - http://www.cb-cda.gc.ca/info/act-e.html#rid-33409

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2006/05/20/1589581-sun.html

Funeral Open to All Canadians
Pablo Fernandez, Calgary Sun, 20 Ma6 06

"With their daughter on her way home for the last time, the family of Capt. Nichola Goddard yesterday started the heart-wrenching process of planning her funeral.

Because the loss of their daughter is not theirs alone, Nichola's parents, Tim and Sally Goddard, said the Calgary ceremony will be open to the public and media.

Services for Nichola are set to be held at St. Barnabas Anglican Church, located at 1407 7 Ave. N.W., at 11 a.m. on May 26. "

"There have been so many people involved in Nichola's life and we have been so overwhelmed by the messages of support and sympathy we have received from across Canada and, indeed, the world," they said.

"It seems that not only we, her family, but all Canadians, the nation she died for, need to bring some closure to this awful story."

Nichola, 26, was killed Wednesday in a firefight 24 km west of Kandahar, where she was serving with NATO forces and conducting anti-Taliban operations.

Originally from Calgary but stationed at Canadian Forces Base Shilo, Man., Nichola was a forward observation officer with the 1st regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, guiding Howitzer shells and air cover in support of ground operations by Afghan security forces.

She was the first Canadian woman combat soldier to be killed in action.

The flag-draped casket carrying Nichola's body was put in a military transport plane at the Kandahar airfield yesterday in an emotional ramp ceremony attended by hundreds of Canadian and allied troops."

 

[Randy]

CTV televised the Ramp Ceremony in Trenton last night (approx 2345 hrs EST) from a camera outside the gate.

I wish I could have been standing on the tarmac ......  I am grateful the media showed the ceremony live. 

A Memorial Service will be held in CFB Shilo on Wednesday, 31 May 06 at 1300 hrs (local).  It will be held in the 1 RCHA Gun Park.

Randy


http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060503/goddard_repatriation_060520/20060521?hub=TopStories

Fallen soldier's remains arrive in Canada
Updated Sun. May. 21 2006 3:06 AM ET

CTV.ca News

The remains of Capt. Nichola Goddard have been repatriated to Canadian soil from Afghanistan.

The ceremony was originally set to take place at 4 p.m. EDT at CFB Trenton, but had been delayed until 11:45 p.m. due to a fuel leakage problem with the aircraft.

As with other dead soldiers who returned from Afghanistan, pallbearers removed her flag-draped coffin after it was brought out from inside the military aircraft at the airfield in eastern Ontario. A quarter-guard of soldiers presented arms as Goddard was carried by the pallbearers to a waiting hearse. A priest led the way.

CTV's news cameras showed Goddard's family members walk over to the hearse, carrying flowers in their hands. When they returned from the hearse,  the flowers were gone.

Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor and Gen. Rick Hillier, Canada's top soldier, were in attendance.

A bagpiper could be heard playing.

Goddard, 26, was killed Wednesday when she was struck by a rocket propelled grenade during an intense gun battle with suspected Taliban insurgents about 24 kilometres west of Kandahar city.

She is Canada's first female combat soldier to be killed in battle.

As in the repatriation ceremony for fallen soldiers Bombardier Myles Mansell, Lieut. William Turner, Cpl. Matt Dinning and Cpl. Randy Payne, media will be banned from the base .

During those ceremonies, CTV's remote TV truck used a camera on top of its mast to capture images of the event from outside the fence at CFB Trenton. This was done during Goddard's return too.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's controversial decision to ban reporters from the ceremonies is similar to one made by U.S. President George Bush, when the death toll in Iraq began to mount.

Critics have accused the government of trying to hide the human cost of the commitment to Afghanistan.

Goddard's parents said their daughter's funeral, to be held Friday in Calgary, would be open to the public.

"There have been so many people involved in Nichola's life and we have been so overwhelmed by the messages of support and sympathy we have received from across Canada and, indeed, the world," they said Friday.

"It seems that not only we, her family, but all Canadians, the nation she died for, need to bring some closure to this awful story."

