Last Post Serving Members

• BECHARD Jean-Marc H Cpl
  
  
• BRABOURNE, John Lord
  
  
• BROWN, Michael Joseph LCdr
  
  
• CULBERTSON, Ian WO
  
  
• DECORBY, Dan C. Cpl
  
  
• DeCOSTE James P Capt
  
  
• HARVEY, William L/Cpl
  
  
• HESS-von Kruedener, Paeta Derek (Major)
  
  
• KRIEGER D.R. Pte
  
  
• LESSARD Joseph R.M.J.P. MCpl
  
  
• McGILLIVARY Martin Samuel Pte
  
  
• PIKE, Donald Kevin (Donnie) MCpl
  
  
• PRINS A.J. Pte
  
  
• QUICK, T.G.J. Cpl
  
  
• SCHOFIELD, Shane Anthony Gordon Sgt.
  
  
• STONE, James Riley (Big Jim) Col
  
  
• VAN SMEERDYK, Nathaniel Pte
  
  
• VERMEULEN Jamie Dennis Cpl
  
  
• WHEELER, Rick MCpl
  
  
• WILSON, Craig Alexander Cpl
  
  
• WILSON M.D. Pte
  
  

To a Fallen Soldier

Yet again, you question my faith in you,
You have taken from us a gifted soldier and friend.
A soldier who believed in you,
A man always giving and caring of others.
One who placed all others before himself,
Without question, rhyme or reason.

What now Oh Lord?
How will our hearts be mended?
And what of his family Oh Lord?
Will they yet once again see the light?

Does he sit beside you Oh Lord?
And smile upon your Grace?
He is of character Oh Lord,
Rough and jagged around the edges.

He is unrefined and coarse Oh Lord,
Yet loyal to your every need.
He speaks what's on his mind Oh Lord,
A true friend indeed.

Tell him we say goodbye Oh Lord,
As a tear drops from our cheek.
We will always Remember Dear Lord,
In silent prayer we keep.

In memory of Jamie Denis Vermeulen,
It was an honour to call you friend.
Warrant Officer Kevin Lewis, "A" Company, 2PPCLI

SCHOFIELD, Shane Anthony Gordon SGT: Sergeant Shane Anthony Gordon Schofield was killed 29 April 2009 in a tragic vehicle collision on Highway 340, south of CFB Shilo MB.

Sergeant Schofield enrolled in the Canadian Forces in July 1999 and was posted to 2 PPCLI.  A professional soldier for 10 years, Sgt. Schofield deployed on four operational tours of duty, three in Afghanistan and one in Bosnia. Sgt Schofield is remembered as a hero and positive role model in his home community of Lower Sackville, NS. His infectious sense of humour and larger than life personality will be sorely missed. Shane was described as a dedicated father and avid hockey fan. Sgt Schofield leaves behind a wife, Rene and two sons, Teegan and Lane. He is also survived by his parents Mr. Charlton Schofield and Mrs Cathy Schofield and brother, Brett Schofield.

 

 

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CULBERTSON Ian, Warrant Officer MMM CD:WO CULBERTSON IanIan Culbertson was born in Brandon, Manitoba, on March 15th, 1949. After serving for five years in the Army Cadets, and retiring as RSM, Ian joined the Canadian Forces as an Infantryman in 1967 at the age of 17. He immediately began his Regular Force service with the Second Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, and served with 3 Canadian Mechanized Commando in Baden-Soellingen, Germany until 1971. During this period he performed extremely well and quickly gained a reputation as an excellent soldier, a description that stayed with him throughout his entire career. In 1973 Ian requested a posting to the Airborne and began his service with 1 PPCLI in the Canadian Airborne Regiment at Edmonton. He was exceptionally proud of his service as a paratrooper, having served with the Regiment from 1974 – 1979 and from 1981 – 1985, and maintained very strong ties to the ‘Brotherhood’ up until the time of his passing. His overall service is exemplified by his performance in Cyprus in April 1974. Over a very tense period of 30 days, while under daily machine gun firefights between the Turkish village of Louroujina and the Greek village of Lymbia, (then) Cpl Culbertson quickly drew the attention of his Platoon and Company Commanders. He was described as “very astute, quick thinking, physically fit, frank and forthright… and he craves responsibility.” For his sustained dedication during this period he was awarded the Order of Military Merit. Ian continued to be recognized for these kinds of personal attributes as his service extended into the Reserve Force beginning in 1991. While serving in this capacity he continued to win friends and earn the respect of all who knew him, remaining in uniform until this very day.

