It meant more to me last year. First, to honour those who had come before me (both from a historical sense and recent) and secondly, as an acquaintance was one of those who had been killed while serving.

Sapper Chris Holopina (Coralici was named after him) died in a vehicle accidnet (Bison roled over) in Bosnia during IFOR. I believe they had been responding to a possible mine incident that turned out to be false. Not a "heroic" way to dieing but it has happened to many Canadian soldiers serving in the Balkans.

Sapper Chris Holopina was originally a gunner, prior to joining the Regular Force, out of the 13 Fd Bty, 26 RCA in Portage La Prairie. I remember as a big kid as he was probably only 17 or 18 when I put him through QL2. I seem to recall he was a good worker and well regarded by most of us. He stayed with the unit for a couple of years and served in Cyprus with 1 RCHA in 1992/93. He must have joined the Regular Force in 1995 or so.

Anyway, everytime I went past his memorial on route Bluebird I always thought of him 10 or 11 years previously. Happy and young with his whole life in front of him. It came to an end in a country a kid from a small town in Manitoba had probably never heard of before.

Lest we forget the sacrifices of our fathers and friends.