Along with her husband Jason Beam (they were married in December) and her parents Jim and Sally Goddard, Nichola also leaves behind two sisters.

The funeral will take place in the same church were Nichola and Jason were married.

RMC remembers

For cadets at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont., Saturday was a day of mixed emotions.

While it was graduation day for the class of 2006, their jubilation at having made it was tempered by the reality that one of their predecessors was returning from Afghanistan the same day in a coffin.

The college's celebrations were interrupted by a moment of silence for Goddard, the artillery captain who had graduated four years earlier.

"Nichola was here when I was a first year, so for me, it hit a little harder," said Lieut. John Hagemeyer, one of Saturday's grads.

Both Hagemeyer and his girlfriend Dawn Dussault, an undergraduate, know their turn in Afghanistan will come, especially now that the mission has been extended by two years.

"I know I will be going over there, and it will be extremely difficult and demanding for myself," Dussault said.

But Dussault, Hagemeyer and others interviewed by CTV said they were prepared to follow in the footsteps of officers like Goddard.

Many instructors and top officers had recollections of her, including Gen. Rick Hillier, Canada's chief of defence staff.

"I had the opportunity to meet her myself, and this effervescent young lady, this bubbly young lady, was an incredible Canadian," he told reporters.

Of her family, he said: "Their hearts will be bursting with grief, but they'll also be bursting with pride."

With a report from CTV's Rosemary Thompson

 

[Green Lid]

RIP  Capt Goddard

 

[BernieSonSoonIn]

On behalf of The Wikdahl; ne: Wickdahl Family of Canada.
Our sincerest condolences go out to the Goddard Family and Friends, Comrades & Colleagues.
    Lest We Not Forget, Amen! RIP  Nicola!

 

[Cloud Cover]

Reproduced under the fair dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060503/afghanistan_goddard_060523/20060523?hub=Canada

Goddard to be buried at Nat'l Memorial Cemetery
Updated Tue. May. 23 2006 9:26 PM ET

Canadian Press

CALGARY -- Capt. Nichola Goddard, Canada's first female combat soldier to be killed in battle, will be buried at the National Memorial Cemetery in Ottawa, an honour which will draw attention to the little-known site.

The cemetery, within sight of the Parliament buildings, was established in 2001 at the urging of Gen. Romeo Dallaire, now a senator, who believed that Canada needed something equivalent to the American military burial grounds at Arlington, Va.

To date few soldiers killed in combat have been buried there, military historian Jack Granatstein said Tuesday.

"I think this is where people who are killed in action, killed overseas, should be buried,'' said Granatstein, former director of the Canadian War Museum.

Goddard, 26, died May 17 near Kandahar in a Taliban ambush. She was the 16th Canadian soldier to be killed in Afghanistan. All the others have been buried in their hometowns.

Her funeral will be held Friday at St. Barnabas Anglican Church in Calgary, where she married Jason Beam in 2002.

A spokesman for the Goddard family said the decision to bury her in Ottawa was made because of its central location, not because of her role in history. The Goddards lived in many corners of the globe and have friends and relatives scattered across Canada.

"Capt. Goddard felt very proud of her calling, she was very proud of her job and the people she worked with serving her country on operations,'' said Capt. Malcolm Day. "They also felt it would make a nice central location where all her colleagues, friends and acquaintances could visit the gravesite in the future.''

Details of Goddard's interment have not been worked out, but it is expected to take place in early June.

Any Canadian soldier who is killed in the line of duty or who has been honourably discharged may be buried at the National Memorial Cemetery.

Many Canadians are not aware of the site, but that could change as people seek out Goddard's grave, said veterans spokesman Cliff Chadderton.

Although Goddard did not want attention drawn to her gender, Canada is one of the few countries to allow women to fight in battle and that will draw attention to her tombstone.

"There will be more attention paid to this grave than others buried there,'' said Chadderton, chairman of the National Council of Veterans Associations, which represents 52 veterans groups.

