Armed Forces

Moncton rally to support troops

MONCTON - Downtown Moncton Inc. will host a rally in support of Canadian troops in front of city hall at noon Friday. DMI manager Daniel Allain said the one-hour event will show the 1,000 military men and women soon to leave for Afghanistan from CFB Gagetown that those at home appreciate their efforts. The organizers encourage everyone attending to wear something red to show their support. Everybody can also sign a giant greeting card which then will be sent to soldiers overseas. The event will hear words from Allain as well as from Moncton Mayor Lorne Mitton.

Moncton mayor keeps troops close to heart
With two sons in the military, Lorne Mitton will be front and centre at tomorrow's rally for the troops in downtown Moncton

November 23, 2006

Times & Transcript

Brenda Arsenault LeBlanc, administrator for the Moncton Military Family Resource Centre, arranges T-shirts ($12) and hats ($15). They can be purchased at the centre at 21 Bennett Ave., the Centennial Irving Mainway on St. George Blvd., or the Moncton location of Service New Brunswick in Assomption Place. Funds raised go to the centre for programs helping out families of military personnel, many of whom are serving in Afghanistan.

          At 11:45 a.m. tomorrow, Moncton Mayor Lorne Mitton will calmly check that his greying hair is carefully combed, that his tie is straight, and his shoes are shined.

The ritual complete, he will reach over to the gigantic wooden desk in the fifth-floor window-of-the-world office his title brings, and pick up his briefing notes.

Most times like these, he has a quick read to see who will be listening to his remarks, what issues will really matter, and how familiar he is with the background material.

Not tomorrow.

This time it's personal.

When he steps out in front of City Hall for the Noon 'Red Friday Rally' for the troops, his father's heart will beat to the pulse of all parents and families of soldiers working in Afghanistan.

Lorne knows first-hand about watching his flesh and blood fly off to do their dangerous duties. One son, Cpl. Todd Mitton, now stationed in Ottawa, served in Kosovo; another, Sgt. Jeffrey Mitton, has just returned from more than six months of duty in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

In a rare glimpse into his private life, Lorne talked to the Times & Transcript this week about his soldier sons and his other three children, his beloved wife of 48 years, Carolyn, and how they have all learned to cope with the realities of being a military family.

His goal is to convince people how important it is that they take time to attend rallies such as tomorrow's to show their support to the men and women who are doing a job that must be done.

No matter how strong and how philosophical these families strive to be, Lorne understands first-hand how the fraility of being home when sons are on military duty can impact day-to-day life.

"I think the worst time for me when Jeffrey was overseas was just a few months ago. I was attending an event on the North Shore and had been away from my phone for an entire weekend. By coincidence, Carolyn was away as well, so there was no one monitoring our phone at home.

"I had just started my drive home when I heard a news bulletin that four soldiers from 1 Service Battalion in Edmonton had just been killed in an ambush. That's Jeff's company."

Lorne stirs in his chair, the shadows of the late afternoon sun not hiding the emotion he tries to keep at bay.

"I can't explain the horrible feeling I had... My heart was just racing. I knew we wouldn't hear the news on the radio, but I thought that nobody would have been able to contact either myself or Carolyn.

"I drove home like I've never gone before and I raced inside. All I could think of was that I had to get home and check the answering machine before Carolyn did, just in case."

You can't stop emotions like that, he admitted, but mostly military families stay strong and focused on their tasks at hand.

"My perspective is not to worry all the time. My boys went into the military with their eyes wide open. They expected that it would not be a bed of roses."

When they were posted overseas, Lorne said they accepted that was the job they were there for.

"They expected to have those assignments. Deep down they have to believe that they won't get hurt."

Lorne said he and Carolyn have always encouraged their children to make their own choices in life. He credits Carolyn with their offspring's accomplishments, as well as "a lot of luck."

Besides Todd and Jeffrey in the military, the Mitton's oldest son Mark also won distinction for his courage. He received the Governor General's Award for Bravery when he captained a rescue team to pull the first bodies from the Westray Mine disaster. Mark was cited for his courage in crawling through a hole so small no man thought he could return from it and pulling out the first bodies. He is now head electrical engineer with Cement Lafarge in Ontario.

