A Lacombe man will be holding on tight to his carry on-baggage today as he boards a flight to Winnipeg, set to hand deliver more than 370 letters of nomination to see Candace Greff as the 2017 National Silver Cross Mother.
The Silver Cross is awarded to mothers and widows of Canadian soldiers who died on active duty and the National Silver Cross Mother is chosen annually by the Royal Canadian Legion to represent the mothers of Canada at the National Remembrance Day Ceremony in Ottawa by laying a wreath at the base of the National War Memorial.
Candace lost her son Master Corporal Byron Greff in Afghanistan in the fall of 2011, he was the last Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan.
Arnie MacAskill launched a letter writing campaign last month in hopes of getting the community behind his nomination, and with a goal of collecting 100 letters, he's been blown away by the response.
“The passion and the love for the Greff family and the love for Candace is just incredible, just incredible, brings a tear to your eye some of these letters. Letter’s passionate like Bryce Talsma’s, letter from the Minister of Defence, and the Commanding Officer of the PPCLI Brigadier-General S.C. Hetherington was a really nice one to get”.
MasAskill says he's received letters from as far away as Nova Scotia, and he's been really touched.
“I knew our community was warm and caring anyway and just to get these letters proves that. You know I wanted to do this for Candace, for the town and what not, but it’s turned out that it’s really rewarding for me as well just getting these letters, and having the opportunity to read them. I just got 100+ letters from Lacombe Comp and the kids up there, man, really heartfelt letters they’ve written”.
He's hand delivering those letters to Danny Martin this weekend; he's the Legion Dominion Command, responsible for nominations.
Master Corporal Byron Greff - 158th Canadian Soldier killed in Afghanistan from Lacombe
Tue, Apr 16, 4:00 PM
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