"It will give (the cemetery) a standing it has never had before, and thank God for that,'' Chadderton said from Ottawa. "If we're going to have a military cemetery, let's have one. Let's not hide behind the bushes. If the circumstances are right, let's have a guard of honour, maybe even a permanent guard of honour.''

While there are cemeteries in Europe for Canadians killed in the First and Second World Wars, that has done little to foster awareness of this country's military contributions.

"Because we buried people where they fell, they're a long ways away and the assumption is somehow on the part of present-day Canadians that we've never fought a war,'' said Granatstein.

"The fact that graves are scattered all across Canada means that there is no central place that people go to pay homage to people who died defending the country. I think a national military cemetery will, over time, begin to do that.''

Goddard's body arrived at CFB Trenton in Ontario late Saturday night, where it was met by her family, as well as a full honour guard and a repatriation ceremony.

 

[Tilstonguy]

R.I.P Ma'am

 

[Randy]

A scholarship has been established and the goal is to raise $20,000 so that $1,000 can be awarded annually.

If friends so desire, memorial tributes may be made directly to:

The Captain Nichola K.S. Goddard Memorial Scholarship Fund
c/o The Faculty of Education
University of Calgary
2500 University Drive NW
Calgary, AB  T2N 1N4

 

[boots]

I wish I had had the chance to meet you. Goodbye Captain Goddard. May you rest in peace. Thank you for a job well done

 

[big bad john]

http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=44734418-4734-47d5-bfe0-07f5e5ae620e

Hundreds turn out to honour war hero
 
Sean Myers
Calgary Herald


Friday, May 26, 2006


In a closed casket made of maple and draped in a Canadian flag, the broken body of fallen soldier Nichola Goddard was hidden from view, but not from the hearts and minds of mourners who attended a prayer service Thursday.

Hundreds of friends and family, as well as people who never knew Capt. Goddard, visited the McInnis & Holloway Crowfoot Chapel for the informal service.

Some said they came because they had daughters of their own, others had family in the military and a few had suffered their own terrible losses and wanted to share the experience with Goddard's loved ones.

"I have a 26-year-old daughter myself and I buried an infant child," said Bryn Shilliday, who didn't know the Goddards before entering the chapel.

"I know a little bit about the loss they're feeling," said a teary-eyed Shilliday, a 50-year-old land surveyor.

Don Zabel, 78, a Korean War veteran, felt compelled to pay his respects.

Goddard is the first female Canadian to be killed in combat which has brought added attention to the death, but a soldier is a soldier, said Zabel.

"She did a dangerous job," he said.

"I served in a tank and let me tell you when that artillery is coming in over your head you're mighty glad someone is back there putting it in the right place.

"Today I'm free to do what I want to do, but that comes at a high price and there will be more of these before this is over."

Goddard was a forward observation officer with the A Battery, 1 Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, based in Shilo, Man.

She was killed on May 17 when Taliban insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades at her light-armoured vehicle, 24 kilometres east of Kandahar.

Two young women, who didn't want to give their names, were among many who flew in from Shilo for the service and today's funeral to be held at St. Barnabas Church at 10:30 a.m.

"Our husbands served with her, mine is over there right now," said the first woman.

"Mine is going to replace her," said the second woman, holding onto her composure.

"It's pretty emotional right now."

Avatar Singh and Mohinder Singh of the Dashmesh Cultural Centre attended to show the support of Calgary's Sikh community.

"As fellow Canadians, we came to show support for the good job she was doing," said Mohinder Singh.

The flag outside the chapel flew at half-mast and inside, Goddard's parents, Tim and Sally, her two sisters and her husband Jason Beam formed a receiving line.

"There's a lot of young soldiers in there," said Arthur Kent, a Calgary-based war correspondent who has done extensive reporting from Afghanistan and Iraq.

"These guys are having a hard time holding it together in there and Nichola's parents and the husband are just the picture of courage. Her little sisters are doing the best they can.

"I think Calgary weeps with them."

smyers@theherald.canwest.com

 

[big bad john]

Family, friends remember 'Care Bear of the heart'
Last Updated Fri, 26 May 2006 14:33:01 EDT
CBC News
Canada is divided into those who knew Capt. Nichola Goddard and those who wish they had known the slain Canadian soldier, her father said Friday during a moving tribute to his daughter.

