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Injured veteran hailed as hero
Three months ago, Sgt. Christopher Desjardins was attacked in Afghanistan. On Thursday, he was honoured
Kevin Gillies, Vancouver Sun, 29 Dec 06
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There was a loud explosion, then silence, before the screaming began, recalled a Chilliwack soldier wounded in a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan three months ago.
Sgt. Christopher Desjardins was the guest of honour at a Royal Canadian Legion luncheon Thursday.
Desjardins, 30, had to be helped to his chair at the head table, where he was joined by his parents, his fiancee and local Legion dignitaries.
"It's quite humbling to see these guys there to express gratitude to me," Desjardins said. "They're people, as a soldier, that you always look up to. We live in a society that's built on the blood of those people. So for them to be honouring me or any other soldier in my time, it's nice to see."
About 120 people, mostly former soldiers, crammed into the tiny Vedder Legion branch to see Desjardins presented with plaques, shirts and a lifetime Legion membership.
He has been back in Chilliwack since October, recuperating from the wounds he suffered in a Sept. 18 suicide bomb attack about 20 kilometres west of Kandahar. The blast killed four Canadians and wounded dozens, including Afghans.
"We were on a foot patrol and we got hit by the suicide bomber. Because there were so many people that were actually injured, there wasn't a lot of people around to do first aid," Desjardins said. "I've heard [the bomber] was on a bike, I've heard he was walking beside a bike."
"After the blast, you could hear the explosion," he said. "There was a deafening silence after that. No one was talking. Then you could hear people starting to scream or calling for medics.
"At the initial time that it happened ... probably for the first 10 or 15 minutes, there were only three people that were uninjured and that were able to move around. As you can imagine, if your leg was basically hanging off you, you can't get up and move around 100 metres to the next person to do first aid or anything like that, so people pretty much had to take care of themselves until someone could get to them. There was a lot of panic for some of the people there," Desjardins said.
"I was quite coherent for the entire thing. I knew what was going on the entire time. I was just shouting stuff to people to make sure they were doing what they had to be doing."
Desjardins' left femur -- the bone between his hip and knee -- was shattered and he was transferred to a U.S. military base north of Kandahar, where he got his first operation. He was then flown to Kandahar and transferred to Germany for another operation.
Now he's trying to rehabilitate his leg but it will take at least a year before he knows if he'll be able to walk normally again and, if he has his way, return to Afghanistan.
In presenting Desjardins with a shirt , Correctional Service of Canada representative Pat Johnston said: "We want to get our message to you and the troops that we support you, we admire you and you, my son, are a modern-day hero. We respect you for that."
Allan Rusk, president of the Vedder Legion, told the crowd: "I look around this room and I see pride and honour and courage and comradeship. We're proud to be here today to honour you, Christopher, for your courage and those of our members of the military who are in harm's way right this minute."
Rusk later said the ceremony came about because a member asked if a wheelchair could be found among the membership for Sgt. Desjardins.
"We have a member who's a friend of his dad," Rusk said. "His dad asked the member if he could borrow a wheelchair because he thought Chris was going to need a wheelchair when he came home.
"We said okay we'll give him a wheelchair, but we'll also have a luncheon for him. That's how it came about."
Desjardins' mother Judy beamed as her son was honoured.
"It's just wonderful to see the support. I never expected to see this," she said. "We expected a few friends. Then word got out."
Well done Sgt. D, well done Vedder Legion!