Two girls round out the family, Kelly, a nurse in Saint John, and Lila, the youngest who works at the Delta Beaus??jour Hotel in Moncton, the only one still in the city.

When growing up, the Mitton children were all involved in air cadets and/or boy scouts, girl guides or venturers. Remarkably, all five of them received the gold Duke of Edinburgh award for accomplishment from Prince Philip personally.

Lorne shares these details slowly, shyly, after many questions. He's never been one to brag and he's not about to start now. He keeps saying he was away working and volunteering a lot and credits his stay-at-home wife with putting out "all the fires" as the family grew up.

The one thing that gets his dander up, though, is the never-ending debate on whether or not Canada should be involved in Afghanistan.

"I respect people's opinions," Lorne says thoughtfully. "But I've always felt the Taliban and terrorists in general have to be stopped. And I wonder, if the wars aren't fought over there, where are they going to be fought? It could be here. If they are not stopped, there will be more and more infiltrations of terrorists here. I don't think that people want to see that.

"I don't think the question is so much of whether we should be involved as 'what's the ramifications if we are not involved'?"

Lorne, who remembers marching down the Irishtown Road at the end of the Second World War to welcome his own father, Lloyd, home from the war, said it's easy for people to take things for granted.

He believes that we should respect the fact that the men and women who go overseas on these missions "are not whining and whimpering, nor are their families.

"They are not there against their will. They are going to do a job. What we need to do is support them."

Lorne said the big message that he picks up from his sons is that encouragement is what they need, not just from their families but from the Canadian people in general.

"That's what they need instead of the negativity about their role - that is quite deflating.

"It is hurtful to the military when people debate about whether they should be there or not. When Jeffrey left, no one noticed. But when he returned, there were three buses of supporters at the airport, so you know that support is increasing. The soldiers are encouraged that people are aware they are going there to improve the lives of other people and to campaign against terrorism. Maybe people didn't realize that earlier."

In tomorrow's noon hour rally at Moncton City Hall, where all people are encouraged to wear red as a symbol of support, the mayor said he hopes to increase awareness that the troops need support, and that the federal government needs to enhance the military and give them the tools to do their job. He believes they are now moving in the right direction.

Does he ever wish his sons had chosen safer jobs?

"I have never wished that they weren't in the military," Lorne says firmly. "You know, it doesn't matter what you do in life, you never know what's going to happen. Every day somewhere in the world some 25-year-old just crosses the street near their home and doesn't make it safely to the other side."

The close-knit family's strong Catholic faith and Lorne's fatherly philosophy that you should only worry about the things you can control sees them through.

That and the fact that the kids and now 11 grand-kids aren't supposed to tell Carolyn when they are in dangerous situations until after they are safely home, Lorne laughs.

"I remember when Todd was in Bosnia and he was on the front lines. His office with his computer was in an old farmhouse attic where the shooting was going on all around. I said to him, 'you're a major now, doesn't that rank at least pull you a basement office'?" He said, 'No, but don't tell Mom where I am till I get home'."

The Mitton family changes, but circumstances don't, adds Lorne. He recalls how he was almost 40 years old before his own father told him that his job in the war had been driving communication trucks to the front lines.

"I mean, what were the odds that he'd come back alive," asks Lorne philosophically.

Lorne says like all military families, they try to not spend their days worrying.

"I'm not worried all the time; you can't go through life like that. But I'm concerned all the time. And of course, it's fine to say not to worry, but sometimes that's easier said than done."

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Rally for the troops

A rally in support of Canadian service men and women was held yesterday at City Hall in Moncton at noon. Brenna Murray and dad Stuart Murray, a section commander in the 30 Military Police Company 303 Platoon, were among those in attendance.