 
Jason Beam, the husband of Capt. Nichola Goddard, wearing the Memorial Cross, follows the coffin of his wife into the church for her funeral service in Calgary. (Jeff McIntosh/CP) 


Tim Goddard delivered his emotional eulogy to friends, family and soldiers gathered at St. Barnabas Anglican Church in Calgary.

Nichola Goddard, 26, was serving as a forward artillery observer in Kandahar when she was killed on May 17 in a firefight with Taliban insurgents.



Her father said his daughter lived life through the motto of the Royal Military College: "Truth, Duty, Valour."

"She was a ball of energy, packing everything in," he said. "She was a Care Bear of the heart."



In a speech that drew laughter from people inside the church, her husband Jason Beam recalled their first conversation. "She introduced herself as Goddard and I said, 'I'm Beam.'

"I never thought that two-second conversation would develop into the fabulous relationship we had," he said.

"I'm going to miss your smile, your laugh and your company. But mostly I'm going to miss having my best friend to share life with."

Goddard's commanding officer in the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, the unit she served with in Shilo, Man., before her deployment to Afghanistan, described her as an outstanding soldier with "tireless passion."

"Nic, end of mission. Stand easy," said Maj. L.M. McGarry.

Father criticizes privacy policy

Tim Goddard took aim at Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision to ban the media from covering the arrivals of military coffins to Canada.

Harper says the decision was made to protect the privacy of families in mourning.

 
Members of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery carry the coffin of Capt. Nichola Goddard into the church for her funeral service in Calgary on Friday. (Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press) 
"I find it troubling the privacy decision means keeping the press outside the wire where the bad guys are," said Tim Goddard. "I would like to think Nic died to protect our freedoms, not restrict them."

The family requested the funeral be public and set up speakers outside the Calgary church for people to listen to the ceremony.

Her father also announced a memorial scholarship at the University of Calgary for students from Papua New Guinea, Afghanistan or First Nations, Inuit or Métis peoples.

Goddard was born in Papua New Guinea, raised in First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities and died in Afghanistan, her father said.

The University will match the family's donations, he said.

Goddard died after Canadian soldiers had been called in to support Afghan troops fighting insurgents in the Panjwai region, about 24 kilometres west of Kandahar. She was riding in a light armoured vehicle that was hit by rocket-propelled grenades.

Her final resting place will be the National Memorial Cemetery in Ottawa, where she is likely to be interred early next month.

 

[17thRecceSgt]

As I sit here and listen to her husbands word at the funeral on CPAC, and the words of her father, I am truly sad that I never had the opportunity to meet this great Canadian, this great Officer, and a dedicated soldier.

I know that I, as well as Hot Lips, will endeavor to serve this great country as honourably as she did.



Stand Easy Ma'am...Stand...easy. 

 

[big bad john]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com//servlet/story/LAC.20060527.BLATCHFORD27/TPStory/National/columnists

Daughter of Canada swaddled in the flag for her last journey

CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD

E-mail Christie Blatchford | Read Bio | Latest Columns
CALGARY -- Captain Nichola Goddard was always a child of the great outdoors, and in so many of the pictures that were part of the video tribute played at her funeral yesterday, she was shown by shining lakes, in vast fields of snow, dwarfed under one slice of big northern sky or another and necessarily often squinting into the sun or wearing dark glasses.

Until she was killed in action last week -- on her 105th day in Afghanistan as a FOO, or Forward Observation Officer, with the 1st Regiment of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery -- it was only her intimates who knew that the young woman herself was as luminous as all that.

But as one of Capt. Goddard's friends recently told her father Tim, "Canada has now been divided into two groups of people -- those who knew you, and those who wish they had. There could be no better epitaph."

Dr. Goddard, an associate dean in the faculty of education at the University of Calgary, made the remark in a tender eulogy to the first born of his and Sally Goddard's three daughters before an overflow crowd of about 800 at St. Barnabas Anglican Church here.

