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Corporal Albert Storm C.D memorial 2008

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Mike Blais CD
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« on: April 17, 2009, 08:59:18 am »

Lest we forget.


The Niagara Branch, the RCR Association, held a memorial service for Corporal Albert Storm CD on the 2nd anniversary of his death, the 27th of November, 2008.

The service was held at Pleasantview Cemetery, Fonthill, Ontario and was attended/supported by the Cpl Albert Storm CD Branch, Canadian Association of Veterans of United Nations Peacekeeping. Albert's father, his brother Mic, sisterinlaw Wendy and their children were in attendance.



Cpl Albert Storm. CD

The following pictures were taken by my cousin, Shawn Hogan, who was in theatre during operation Medusa as a weapons tech for the tanks.
















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1977-1RCR  Italy PL, B Coy, Mortars
                   Pioneers, Delta Coy
                   CFB London

1979-3RCR  M Coy 12C,  Sigs, Pipes&Drums
                   Mortars
                   CFB Baden WG

1982 1RCR  Mortars 51B, Dukes, BBC (Cyp)
                   Mortars, WO-Sgts Mess,
                   CFB London

2008            President. Niagara Branch
                   The Royal Canadian Regiment
                           Association

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Mike Blais CD
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« Reply #1 on: April 17, 2009, 09:00:12 am »

Abridged version of memorial tribute

...We have assembled here today to memorialize one of our regimental brothers, Corporal Albert Storm. Albert was a valiant member of 1st battalion of the RCR and at the moment of his sacrifice, was deployed to Afghanistan as a member of The Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group, Joint Task Force Afghanistan. Albert was a senior corporal with the Regiment and due to his many years of service and experience had been chosen to drive the Bison APC of a Royal Canadian whom, unlike Albert, I knew and had the pleasure of serving with thirty years ago when the RCR maintained Cold War vigilance in what was then West Germany.

His name was Robert Girouard and at the time of his death he served as the 1st Battalion’s Regimental Sergeant Major. Knowing Bobby and the loyalty his presence created, I can see why Albert was so determined to deploy.

             

Albert Storm was thirty-six years old and a mere three years away from retirement when he and RSM Girouard were attacked by a Taliban suicide bomber on November 27, 2006. By this time, Albert Storm had become a seasoned veteran with The Royal Canadian Regiment, had been to Afghanistan once already and served two tours in Bosnia and one in Croatia.

Had he wished, Albert Storm could have been honourably excluded from the battalion’s deployment to Afghanistan. Albert had been injured prior to the scheduled deployment and there was little time to get back into fighting form before the First and Finest deployed.

Albert Storm did not wish!

Albert Storm was motivated by his allegiance to the regimental brotherhood and his devotion to this great nation to which he had selflessly served with distinction since 1990. Albert Storm, my friends, was going to Afghanistan one more time with The Royal Canadian Regiment.

On the morning of 27th of November, 2006, two years ago to this date, Corporal Albert Storm and RSM Robert Girouard were traveling on Highway 4 between Khandahar Air Field and Khandahar City. Operation Medusa, a combat mission wherein twelve Canadians would perish before the Taliban was vanquished from the field, was being fully implemented. This was a dangerous section of the road and the RCRs providing escort for the small convoy were tense and operating at the highest state of alert.

Albert was driving Regimental Sergeant Major Girouard’s Bison Light Armoured Vehicle, an eight-wheeled Armoured Personnel Carrier laden with extra ammunition, water and rations destined for the battalion’s rifle companies as they advanced to contact engaging retreating Taliban forces through the Panjawai Valley. My friend, Regimental Sergeant Major Robert Girouard, was in the Bison’s commander’s hatch where he assisted Albert searching the road ahead for IEDS and kept a weary eye out for insurgents.

At approximately 0830 hrs, Afghani time, a Taliban suicide bomber approached the Canadian convoy and, driving a car crammed with explosives, detonated the massive bomb beside our brothers Armoured Personnel Carrier.

The consequences were catastrophic. Albert Storm and Robert Girouard, our regimental bothers in arms, did not survive this cowardly attack and would, to the Regiment’s profound dismay, become the 12th and 13th member of the Royal Canadian Regiment to die in Afghanistan.

Most of the members of the Niagara Branch of The RCR Association, those who have assembled here today to honour our brother, did not personally know Albert Storm. We are of another generation and in many instances our time on active duty with the Regiment preceded Albert’s by decades. Today there are Royal Canadians present who have served from the battle scarred hills of Korea, to Cyprus, the Middle East, Bosnia and Croatia. Our missions were conducted under vastly different conditions then our brothers in Khandahar now experience and were bereft of the extreme violence, terror, anarchy and turmoil we have borne witness to in Afghanistan since 2003.

Yet while we may have not known Albert Storm the man, we know in our hearts Albert Storm our brother. Albert Storm was a Royal Canadian, a fraternal member of a regimental family that has flourished for 125 years and contributed valiant young men very much like Albert Storm to every major conflict abroad since Queen Victoria waged war against the Boers at the turn of the last century.

Today, we have congregated beneath our regimental banner to honour our brother’s contribution to our family and to revere Corporal Albert Storm’s ultimate sacrifice on behalf of the Regiment, Canada and this nation’s honourable quest to bring peace and security to the destitute and oppressed people of Afghanistan.

Let us take this solemn opportunity to reflect upon our brother Albert’s service and in his name, pray for the safety his many valiant friends, our regimental brothers, who currently fly the banner of freedom in Khandahar with 3rd battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment.

There is one more prayer to be said before we conclude with our memorial service and I would like to recite it to you in name of our brother, Corporal Albert Storm. I would have you turn to the second page of your brochure and reflect not only upon our brother Albert’s sacrifice, but each of the eighteen valiant men who, since the RCR deployed to Afghanistan in 2003, have been added to the Regimental Roll of Honour.

We shall not forget.

Almighty God; we humbly implore thy blessing on The Royal Canadian Regiment and all of us who serve therein. Help us to prove worthy to accept the high ideals and traditions of the past; to honour and revere the memory of those who have gone before us; to face our responsibilities in the future, in both peace and war, with courage, justice, love, honesty, and faithfulness. Remove all greed, hatred, selfishness, and envy from our thoughts that we may render true service to the Regiment and for Thee our God; for our fellow man; and "For Country".
Pro Patria.



   
   


Members of the Niagara Branch, The RCR Association, and the Cpl Albert Storm CD Branch, Canadian Association of Veterans of United Nations Peacekeeping.

                     
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1977-1RCR  Italy PL, B Coy, Mortars
                   Pioneers, Delta Coy
                   CFB London

1979-3RCR  M Coy 12C,  Sigs, Pipes&Drums
                   Mortars
                   CFB Baden WG

1982 1RCR  Mortars 51B, Dukes, BBC (Cyp)
                   Mortars, WO-Sgts Mess,
                   CFB London

2008            President. Niagara Branch
                   The Royal Canadian Regiment
                           Association

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