Rally for soldiers emotional
Hundreds of people pack city hall plaza to show support for men and women serving in war zones

November 25, 2006

A rally in support of Canadian soldiers was held yesterday at Moncton City Hall. Shelagh and John Ayer of Sackville, backed by a sea of red-wearing participants, displayed their sentiments on the sign they carried. The Ayers have a son, daughter-in-law and son-in-law in the Armed Forces, with the latter two being deployed to Afghanistan in February.
More than 400 people cheered, shed tears and offered standing ovations in support of Canadian troops abroad and at home at a rally in front of Moncton City Hall yesterday.

"I came because I want to show that I care," a red-clad Stephanie Johnson said.

"I think it's great to see all these people here, the kids especially. These children are learning at a young age that other people are making great sacrifices so that other people in the world might some day enjoy the same freedoms and way of life that we enjoy in Canada," she said.

The Red Friday Rally perpetuates a phenomenon that is sweeping the country: wearing something, or everything, red on Fridays to show support for our military men and women.

This rally was sponsored by Downtown Moncton Inc. and the Times & Transcript.

Military spouse Laura Middleton recalled some of the travails of being at home in a new city while her husband is deployed in a far-off land, and the level of support she is enjoying from Metro Moncton residents.

"I cannot - cannot - stress to you how much that means," she said, bursting into tears.

"Now I have a family here, and a community too."

Middleton struggled to find the words to accurately describe how much public support means to the men and women serving in foreign lands.

"I can't tell you what that means to my husband. It lets him do his job," she said.

The crowd formed long lines in order to buy Support Our Troops articles of clothing, in red of course, and to sign a giant greeting card that will be sent to troops serving overseas.

Middleton's address drew tears from some in the crowd, as did that of Lt.-Cmdr (Ret.) Don Woodfield, now of St-Antoine, whose son Brawn, who bore a tattoo of a maple leaf and the words Made In Canada, was killed in the service of his country one year ago.

"We miss him terribly so," Woodfield said. "He died doing what he loved."

Canada's soldiers are never far from his mind, he said.

"We pray daily for them. It's a tough job for them, but it's just as much tough for the families. When you talk about soldiers, think about the families, too."

Each speaker was repeatedly interrupted by enthusiastic applause and frequent standing ovations.

Lt.-Col. Kevin Horgan was pleased to see such public support, something he noted that Canadian soldiers have not always enjoyed in the past.

"Your support has meaning," Horgan, a top engineer, stressed.

He noted how a soldier's love for Canada grows stronger each time he reaches home soil after a foreign mission.

DMI manager Daniel Allain said the downtown community wanted to put on the show of support for exactly that reason, to show our support. Times & Transcript assistant managing editor Edith Robb said the newspaper was eager to support such a cause.

"We understand, as we mirror the community, that leadership is not about straddling the top of a fence," Robb said.

"We support our troops and their excellent work. We acknowledge that their work is becoming more and more difficult. We will continue, editorially, to challenge our federal government to support the military and to ensure our men and women have the proper tools to do the job, for all our sakes."

Everyone observed a moment of silence led by Moncton Military Family Resource Centre executive director Mike Dawson.

Dawson asked those on hand to imagine themselves in a faraway land, directly in harm's way, far from family - and at Christmas time as well.

"So this does mean a whole lot to us," he said.

Dawson listed a number of small and large blessings Metro Moncton residents repeatedly bestow on local soldiers and their families.

"That's just a real small example of the little things that happen to us every day," he said.

"Man, I love Moncton so much."

Moncton Mayor Lorne Mitton, who has two sons serving in the military, urged more federal support for the military, to give them "the right tools to do the job."

He noted how the soldiers protect our freedoms here at home, but also help to spread those freedoms to other nations.

"We want you to know that we appreciate you and we support you and that we thank you for your courage," he said.

As Mitton spoke, the approximately 100 school children in attendance scurried around, collecting autographs from the military men and women on hand. They cheered enthusiastically and waved little Canadian flags with great zeal.

"We cannot even begin to understand their incredible demands and commitment," Mitton said.

"Thanks to the sacrifices they have made and continue to make, we are able to live in peace and freedom."

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