Blow out you bugles

The names of five of the six Canadian soldiers killed yesterday have been released:

• Captain Matthew Johnathan Dawe, 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton, Alta.;


• Master Corporal Colin Bason, a reservist from The Royal Westminster Regiment based in New Westminster, B.C.;


• Corporal Cole Bartsch, 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton, Alta.;


• Private Lane Watkins, 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton, Alta.;


• Corporal Jordan Anderson, 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton, Alta.

I didn't know any of these fine men personally, but I was especially saddened to see the name of Matt Dawe among those killed. Matt's father, Peter, is well-known among the RMC alumni, and many of us followed Matt and his brothers' careers through the glimpses we received in the RMC Club of Canada periodical Veritas.

The wider public in Kingston were also given a window into the Dawe family's extraordinary contribution to Canada's defence in a recent article in the Whig-Standard:

Peter Dawe is technically no longer a soldier, but he knows what his son is going through.

Dawe, a retired Kingston lieutenant-colonel, is the proud father of Matthew Dawe, 27, the commanding officer of the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infant, C company.

The junior Dawe, midway through a tour of Afghanistan, was in charge of Pte. Joel Wiebe, Sgt. Christos Karigiannis and Cpl. Stephen Bouzane when their unarmoured Gator vehicle was blasted by a roadside bomb last Wednesday. All three were killed.

The attack was unexpected. Afghanistan's Panjwaii Valley, where Canadian troops had allegedly established sustained peace with locals, was considered a safe place. The bomb struck the all-terrain vehicle while it was travelling between checkpoints.

"You question your competence. You question your procedures. You look sideways. You wonder if perhaps you've been too trustful of the villagers," said Dawe in an interview with the Whig.

Two of Dawe's other sons, Peter S. Dawe and J. Philip Dawe, have also served with the 3rd battalion PPCLI, based in Edmonton. They were in Kandahar on April 17, 2002, when a friendly fire incident killed four A Company PPCLI soldiers.

The Dawes have become a well-known military family in Kingston and Peter Dawe wants to let all who've inquired about Matthew in the wake of the fatalities that he is OK.

"So many people have asked," Dawe said. "Ever since the friendly fire, people ask about them all the time."

Father and son have spent more time on the phone than usual since the bombing. Deployed troops are allowed one phone call home on a satellite phone after fatal incidents to let family know they're all right, but Matthew Dawe has been leaning on his dad for support in recent days.

Above relief and sadness, Dawe says his son is feeling anger more than anything else. The place where he lost three men was a place where many thought a victory had taken place, where the lives of locals had taken a significant turn for the best.

But more than losing men, the troops have lost some hope, Dawe claims.

"We're supposed to be helping, but I don't know how you can do that when they're sneaking in at night and planting bombs," he said. "They're in around us. It doesn't take many traitors' eyes to figure it out. If that's paranoia, so be it."

Matt Dawe, who graduated as the top cadet from his RMC class of 2004, had just returned to Afghanistan from a three-week vacation in Portugal with his wife, Tara, and young son Lucas. His tour will finish mid-August.

My sincerest condolences to the family and friends of all the deceased, but particularly to the Dawes and to Matt's extended military family. Many mourn with you.

Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead!
There's none of these so lonely and poor of old,
But, dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold.

Update: Rosie DiManno pays her respects.

Upperdate: The sixth soldier's name has been released: Captain Jefferson Francis, 1st Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, based in Shilo, Man.

We mourn them all.