The Torch: 2009 Vimy Award from the Conference of Defence Associations Institute (II)

Further to this post, from Christie Blatchford of the Globe and Mail:

Great leaders don't always come from the top
Warrant Officer's Vimy Award shows the level of courage and commitment that can come from the ranks, not just the top brass

...
Full disclosure: WO MacDonald, now 36, is a friend. We first met in Kandahar in 2006 and he, along with his captain, Jon Hamilton, and their commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Ian Hope [now full colonel, see his article listed here, more here and here] , were the three leading figures in my [award-winning] book, Fifteen Days, which told the story of the 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, and their six-month tour in southern Afghanistan.

WO MacDonald is also the recipient of the Star of Military Valour, for what the award's citation described this way: “On August 3, 2006, amidst chaos and under sustained and intense enemy fire in Afghanistan, Warrant Officer MacDonald, then sergeant, selflessly and repeatedly exposed himself to great peril in order to assist his wounded comrades.”

That is necessarily a sterile version of what actually happened that terrible day, when in the Panjwaii district, trying to take what was known as the White School, 14 soldiers found themselves seriously outnumbered, pinned down and under attack by a large group of Taliban.
At the nadir of the battle, with four Canadians already injured and one dead – Corporal Chris Reid, mortally wounded in a bomb blast – the soldiers were trapped in the school's outbuildings when a lone rocket-propelled grenade tore into one of them, killing Corporal Bryce Keller, Private Kevin Dallaire and Sergeant Vaughan Ingram, and wounding four others, including Capt. Hamilton.

He got on the radio and his message was dire: “If you don't get LAVs [light armoured vehicles] in here now, we're all gonna die!”

With machine-gun fire and RPGs raining down on him, WO MacDonald made a run for it. “As I came around the corner,” he said later, “I was assaulted by what I saw. Three soldiers appeared dead, and several more were writhing in agony from their multiple injuries. Those that were not hit by enemy fire were either hysterical or unable to do anything but stare at me in disbelief and shock.” Only Capt. Hamilton, his right foot pouring blood, was in control.

WO MacDonald apologized, of course, for not getting there sooner; Capt. Hamilton looked him in the eyes and said, “Don't worry about it, Will. I knew you'd come for me.”

And it was for that conduct – courage while under withering fire, not to mention the utter steadfastness that allowed Capt. Hamilton to know Willy would not let him down – that WO MacDonald was awarded his Star of Military Valour and in part why he received the latest honour, the Vimy Award.
The Vimy, inaugurated in 1991, is awarded every year to “one Canadian who has made a significant and outstanding contribution to the defence and security of our nation and the preservation of our democratic values.” Past distinguished winners include a number of generals, including former chief of defence staff Rick Hillier, Major-General Lewis MacKenzie and former air commodore Len Birchall.

But never before has an NCO, a non-commissioned officer, won the Vimy, and that WO MacDonald did is further recognition that the greatest leaders aren't necessarily officers (though many are), and might just as often come from the ranks.

Just as WO MacDonald aced just about every course he took as a soldier before Afghanistan, so has he continued to distinguish himself since getting back to Canada, speaking about his experiences at high schools and military gatherings. His personnel file is replete with letters of appreciation...