Special memorial on display at Nichola Goddard fundraising dinner

A two-metre tall Afghan war soldier’s memorial created by Canadian troops will be on display at the Nichola Goddard Annual Fundraising Dinner, taking place Saturday, November 14 at the APM Centre, in Cornwall, PEI. Colin and John-Angus MacDonald of The Trews will also be performing at the sold-out event that raises funds for the Nichola Goddard Foundation.

The Afghanistan Poppy Memorial, the centerpiece of the final Remembrance Day ceremony for Canadian troops in Kandahar in 2011, was fashioned from pieces of a Badger armoured engineering vehicle shattered by a Taliban roadside bomb in 2008. The piece bears the names—on a spent shell casing—of the 158 Canadian soldiers and four civilians who have died in the Afghan conflict, including Captain Nichola Goddard, who was killed on May 17, 2006 while serving with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry as a forward observation officer.

The tribute clearly shows the damage from the blast, including a torn handle from an engine hatch and a maple leaf formed from the vehicle’s armour plate that bears shrapnel marks.

One of the memorial’s keepers, Warrant Officer Renay Groves, said that the memorial is a metaphor of the fate of soldiers, even those who survive. “We left the battle damage on it, you go over there solid and come back different,” she added.

The dinner and silent auction raises funds for the Foundation that was created by Captain Goddard’s parents, Sally and Tim, in fond memory of their daughter’s love of life and learning. The Foundation supports several projects including “The Nichola Goddard Light Up Papua New Guinea" initiative to improve the quality and functionality of health care facilities in rural Papua–New Guinea by installing solar powered LED lighting; the “Captain Nichola K.S. Goddard Memorial Graduate Scholarship" at the University of Calgary; and the “Captain Nichola K.S. Goddard Scholarship” at the University of Prince Edward Island. The latter is awarded to a UPEI student in any faculty who is engaged in a project with focus on issues relevant to indigenous peoples whether in Canada or internationally.

For more information about, or to donate to, the Foundation, visit www.nicholagoddard.com