Highway of Heroes

Highway of Heroes
Lt. Andrew Nuttall
Monday December 28,2009

Monday, on my way back to Peterborough from the airport and downtown Toronto, I was on the Don Valley Parkway to the 401 and noticed emergency vehicles on the overpasses. I knew of the special security measures at the airport and wondered if there was some other issue that I was not aware of.

While driving east on the 401 east every overpass had emergency vehicles with their lights flashing. Glancing in my rearview mirror, I saw people on all the overpasses with Canadian flags and banners. I then remembered that the latest causality of the war in Afghanistan, Lt. Andrew Nuttall, 30, of Prince Rupert, B.C was being flown into Trenton. I was on the High way of Heroes.

There would be a procession taking him to Toronto from Trenton. All these people had come out in the cold winter weather to honour him. As I saw the procession coming towards me in the westbound lanes, by coincidence or design, the traffic I was in, heading east slowed down to 10 km, no one was cutting in an out, no one was in a hurry anymore. The procession, taking up all 3 lanes of the 401 westbound, was lead by 2 police cars, followed by the hearse, 2 stretch limos and more police cars. It was a very poignant moment. I felt fortunate to witness the event.

From CBC.ca December 28,2009:
The body of the latest Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan arrived at Canadian Forces Base Trenton in eastern Ontario on Monday.
Lt. Andrew Nuttall, 30, of Prince Rupert, B.C., was killed Wednesday by a roadside bomb during a routine foot patrol in the Panjwaii district of southern Afghanistan.
Dignitaries on hand to pay their respects included Governor General Michaëlle Jean, Defence Minister Peter MacKay and Gen. Walt Natynczyk, the chief of defence staff.
About 60 people attended the repatriation ceremony, including Nuttall's parents, Richard and Jane Nuttall, who flew from Victoria. The family plans to hold a funeral at a later date in Victoria.
Nuttall was a member of 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton.
The blast that killed him and an Afghan soldier marked a sudden end to a period of relative calm in the wake of Afghanistan's traditional fighting season.
Since 2002, the Afghanistan mission has claimed the lives of 134 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat.