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The remains of a soldier killed in a grass fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta last month have returned to British Columbia, with dozens of police officers, firefighters and others gathering to pay their respects.
A motorcade escorted the hearse carrying Pte. Aidan Goulding’s remains from the Vancouver airport to a funeral home in New Westminster on Wednesday.
Police and firefighters stood at attention and saluted as the hearse passed beneath a large Canadian flag strung over the road using fire truck ladders.
Emergency personnel and the public salute as the remains of Pte. Aidan Goulding pass underneath a Canadian flag. (Ethan Cairns/CBC)
Sgt. Maj. Ray Gardner from the Vancouver Police Department was among those who lined the route to honour the 23-year-old soldier from North Vancouver.
Gardner, a veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces, shared his deepest condolences for Goulding’s family and said the young soldier “mattered to the country.”
“It’s so important that they can at least take that with them, that we all feel deeply, deeply affected,” he said.
“I know that all of Canada is feeling heartbroken about what happened,” Gardner said.
Pte. Aidan Goulding, from 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, was one of four soldiers killed in the fire. (Submitted by Sonia Monk)
Goulding was among four soldiers killed in the blaze that overwhelmed a live-fire training exercise at Wainwright on Oct. 17.
The others killed were: Pte. Hayden Lykkemark, 19, of Langley, B.C.; Sgt. Morgan Wong, 26, of Edmonton; and Pte. Shaun Farrell, 23, from Prince Albert, Sask.
Farrell’s funeral was held in his hometown on Wednesday, attended by Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and members of Farrell’s unit.
Fire Chief Jim Wishlove from Richmond Fire-Rescue said first responders had come from across Metro Vancouver to pay their respects to Goulding and the other soldiers who died, while showing support for their families.
“We’re hurting with them today,” he said.
“It brings it to light for us how incredibly dangerous all of these jobs are, and particularly the Armed Forces.
“These people are serving their communities, serving Canada.”
Brennan MacLachlan, a reservist with the Canadian Armed Forces and the emergency programs manager for the City of Richmond, said no words could assuage the grief the families of the soldiers who died are feeling.
“But we stand with them,” he said, after the motorcade carrying Goulding’s remains passed by.
“It’s a weight that we all carry.”
