There was a moment in the Memorial Chamber when Patty Braun seemed to lose her composure. There, on Parliament Hill, in the chamber devoted to Canada’s war dead, she looked into the Seventh Book of Remembrance where she could see her son’s name, “Corporal Braun, David Robert William,
22 August 2006, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.”
Amanda is standing in the sun talking to her brother, trying not to cry.
Peter MacKay is reading, name by name, the list of Canada’s war dead.
There are so many names, Amanda thinks, who is going to take care of them all?
Amanda is asking her brother to check in on all the dead, to take care of them.
Her brother is dead. He’s one of the names, her brother is among the lost.
Will Cushley was killed in battle in 2006 and Amanda Cushley has been coming to Kandahar ever since.
She’s spent three tours here now as a civilian worker. She comes to say thank you and because it’s the last thing she can ever share with Will.
There is going to be a moment, Amanda knows, when it’s time to let go.
The Canadians are packing up and leaving Kandahar. They are taking down their memorial and bringing it home.
But first, there’s one last time to say a final farewell.
Amanda’s moment is upon her.
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