Cpl. Salikin receives Sacrifice Medal
By Contributor
By: Lt(N) Michael McWhinnie, Base PA
The CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum was the setting for a rare event last Tuesday when RAdm Nigel Greenwood addressed an intimate gathering of approximately 20 people prior to pinning a Sacrifice Medal to the tunic of infantryman Cpl William Edward Salikin.
In a room fittingly adorned with a multitude of Canadian military awards in glass display cases, RAdm Greenwood began by reflecting on the recipient’s personal qualities. “There are many types of courage,” he said. “There is the obvious courage required for battlefield service, but there is also the quiet courage exemplified by Cpl William Salikin’s continuing determination to battle back from his wounds.”
On Jan. 15, 2006, the driver of an explosive-laden taxi swerved into a CF G-Wagon about one kilometre south of Camp Nathan Smith in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The suicide attack wounded Cpl Salikin and two other soldiers, MCpl Paul Franklin and Cpl Jeffrey Bailey, and took the life of Canadian diplomat Glyn Berry. Two Afghan civilians were killed and 10 injured.
Cpl Salikin, a native of Grand Forks, B.C., has been rehabilitating from wounds suffered to his arm, wrist, neck and head. He credits the CF for improvements made to its casualty support organization.
“I feel the army has come a long way in how it supports injured soldiers,” said Cpl Salikin. “I am very grateful for the help I have received.”
Part of those ongoing improvements to casualty support include the creation in 2008 of a network of Joint Personnel Support Units (JPSU), intended to provide ill or injured CF personnel and their families with coordinated, seamless and integrated care through the stages of recovery, rehabilitation and reintegration into military or civilian life and employment. Cpl Salikin is currently supported by the Pacific Region office in Esquimalt.
He is optimistic about his future and determined to rejoin his regiment and resume his career as an infantryman.
“I want to do what I joined to do. I want to feel like I am earning my pay as a soldier,” he says. “As for the medal itself, I feel a bit conflicted. It’s not the one anyone wants to get. For me, it will be an outward sign of how resilient all Canadians are. You can hurt us but you can’t keep us down; we will always come back.”
RAdm Greenwood affirmed Cpl Salikin’s message when he stated, “People can wear the Sacrifice Medal, not just as a mark of their wounds in action, but (as in Cpl Salikin’s case) to show they have come back from that experience and are ready to serve again.”
The Sacrifice Medal was created in response to an increasing desire of Canadians and the government to provide formal recognition to those who are killed or wounded as a direct result of hostile enemy action. The round silver medal bears a contemporary effigy of Queen Elizabeth II with the reverse side adorned by a representation of a statue that forms part of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial and the word “Sacrifice.” The ribbon has a black central stripe, symbolizing the mourning of the dead and the shock of the wounds, bordered on two sides by red, representing that blood has been spilled.
Though eligibility is retroactive to 2001, the Sacrifice Medal was first issued in 2009. As of June of this year, 544 had been awarded nationally, including the posthumous award to Glyn Berry, the only civilian recipient to date. Tuesday’s event marked only the third time the medal has been awarded locally.
Printed with permission from CFB Esquimalt Lookout News
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