Warrant Officer Ian Culbertson faced his death with the same straight forward, determined and professional approach that garnered him the outstanding level of respect and admiration that has been shown to him throughout this difficult time. His presence will be greatly missed not only by those closest to him; Darin, Tanya, Isobel and Susan, but also by his extended family and those very many friends that he influenced over 42 years of professional and dedicated military service.

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WILSON, Craig Alexander, Cpl CD: Corporal WILSON, Craig Alexander Proudly served 22 years with the Canadian Armed Forces, including 17 years with the 2nd Battalion Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry, and 5 years as a Military Police Officer at C.F.B. Kingston. Tragically, as the result of an accident, on Thursday, June 5, 2008. Craig Wilson, in his 43rd year, dearly loved father, best friend and “Hero“ to his daughters, Sara and Morgan, and husband of Tracy Wilson, all of Kingston. Dear son of Sally Wilson of Ottawa and Lester Wilson of Yarmouth, NS. Eldest brother to Grant Wilson (Juanita) of Toronto and Ross Wilson of Utica, MI, uncle to Riley, Taylor and Makenna, and grandson of Florence Wilson of St. Stephen, NB. Also remembered by several aunts, uncles and cousins, and sadly missed by his special friend Terri Burgess. Craig will not soon be forgotten by his many friends, as well as his numerous colleagues within the various Policing Communities.

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HESS-von Kruedener, Paeta Derek (Major): Major HESS-von Kruedener, Paeta Derekan Infantry Officer with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry died a hero in the service of peace while serving with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, Observer Group Lebanon, on Tuesday July 25th 2006, Major Paeta Hess-Von Kruedener and three other UN Military Observers were killed when their patrol base was struck by an aerial bomb. Major Hess-von Kruedener died in his 45th year.

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McGILLIVARY, Martin Samuel Private:Despite Martin's love of the culinary arts he was always drawn to the military and the lifestyle one leads as a member of the military. At the age of 26, after speaking to elders in his community who had served in Canada's military, Martin joined the Canadian Forces as an infantryman. After completing his Basic Training, Soldier and Basic Infantry Qualification Courses, Martin joined the 2nd Battalion of the PPCLI in August 2002. He served overseas in Bosnia as a rifleman from March to July 2003. Upon returning from Bosnia, Martin was posted to CFB/ASU Shilo. Throughout his time with the battalion, Martin was actively involved. He was the bass drum in the PPCLI drum line and an active participant in sports.

In addition to being a soldier Martin was also a family man. He called and emailed his family frequently while serving overseas to see how they were doing. He was also very close with the rest of his community. He always made sure to visit friends when home in The Pas while on leave. Martin is survived by his parents Robert and Brenda McGillivary, his two sons Donovan and Blaine, as well as his companion April Dorion.

The funeral service for Martin was held at the Church of Redeemer, Saturday 16 October in The Pas, Manitoba. One could feel the collective sense of grief of the community. A majority of the community was present to commemorate the life of Martin Samuel McGillivary and to pay their lasts respects. The service featured traditional Cree services as well as a traditional military ceremony.

Written by:
2Lt von Finckenstein
2 PPCLI

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VERMEULEN Jamie Dennis Cpl: was born August 12, 1964 in Regina Saskatchewan. He joined the Canadian Forces August 2, 1986 at the Canadian Forces Recruiting Center in Calgary.

While serving with the Second Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry Cpl Vermeulen was involved in several overseas tours, such as Baden Germany in 1987, Cyprus in 1990, and this, Cpl. Vermeulen's fourth tour in the Former Yugoslavia starting in 1993 and finishing in 2003 with 2 PPCLI. Cpl. Vermeulen served a total of 17 loyal and dedicated years to his country.

"Jim", as he was called, never married. His great sense of humour, his enthusiasm, and willingness to help others was admired by all who knew him. Cpl Vermeulen was the type of soldier who worked a 25-hour day always brandishing a smile and positive outlook. Throughout his career he worked extremely hard and was a very caring and professional soldier in everything he was involved with both in uniform and out.

Cpl. Vermeulen was on a well-deserved rest in Split, Croatia, when in the early morning of July 4, he was a victim of an unfortunate accident. Cpl. Vermeulen fell off his balcony of his hotel room and was rushed to hospital in a coma, and he remained thus until passing away in hospital on the morning of July 6, 2003. He will be fondly remembered and greatly missed by all who served with him. He served his country with honour and pride.

