Fallen Soldier Comes Home
Posted May 9, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The body of Cpl. Michael Starker returned home Friday.
Paramedics and the family of the latest Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan gathered at CFB Trenton to meet his casket. He is survived by his wife Nicole, his parents Gunther and Helen and sister Carolyn.
Cpl. Starker was a Calgary-based medic and paramedics from across the region attended the repatriation ceremony along with Defence Minister Peter Mackay. EMS workers from Toronto formed part of his honour guard, and an ambulance was part of the procession along the Highway of Heroes from Trenton to Toronto.
The 36-year-old reservist was the 83rd Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan.
He perished Tuesday in southern Afghanistan when his patrol came under fire during an ambush.
His family issued a statement saying: “Mike loved being a paramedic with Calgary EMS and loved being a soldier in the Canadian Forces, especially his time in the Canadian Airborne Regiment.
“Michael died doing what he loved. In his heart, he was a soldier and in his blood, a paramedic. But soldiering wasn’t the only thing that Mike gave his heart to. He gave his heart and soul to his wife, parents, family and friends.”
It was Starker’s second tour of Afghanistan and he was eager to go last February.
Lt.-Col. Roger Scott, commanding officer of 15 Field Ambulance, says Starker had been putting his name in for just about every deployment opportunity that had come up in the past few years and when the chosen few were made public, he was happy to be going.
In Calgary, the Canadian and regimental flag outside the office of 15 Field Ambulance is hanging at half mast.