Just three Christmases ago, Capt. Goddard walked down the same worn red-and-cream tile aisle of the pretty church for her marriage to Jason (Jay) Beam, her sweet-faced young husband.

They met, a composed but tremulous Mr. Beam remembered in his tribute, eight years ago in their first week of basic training at Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu near Montreal.

Part of the ritual had the recruits learning how to assemble the bits of their army kit; for instance, they would be sent running down the long halls to retrieve their boots and then be shown how to lace them, and it was in the course of these mad dashes that Capt. Goddard introduced herself.

"Goddard," she said.

"I'm Beam," he replied, never dreaming that in those few words they were launching "the fabulous relationship we had."

Indeed, had it been left to Mr. Beam, obtuse in the way of young men to the clues that a woman was interested in him, there might have been no relationship.

When the rookies finally got a weekend off, and he was unlucky enough to have pulled duty on the base, everyone but Capt. Goddard went off to the mall. She stayed behind; hmmm, he thought. She dropped several other unsubtle clues, "none of which I picked up on."

Finally, Capt. Goddard, with trademark forthrightness, sat Mr. Beam down and "brought up the idea of us dating."

As Dr. Goddard put it, "Dear Jay . . . she knew right away he was the one. Jay was her choice . . . And in Jason she saw the poised, thoughtful, supportive and articulate young man the whole world has seen these last few terrible days. She loved you so much Jay."

When Mr. Beam finished his eulogy, he put two fingers to his lips and then placed the kiss on Capt. Goddard's casket; when her father finished speaking, he put a hand on the same spot; when the acting commanding officer of 1RCHA, Major Liam McGarry, finished his, he said, "Nic, end of mission. Stand easy."

When she died instantly in an ambush near Kandahar, she was but 15 days into her 27th year on the planet, a good many corners of which she had explored either as a child with her itinerant family or as an officer.

If, as with many of her fellow soldiers, Capt. Goddard was as steadfast and settled as someone twice her age on the big life questions -- sure of herself in family, marriage, church, duty and her own beliefs -- she remained playful, spontaneous and remarkably open to the people and experiences that Afghanistan offered her.

She wrote lengthy, near-poetic letters home, to her family, of course, and friends, and to the St. Barnabas congregation, who had them compiled in a book yesterday inside the front doors.

"The longer that we are in theatre and the more that we interact with the Afghan people, the more I feel that we are really serving a purpose here," she wrote on March 4. "I think these people, through the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police, are trying to achieve something that we in Canada have long since taken for granted . . . They lay down their lives daily to try to seize something that is so idealistic it is almost impossible to define. . ."

That something was what Capt. Goddard called "the awesome power of a democratic government," and while she agreed that "it is easy to poke holes in that statement, and say that the system is corrupt or that violence and poverty make people easy targets for our own agendas . . . we have to start somewhere."

She was a thinking soldier. When, for instance, shortly after her unit arrived at Kandahar Air Field, there was talk of moving the few women to a separate tent. Capt. Goddard disagreed, thought they'd "taken a benign situation and created a fantasy," and wrote to her CO, Lieutenant-Colonel Ian Hope.

He replied, with an explanation (the segregation was meant mostly to accommodate female members of the press) and a compromise -- the women would stay in the same tent, but in an area sectioned off by a tarp. Capt. Goddard was happy with that: "Girls generally smell better than guys" anyway.

In this family of storytellers, it was plain that father and daughter had heated discussions. Just last Christmas, he said, they discussed the role of the military in places like Afghanistan, Iraq and Darfur. Capt. Goddard subscribed to the view that military force is required to permit the reconstruction of civil society; Dr. Goddard argued that education is the key to development for the poor and oppressed.

"Quick as a flash," he said, "she punctured my professorial balloon. 'You can't do that when the bad guys run things, Dad,' she said, 'they just shoot you. You have to have peace and good government in order for the rest to happen. I do what I do so you can do what you do.'