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BECHARD Jean-Marc H.Cpl: Passed away on August 6, 1993 - Camp Polom, Croatia

De Coste James P., CD Capt: Passed away on September 18, 1993 - Gracac, Republic of Croatia

WHEELER, Rick, MCpl: Passed away in Suffield on April 7th, 1992

WILSON M.D. Pte: Passed away on January 22, 1983 - Nicosia, Cyprus

PRINS A.J. Pte: Passed away on September 26, 1982 - Nicosia, Cyprus

KRIEGER D.R. Pte: Passed away on August 17, 1976 - Goshi, Cyprus

QUICK, T.G.J. Cpl: Born 23 October 1949 in Vancouver British Columbia. Served with the 2nd Battalion PPCLI in Cyprus in 1973. Cpl. Quick passed away 6 January 1974.

LESSARD Joseph R.M.J.P. MCpl: Passed away on December 1, 1972 - Nicosia, Cyprus

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HARVEY, William Lance Corporal : (1881 - 1915) William Harvey was born February 17, 1881 to Robert and Frances Harvey of No. 4 Walton Street, Dundee, Scotland. After serving with the Gordon Highlanders in South Africa, Harvey immigrated to Canada in 1910. Like many, he found himself drawn to the 'Chicago of the North'. Harvey worked at the CPR Weston Shops as a craneman' and turntableman' in 1910/11. He had no permanent address perhaps indicating that he lived at the CPR bunkhouses or worked on rural projects. Harvey joined Winnipeg's 79th Cameron Highlanders and enlisted on October 10, 1914. In January 1915 he left for Europe, transferred to PPCLI and within weeks was involved in the Battle of Bellewaerde Ridge, Belgium. He was killed in that battle on May 4 1915. His body was never recovered and his name is listed on the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres. Having no permanent address or family in Canada Harvey died a man without a city. An immigrant who came to make a new life, helped build the West and worked in the poor conditions of the railway shops.

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Lord John Brabourne
Husband to Lady Patricia
November 9, 1924 - September 22, 2005

Lord BRABOURNE John: The 7th Lord Brabourne, who has died aged 80, was, under the name John Brabourne, a film producer whose credits included Sink the Bismarck! (1960), Death on the Nile (1978) and A Passage to India (1984); married for almost 60 years to Countess Mountbatten of Burma, the daughter of Earl Mountbatten, Brabourne was on board the fishing boat that was blown up off the west coast of Ireland by an IRA bomb in 1979, killing his father-in-law, his mother and his son, Nicholas Knatchbull. The tragedy, which also killed a local boy and left Brabourne, his wife and Nicholas's twin brother, Timothy, seriously injured, had a devastating impact on his family.. But Brabourne and his wife were determined that the Mountbatten name would not forever be associated with tragedy, and they devoted the years after the bombing to restoring peace, hope and certainty to their family.

John Ulick Knatchbull was born on November 9 1924 in Bombay, a year after his father, the 5th Baron Brabourne, was appointed Governor of the city. In 1938 the 5th Lord Brabourne spent four months as India's youngest Viceroy, and young John would later become the son-in-law of the last Viceroy. Descended from Richard Knatchbull, "a roving nobleman" who had settled in Kent in 1485, John Knatchbull's father died in 1940, two years after being appointed Governor of Bengal, and was succeeded by John's elder brother, Norton. Until he was 10, John spoke Hindi as fluently as English. He was then sent to England to be educated at Eton, followed by Oxford. During the latter part of the war he was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards and returned to India as ADC, first to General Slim, then to Admiral Viscount Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander, SE Asia. It was during this period that he first encountered Patricia, the elder of Mountbatten's two daughters, who was serving as a Wren; he would later recall that he "fell totally under her spell". But in 1943, John Knatchbull's brother, the 6th Lord Brabourne, was shot by the Germans after escaping from a prison train in northern Italy, and Knatchbull succeeded to the peerage.

Three years later, at a ceremony at Romsey Abbey, attended by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, it was as Captain Lord Brabourne that he married Patricia Mountbatten. The Daily Telegraph described how the bride, attended by Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, wore a golden gown; the King proposed the health of the couple with his glass charged with sherry, and "laughed uproariously at the jokes of the bridegroom". There was also a breathless description of the 600 employees of the Mountbatten estate, all of whom attended the reception at Crossfield Hall, Romsey: "Farmers, ghillies, woodsmen, dairymaids, gamekeepers, gardeners, polo pony stable boys, labourers were all assembled there." The marriage was to endure under unimaginable pressures, and the couple remained devoted to the end.

