OTTAWA (CP) - It has been almost 12 years since Brian and Carol Isfeld lost their middle son Mark in the service of the Canadian military, and they remember well the lead item on newscasts that June day: O.J. Simpson's white Bronco being chased down a Los Angeles freeway.
"Our son's death was sort of an afterthought on the evening news," Brian Isfeld said Friday, sitting in a quiet alcove at Rideau Hall.
"Thirty seconds," said Carol, without rancour.
Master-Cpl. Mark Isfeld died at age 31 clearing a minefield in Croatia during a Canadian peacekeeping mission. His parents vowed he would not be forgotten, and he hasn't been.
The personable member of Chiliwack, B.C.'s Combat Engineer Regiment had taken to giving small, home-knitted dolls made by his mother to children in the war-wracked Balkan countryside.
On Friday, Brian and Carol of Courtenay, B.C., were awarded the Meritorious Service Medal by Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean for their work in continuing to distribute "Izzy Dolls" to children - via Canadian soldiers and aid workers - from Eritrea and Afghanistan to Croatia and Peru.
"You are men and women of conviction, action and passion," Jean told the 31 assembled recipients, including the Isfelds.
"Rather than closing in on yourselves, you transformed a grief, a shock, a reality, a cause into a source of hope, for which we are all grateful."
Izzy Dolls, made of wool and no more than 15 centimetres long, are now being made by volunteer groups across the country. Not only do soldiers pack them in their kit as goodwill tokens, aid groups use them as packing material around fragile shipments to strife-torn regions. The dolls are then given to orphaned or destitute kids.
"It's something physical to hold onto where they may have lost everything," said Carol Isfeld.
"Each of the (soldiers) we've spoken to says it gives them a reason to contact a child. They're collecting the same little smiles that Mark got and they go away feeling a whole lot better than when they got there. It gives them some comfort."
Despite the low-key news coverage in June 1994, Mark Isfeld's death was hauntingly public.
Journalist and documentary filmmaker Garth Pritchard had been filming in Croatia and had befriended the outgoing master corporal.
"Mark was so proud," said his mother.
"He phoned home and said, 'Watch for me mama, I'll be famous.' Famous last words.
"So when they asked permission, after he had died, please could they cover this thing to the end, they had our permission to be at the funeral and to wrap up the documentary that way."
Pritchard's film, Price of Duty, was the result.
The experience gave the parents a unique vantage point on the current debate about media coverage of military fatalities.
The Conservative government closed the Trenton air base to reporters when the bodies of four young soldiers killed in Afghanistan were returned to Canada earlier this week.
The decision sparked sharp debate, pro and con, even within military circles.
Brian Isfeld, who himself spent more than 30 years in the RCAF before retiring, said grieving is intensely personal and he could not speak for any other parent or family member.
"For myself, if it was me again - God forbid - I would say let them, let (the media) be there."
He believes there is no winning over either side in a debate of such emotional closeness.
"When you have a loss, you either want to forget it or else you want to . . . ."
"Dive right in there," said Carol, finishing her husband's sentence.
"Make sure that it's remembered," added Brian. "Both ways are correct for the individual who's there.
"We made the resolution that this was going to be one young soldier that wasn't going to be forgotten and worked towards that. Thirteen years later, they're still talking about Mark Isfeld."
©The Canadian Press, 2006
http://start.shaw.ca/start/enCA/News/NationalNewsArticle.htm?src=n042863A.xml
http://www.isfeldbc.com/
SO he was of Viking tradition as well.
Now he was a brave soldier and i am glad that after death that his legacy and his parents can still make children happy with Izzy dolls. A sad but wonderful story at the same time.
"Our son's death was sort of an afterthought on the evening news," Brian Isfeld said Friday, sitting in a quiet alcove at Rideau Hall.
"Thirty seconds," said Carol, without rancour.
Master-Cpl. Mark Isfeld died at age 31 clearing a minefield in Croatia during a Canadian peacekeeping mission. His parents vowed he would not be forgotten, and he hasn't been.
The personable member of Chiliwack, B.C.'s Combat Engineer Regiment had taken to giving small, home-knitted dolls made by his mother to children in the war-wracked Balkan countryside.
On Friday, Brian and Carol of Courtenay, B.C., were awarded the Meritorious Service Medal by Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean for their work in continuing to distribute "Izzy Dolls" to children - via Canadian soldiers and aid workers - from Eritrea and Afghanistan to Croatia and Peru.
"You are men and women of conviction, action and passion," Jean told the 31 assembled recipients, including the Isfelds.
"Rather than closing in on yourselves, you transformed a grief, a shock, a reality, a cause into a source of hope, for which we are all grateful."
Izzy Dolls, made of wool and no more than 15 centimetres long, are now being made by volunteer groups across the country. Not only do soldiers pack them in their kit as goodwill tokens, aid groups use them as packing material around fragile shipments to strife-torn regions. The dolls are then given to orphaned or destitute kids.
"It's something physical to hold onto where they may have lost everything," said Carol Isfeld.
"Each of the (soldiers) we've spoken to says it gives them a reason to contact a child. They're collecting the same little smiles that Mark got and they go away feeling a whole lot better than when they got there. It gives them some comfort."
Despite the low-key news coverage in June 1994, Mark Isfeld's death was hauntingly public.
Journalist and documentary filmmaker Garth Pritchard had been filming in Croatia and had befriended the outgoing master corporal.
"Mark was so proud," said his mother.
"He phoned home and said, 'Watch for me mama, I'll be famous.' Famous last words.
"So when they asked permission, after he had died, please could they cover this thing to the end, they had our permission to be at the funeral and to wrap up the documentary that way."
Pritchard's film, Price of Duty, was the result.
The experience gave the parents a unique vantage point on the current debate about media coverage of military fatalities.
The Conservative government closed the Trenton air base to reporters when the bodies of four young soldiers killed in Afghanistan were returned to Canada earlier this week.
The decision sparked sharp debate, pro and con, even within military circles.
Brian Isfeld, who himself spent more than 30 years in the RCAF before retiring, said grieving is intensely personal and he could not speak for any other parent or family member.
"For myself, if it was me again - God forbid - I would say let them, let (the media) be there."
He believes there is no winning over either side in a debate of such emotional closeness.
"When you have a loss, you either want to forget it or else you want to . . . ."
"Dive right in there," said Carol, finishing her husband's sentence.
"Make sure that it's remembered," added Brian. "Both ways are correct for the individual who's there.
"We made the resolution that this was going to be one young soldier that wasn't going to be forgotten and worked towards that. Thirteen years later, they're still talking about Mark Isfeld."
©The Canadian Press, 2006
http://start.shaw.ca/start/enCA/News/NationalNewsArticle.htm?src=n042863A.xml
http://www.isfeldbc.com/
SO he was of Viking tradition as well.
Now he was a brave soldier and i am glad that after death that his legacy and his parents can still make children happy with Izzy dolls. A sad but wonderful story at the same time.
