CALGARY — As Canada’s military serving in Afghanistan prepare to mark Remembrance Day to honour their country’s fallen, Calgary’s latest soldier killed in combat won’t be far from mind.
Sapper Steven Marshall, 24, will be laid to rest Tuesday at a funeral service in Calgary.
Marshall was killed Oct. 30 by a roadside bomb, becoming Canada’s 133rd soldier — and the sixth Calgarian — to die during the Afghan mission.
Marshall’s casket arrived in Calgary Sunday afternoon and was escorted by soldiers and police officers from the airport to Pierson’s Funeral Home.
On Saturday, hockey fans at the Pengrowth Saddledome paused in a moment of silence to honour Marshall before his beloved team, the Calgary Flames, faced off against the New York Rangers.
Marshall was a member of the 1 Combat Engineer Regiment based in Edmonton and serving as a member of the Task Force 309 Battle Group.
Capt. Michael ter Kuile, a veteran police officer, says on Remembrance Day he will reflect and honour his friend Marshall, whom he described as a “classic Canadian hero.”
“Their memory and the memory of all of those who have been taken from us are never far from our thoughts,” he said in an email correspondence to the Calgary Sun from Kandahar.