In 1958 Brabourne produced Harry Black and the Tiger, an action melodrama starring Stewart Granger as a hunter called upon to track down a Bengal tiger that has been menacing an Indian village. This was followed by Sink the Bismarck!, the true story of the Royal Navy's search for a German warship. At that time, Lord Mountbatten was Chief of the Defence Staff, a position which was said to have helped Brabourne achieve both authenticity and the full co-operation of the Admiralty. During the 1970s and 1980s, Brabourne produced several films based on Agatha Christie's detective novels. Star-studded ensemble pictures, they are now regarded as classics of the genre, particularly Death on the Nile, which starred Peter Ustinov, Jane Birkin, Bette Davis, Mia Farrow, Angela Lansbury, David Niven and Maggie Smith, to name but a few. In 1957, during the production of Harry Black, Brabourne had bought a copy of EM Forster's novel A Passage to India to while away the long journey to Mysore, where filming was taking place. After reading it, he realised, he later recalled, that this was "the film I really wanted to make", and upon his return to London he wrote several letters to Forster.

In 1961 the two men met, although no formal agreement was ever made. Forster died in 1970, but King's College, Cambridge, which owned the rights to all Forster's books, took a dim view of the film world. For 10 years Brabourne wrote an annual letter to the Provost, until he was finally told that the rights were available. The subsequent film, directed by David Lean, was a meticulous and epic study of the tensions between the Indians and the colonial British in the 1920s. It won two Oscars, and earned nine other Oscar nominations - Brabourne was nominated for Best Picture. Although he went on to produce several other films, the devastation of his family and his own injuries in the IRA attack, inevitably had an impact on Brabourne's career. The 50 lb device, which had been set off by remote control by two members of the Provisional IRA on the cliffs above the shore at Mullaghmore, had been placed underneath the boat's steering wheel, below Mountbatten's feet. Brabourne and his wife suffered broken legs and lacerated skin, while Tim Knatchbull nearly died. The family did not return to Classiebawn Castle, Co Sligo, where the Mountbattens had taken holidays for 35 years, although they harboured no bitterness and bore no grudges.

In 1998 Thomas McMahon, the man who made and planted the bomb, was freed from prison as part of that year's Ulster peace agreement. After her father's death, Brabourne's wife inherited her father's title courtesy of an arcane First World War law which stated that if a general or admiral was lost without a male heir, his title could pass, for one generation only, to a daughter. In 1960 Brabourne was appointed deputy chairman, under the chairman Viscount Slim, of British Home Entertainment, which introduced coin-in-the-slot television.

Four years later, under Brabourne's chairmanship, Pay-TV (a precursor to the pay-per-view television of today) gave direct reception of the Cassius Clay-Henry Cooper boxing match to several thousand viewers in London. Brabourne subsequently went on to become a director of Thames Television from 1975 to 1993 and its chairman between 1990 and 1993. That same year he was appointed CBE. He rarely spoke publicly about the bombing, but last year he and his wife gave a substantial sum of money towards the endowment of a bursary in Nicholas's name at the Dragon prep school in Oxford, which has been associated with the Mountbatten family for 50 years. Shortly before the launch of a public appeal to raise money for the award, Lady Mountbatten spoke about the tragedy, and its effect on her family. "The past 25 years," she said, "would have been far more difficult without my husband. In fact it would have been unbearably ghastly. We have been married a long time, but I dare say that if we had a spare lunch or dinner and had to pick one person, we'd still choose each other." Latterly, Lord Brabourne and his wife led a peaceful existence at their comfortable 18th-century family house, Newhouse (so-called because it post-dated the Knatchbulls' nearby ancestral home), in Kent. There they delighted in the company of their children and grandchildren. Lord Brabourne died on Thursday with his wife and six children at his bedside. His son, Lord Romsey, succeeds to the peerage. From the Telegraph, 24 September 2005.

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"A true humanitarian and one of Canada's few remaining highly decorated soldiers from World War Two and the Korean conflict, he founded the Military Police Fund for Blind Children in 1957, bringing happiness to these very special youngsters. Under his guidance and life-long patronage, the Canada-wide fund expanded its activities over the years to Europe and the Middle East, providing medical equipment as well as educational and recreational assistance, otherwise unavailable to the children. "

Appointed to the Order of Canada (Member) on October 19th, 1994, investiture on March 1st, 1995

He was predeceased by his wife, Esther (King), in 1990 and children, Moira (1956) and James (1958).Jim was a much decorated veteran of two wars. He joined The Loyal Edmonton Regiment in 1939 and rose steadily through the ranks, taking command while the unit formed part of the "D-Day Dodgers" battling through Italy, and then on through the fighting in Holland. He commanded the II PPCLI, Big Jim Stone's Patricias, during the Korean War. In 1956, while Provost Marshal in Ottawa he founded what would become the Military Police Fund for Blind Children in memory of his daughter, Moira, for which he was made a member of the Order of Canada in 1994. Jim spent his last three years in The Lodge at Broadmead where the remarkable staff enabled him to live and die with dignity.