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/CP)
Mourners gather for Goddard Funeral.
Fri, 26 May 2006
CBC.ca
Excerpt:
Family and friends gathered at a Calgary church for the funeral of Capt. Nichola Goddard, the 16th Canadian soldier to be killed while on duty in Afghanistan.
Goddard, 26, was serving as a forward artillery observer stationed in Kandahar when she was killed on May 17 in a firefight with Taliban insurgents.
Canadian soldiers had been called in to support Afghan troops fighting insurgents in the Panjwai region, about 24 kilometres west of Kandahar. Goddard was riding in a light armoured vehicle that was hit by rocket-propelled grenades.
Her coffin arrived on a gun carriage accompanied by a guard of honour and honourary pallbearers at St. Barnabas Anglican in Calgary, the same church in which she was married less than four years ago.
A friend of the family said Goddard's parents and her husband Jason Beam wanted the funeral to be public.
Goddard's final resting place will be the National Memorial Cemetery in Ottawa, where she is likely to be interred early next month.
The first female Canadian combat soldier to die in action, Goddard was the 16th Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan since 2002. A Canadian diplomat has also been killed.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/05/26/goddard-funeral.html
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God Bless Capt. Nichola Goddard, her family and friends. Her name will rest along side the list of Canada's Heroes who gave the ultimate sacrifice..