Canadian Soldier-heroes to get medals

Soldier-heroes to get medals
The Canadian Press - OTTAWA

OTTAWA — Five members of combat team who fought their way out of an ambush in Afghanistan last spring are among 11 soldiers slated to get heroism medals from Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean.

Two Stars of Military Valour - the country's second-highest award for gallantry under fire - and three Medals of Military Valour are being presented for a single action last spring.

On June 4, a joint Canadian-Afghan patrol ran into a three-sided Taliban ambush in Zhari district, west of Kandahar.

The unit was pinned down under heavy, sustained fire by militants who stubbornly clung to small patches of desert in the face of a Canadian operation to sweep them from the volatile region.

As bullets whipped around him, Capt. Jonathan Snyder rallied the troops to return fire and prodded Afghan soldiers to rescue wounded comrades lying exposed on open ground.

Fellow Canadians remembered Snyder declaring in the din of battle: "No one gets left behind!"

Cpl. James Ball led a two-man team across broken ground to find a way out of the ambush, while Capt. Robert Peel, Cpl. Steven Bancarz and Cpl. Cary Baker stood their ground to cover the unit's retreat.

Ball and Snyder have been awarded Stars of Military Valour, while Peel, Bancarz and Baker receive Medals of Military Valour.

Snyder died in a freak accident a few days after the ambush, falling into an open well during a night patrol.

As a tribute to his leadership and courage, Afghan soldiers turned up, along with two thousand NATO soldiers, at Snyder's ramp ceremony, where his body was repatriated to Canada.

The soldier's grief-stricken father, David Snyder, criticized the Afghan mission, telling reporters at the time that "war is stupid."

A Star of Military Valour will also be presented to Sgt. William MacDonald
Medal of Military Valour, Maj. Joseph Antoine Abboud,Cpl. Alexandre Dion, Master Cpl. Christopher Harding, Warrant Officer Tod Hopkin and Cpl. Bryce Keller posthumously