Former Regina Leader-Post reporter Michelle Lang and two soldiers with links to Saskatchewan will have their names added to a plaque at the Saskatchewan War Memorial.
Cliff Walker, a member of the memorial's executive committee, said there was never any debate about inscribing the name of a journalist among the soldiers who have also died in Afghanistan.
"She is being treated certainly by the military and by ourselves as every bit as courageous as anybody else who's on that plaque who died in Afghanistan," said Walker, noting the military gave her full military honours after her death.
"She went and put her hand in God's hand and faced the same dangers as those soldiers faced -- and lost her life in the process," said Walker, who is retired from the military. "The fact that she wasn't wearing a camouflage uniform made her no less a great young Canadian in our eyes."
In addition to Lang, the names of soldiers Lieutenant Andrew Nuttall, formerly of Regina, and Lieut. Justin Boyes, 26, who was raised in Saskatoon, will also be added. The two soldiers were killed in separate roadside bomb attacks last year.
While a temporary plaque is currently in place at the memorial, located just west of the Saskatchewan Legislative Building, the formal, bronze plaque with the new names is to be unveiled by Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Walt Natynczyk at a ceremony on October 23, 2010. Invitations have also gone out to the families of those whose loved ones appear on the Afghanistan plaque.
Lang, 34, and four Canadian soldiers were killed December 30 when an improvised explosive device struck the armoured vehicle in which they were travelling just outside of Kandahar City. Lang, then working for the Calgary Herald, had arrived in the war-torn country on December 11 on assignment for Canwest News Service. She was the first Canadian journalist killed in Afghanistan since the Canadian mission began there.
One of the last stories Lang filed was about the send-off ceremony for Nuttall, the 30-year-old former Campbell Collegiate student killed by a roadside bomb on December 23. Their names will now appear one after the other on the plaque since they are placed in order of their deaths.
The War Memorial contains the names of thousands of men and women who once lived in Saskatchewan and died in service to their country, through various wars and in peacetime operations. One plaque is dedicated specifically to those killed in Afghanistan. Walker said when the first plaque was erected for that conflict, there were five names. With the addition of Lang, Nuttall and Boyes, the number will stretch to 15.
While other civilians are named on the memorial, Lang is the only civilian on the Afghanistan plaque.
The unveiling ceremony is being held the same day as the national Support Our Troops Gala, taking place at Regina's Evraz Place. Money raised from the event will go to support services to assist wounded soldiers and families of those serving overseas. It's the first such event held in Regina. Tickets are available at www.supportourtroopsgala.ca.
An "unsung military hero" will also be recognized at the event. A U.S. man wrote to each province and state government and offered to purchase a commemoration for someone in the military who had gone above and beyond the call of duty, but hadn't previously received formal recognition, Walker explained.
Former Regina Leader-Post reporter Michelle Lang and two soldiers with links to Saskatchewan will have their names added to a plaque at the Saskatchewan War Memorial.
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