Driving along the “Highway of Heroes.”
What a sight! Over the past week, we have been telling you on the 570 Morning News about Premier McGuinty’s plan to name a stretch of Highway 401 the “Highway of Heroes.” The move would acknowledge and honour Canadian soldiers killed in the war in Afghanistan, soldiers whose flag-draped coffins are loaded into hearses at CFB Trenton upon arrival from over there, and then driven along the 401 for the long ride to Toronto for autopsy.
And now, I have seen the sad and moving procession for myself.
I was driving home with my two daughters on Sunday from my parents’ home in Cobourg on a gloriously sunny afternoon, the late-day sun beaming down low in behind hundreds of people who had gathered on every overpass from Trenton to Pickering in anticipation of the passing by of two hearses carrying the bodies of the latest two Canadian soldiers to be killed in Afghanistan: Christian Duschesne and Mario Mercier.
At every overpass, tall proud firefighters in dress uniform stood atop gleaming red fire pumpers, silhouetted by the sun. Ordinary citizens gathered at each bridge, crowding in to greet the fallen young men. Canadian flags were hung. At the side of the road, police officers had taken time out of their day off along with groups of war vets to pay their respects. There was the occasional wave to the cars below, but this was no celebration. This was no excuse to be part of something exciting. This was a true demonstration of support for the fallen soldiers and of pride in the country. And it was powerful to witness.
Suddenly, about 45 minutes into my drive, I saw the flashing lights of a police escort in the far left lane in my rear view. Following behind the police cruisers were two sparkling shiny black hearses - one behind the other - the coffins inside visible as they passed by. “There they are, girls”, I said as we glanced to our left in silence. My oldest daugther - 10-year old Lucy - saluted the hearses as they passed by, and a white-gloved military official in the passenger seat saluted her back.
Seeing the coffins, and knowing that inside of each was a man who only a few days earlier had been on the ground halfway across the world, made the war over there seem more real to me. How much more real must it have felt to the wives and children, mothers and fathers who followed close behind the hearses in accompanying black limousines?
In this modern age of cynicism, skepticism and detachment, it was comforting to see hundreds of ordinary Canadians come together, moved to act by what they felt was the right thing to do.