Message from a Soldiers Father
On Oct 1st, after attending a Support Our Troops Rally in Toronto, I posted about being affected by seeing Errol Cushley, father of fallen soldier Pte. William Cushley.
At first, I didn’t notice the man standing in front, and to the right of me: Directly in front of Mr. Lightfoot actually. He had on a red shirt with a picture on the breast. Then Lt. Col. Cliff Trollop, the highest ranking officer in Toronto, and one of the people putting on the rally, came over and talked to him:
“I noticed the picture on your shirt, is it a relative?” The man, who I can now identify as Errol Cushley…
William was 21 years old on September 3rd, 2006 and had been in Afghanistan less than a month when he and three others where killed.
When Mr. Cushley told Lt. Col. Trollope who as on his shirt, Trollope’s head jerked as though somebody punched him in the jaw…
I cross posted this piece to Let Freedom Reign, where it recieved a few complimentary comments, then faded away. Until yesterday that is.
Yesterday, Errol Cushley replied with a gracious and moving comment that confirms everything I felt about the man watching him that day. In reposting here, I have cleaned it up a bit for ease of reading. The comment is towards the bottom of the Let Freedom Reign post if you wish to see the original. Thanks to Richard for pointing this one out to me; it helps me remember why I do this blogging thing:
Thank you for a very moving tribute to my son. I was not aware of it until I recieved an email from England who brought it to my attention.
I was at the rally soley for the purpose of my son, and all the other soldiers who put their lives on the line every day, and never had the intention to be in the spotlight. That honour is for the troops alone. I agreed to go up only because I thought and hoped that it would help get people behind our troops.
As you may know William was our only son. He used to say when I asked why he wanted to go on this mission, “pops i really want to make a difference.” I only hope that he has. So for all Canadians who care PLEASE SUPPORT OUR TROOPS. You do not have to believe in the mission to support them. I can tell you that the troops themselves do support the mission. They want it brought to a successful conclusion and then come home with the feeling of a job well done. If they come home before, then all like my son William will have died for nothing and the rest of the troops will come home feeling that they have failed. Our troops need to come home as hero’s , with thier heads held high and a feeling of a job well done. They are all hero’s to me.
Sincerly
Errol Cushley
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