December 30, 2009

A few days before Christmas The Korean Veteran published an article that had been written from Afghanistan by Canadian journalist Michelle Lang of the Calgary Herald. The article reported on the death of Lieutenant Lieut. Andrew Richard Nuttall, of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.

Today we are reporting that Michelle Lang herself has been killed in action in Afghanistan, covering the war with Canadian troops. It was her first active duty patrol with a team of Canadian soldiers.

Killed by the blast of an improvised explosive device in the same armoured vehicle were four Canadian soldiers. Four other Canadian soldiers and a Canadian civilian were wounded in the same blast and are undergoing medical treatment.

Canadian reporter and 4 Canadian soldiers killed in action on patrol
Four other Canadian soldiers and a civilian wounded in same incident in Afghanistan

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — Canadian journalist Michelle Lang and four Canadian soldiers died in Afghanistan on Wednesday, December 30 when the armoured vehicle they were patrolling in struck an improvised explosive device. Four other Canadian soldiers and a Canadian civilian were wounded.

Canwest News Service reporter Michelle Lang, 34, was travelling with a provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar City when the attack on their armoured vehicle occurred.

A reporter for the Calgary Herald, she is the first Canadian journalist to die in Afghanistan since the Canadian military mission began there.

Wednesday was the third worst day for Canadian casualties in Afghanistan, surpassed only by two days in 2007 when six Canadian soldiers died in separate IED attacks.

A Canadian civilian worker was injured in the attack as were four other soldiers.

All of the injured were evacuated to the Role 3 Multi-National Medical Facility at Kandahar Airfield. They are undergoing medical examination and treatment, said a statement from the Department of National Defence.

The Department of National Defence has not yet released the names of the four soldiers killed in Wednesday's explosion, but their deaths bring the toll of Canadian soldiers to 138 since the mission there began in 2002

"On behalf of all the soldiers, airmen, sailors and special operators of Joint Task Force Afghanistan, I offer our sincere condolences to the families and friends of our fallen," said Brigadier-General Daniel Menard, Commander of Task Force Kandahar.

It was Lang's first stint in Afghanistan. She arrived in the country on Dec. 11 and was due to return to Calgary on Jan. 22. Friends and co-workers say she was itching to get outside Kandahar and report on the war.

"I'm travelling to the provincial reconstruction team for about one week," Lang wrote in an e-mail this week to an editor.

"Hopefully this will produce some interesting stories on the civilian/reconstruction side, as well as some military ones."

News of her death left a pall of shock and grief over the Herald newsroom.

"Michelle was an incredible person, and outstanding journalist," said Lorne Motley, Herald editor in chief. "She was kind-hearted, warm and always willing to give her all.

"When it came to journalism, Michelle was at the top of her craft . . . Her loss leaves a great hole in our family of journalists, whether they work at the Herald, Canwest or elsewhere.

"This is a devastating day, and our thoughts are with her family, her fiance and friends. We all knew, and loved, her."

Lang was recently engaged to Calgarian Michael Louie and was to be wed this summer.

Friend and Herald colleague Gwendolyn Richards said work was important to Lang, but nothing meant more to her than family and friends.

"I am sure you could count on two hands the number of times she left work on time," said Richards, noting the long hours Lang poured into her work.

"But I would argue that she approached everything with the same fervour."

Richards recalled how, in the days before leaving for Afghanistan and busy planning for the trip, Lang threw together an impromptu birthday dinner for Richards to mark the day.

"She was very sweet and thoughtful," she said. "She made sloppy joes . . . and she felt bad that they weren't better. She wanted it to be a great birthday."

On Wednesday, former chief of defence staff Gen. Rick Hillier hailed Lang's bravery as "golden and rare" for the ultimate sacrifice to tell the story of Canada's deadliest conflict in more than 40 years.

"The sometimes 'normal mistrust' between soldiers and reporters was usually quickly overcome when soldiers saw that accompanying reporters were taking the same risks as themselves to do their job," Hillier said. "Those who reported on war and did it from the frontlines, without which they could not get the story right, deserve a special place in our history."

"I've seen a lot of reporters come here who seem like action junkies or kind of 'Hey, look at me, I'm in Afghanistan'," James Murray, a CBC reporter who has been here on assignment in Afghanistan for the past six months, told the Canadian Press.

"She was the kind of journalist you would want to have here. She was kind and decent, and curious."

Only a handful of Canadian journalists cover the Canadian military mission in Afghanistan at any one time. As embedded journalists they live, eat and work on the base with soldiers of many nations, and are compelled to follow military rules on what can and can't be reported.

They have the option of staying on base or travelling out on patrol with Canadian troops — an assignment which offers reporters their only real glimpse of how ordinary Afghan civilians cope with war. It's also risky. Taliban tactics rely heavily on bombs buried on roads and travelling can be the most dangerous thing you can do in Afghanistan. Last week, Lang travelled with Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk when he visited some of the Canadian bases outside the airfield; Wednesday was the first time she had joined soldiers on a regular patrol. She showed little anxiety as she ate lunch before boarding a chopper that would connect her with her patrol, Colin Perkel reported for the Canadian Press. Hours later, she was riding in the back of an armoured military vehicle in Kandahar City as it struck an IED, killing her and four soldiers.

Above article provided courtesy of the Korean War Veteran, koreavetnews@aol.com