"As always," Dr. Goddard said with his enormous smile, so like his girl's, "she was right. But through her death in combat, killed by people who were apparently hiding in or near a school, perhaps we can bring these two elements together."

In Capt. Goddard's name, the family has established an endowed scholarship at the University of Calgary open to applicants from three groups -- citizens of Papua New Guinea, where Capt. Goddard came into the world as a scrawny, less-than-four-pound baby; Indian, Inuit or Métis peoples of Canada, in whose company she spent her formative years, and citizens of Afghanistan, the place of her death.

Among the last words the gentle, intellectual Dr. Goddard offered were for his child's Canadian and Afghan comrades overseas, "who responded to her death with great vigour and imposed an almost biblical wrath on those who were responsible for it. We thank you for that."

Then he quoted, rather fiercely, the words on the cap badge of the Artillery beret: Quo fas et gloria ducunt, Latin for "Whither right and glory lead."

Capt. Goddard left that church as she entered it, her casket all wrapped up tight in the Canadian flag, swaddled as only a daughter of Canada should be.

 

[big bad john]

The article below mentions that Capt. Goddard's graveside service will be on the 7th of June.  Does anyone know if it is open to the public?


http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2006/03/17/pf-1492973.html

Last respects for fallen soldier

By SCOTT EDMONDS


CFB SHILO, Man. (CP) - On a warm spring day, in a cavernous military building, on a quiet little Canadian Forces base far from the world's hotspots, comrades of Capt. Nichola Goddard gathered Wednesday to say goodbye.

Goddard, 26, who always seems to be smiling in her photographs, was killed May 17 in Afghanistan by enemy shrapnel, making her the first Canadian first female combat soldier to die in battle.

This was the second of three memorial services planned for the officer. The first, a family memorial in Calgary, was held last Friday. The last, a graveside ceremony at a military cemetery in Ottawa, is scheduled for June 7.

At Shilo, the men and women she served with got their chance to remember Nick, as they called her, her smile, her warmth and her kindness. There were about 600 in the room, more than half wearing the green, camouflage uniforms of her regiment. Dignitaries included Lt.-Gov. John Harvard and Brig.-Gen. Tim Grant.

Maj. Liam McGarry, acting commanding officer of the First Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, and Capt. Andrew Charchuk, a fellow officer and friend, delivered soldiers' eulogies in the room decorated with the tools of their trade - pieces of artillery and an armoured vehicle.

"It is up to the regiment now to ensure her sacrifice will never be forgotten," said McGarry, standing at podium obscured by a portrait of the young captain, bracketed by two small silver cannons.

"Our sadness is only tempered by our pride in Captain Goddard -our pride in the soldier and leader that she was, and in the memories she leaves behind. Nick, end of mission, stand easy."

Charchuk, who had to pause briefly to get his voice under control, remembered her as a friend who always went out of her way to look after others.

"Nick died too young, but I can take solace in knowing that she died doing what she wanted to do," he said.

She had only been promoted from lieutenant to captain in April 2005, and immediately embarked on training to become a forward observation officer, the position she was in when she was killed. She was the 16th Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan.

Goddard's family, including her husband Jason Beam, also a former officer, was present for the memorial. But they took no part and declined to give interviews.

Her father Tim Goddard used the Calgary memorial service to criticize the federal government's decision not to let journalists cover the return of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan. Since then, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said the policy will change and, if families have no objections, such events may be covered.

There has also been a tussle in the House of Commons over whether what Canada is involved in Afghanistan is a war. The government says it is not.

That news must have missed Armed Forces Padre Dwayne Boss.

"Perhaps for some, her death overseas in this war we are fighting, has created many questions . . . about our involvement in Afghanistan. Was her death worth the risk? Would I substitute myself for her?"

But he provided the answers to those questions, from a soldier's point of view.

"We have to believe that there is a sense of purpose for us being there, or else we might as well take off our uniforms and go home."

 

[big bad john]

After checking with the Director Casualty Support Administration at The National Military Cemetery I have found that Capt. Goddard family has no objections to those who wish to pay their respects at the gravesite.  7 June.