COMMUNITY SUPPORTS WOUNDED SOLDIER, FAMILY

John Gardner/Courier
Lisa McKinney, centre, holds one of the many yellow ribbons being worn in the community as a show of support for her boyfriend, Pte. Christopher Deering, who was wounded last weekend in a bomb blast in Afghanistan. Friends Erin Gullison, left, and Jessica Brown helped make the ribbons.


By KATHY BOCKUS
kathy@stcroixcourier.ca

ST. STEPHEN – Yellow ribbons have sprouted up all around town tied on lampposts, street signs, porch pillars and trees.
The ribbons are a message of support and prayer for Chris (Rooney) Deering, son of Greg and Patty Deering, who was seriously wounded in a blast from an improvised explosive device on Saturday, Dec.12 that killed three other soldiers on duty with him in Afghanistan. All four were based at CFB Gagetown with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment.
Leah Nixon, her husband Norman, and friend Heather Wilcox, were out in the middle of a major snowstorm Wednesday, Dec. 17, tying ribbons on basically everything that wasn’t moving.
Their children, Zack and Samantha Nixon and Joel and Megan Wilcox, were on the same school wrestling teams with Deering for years.
“They’ve all been such a tight knit group for so long,” said Leah Nixon. “My oldest son Zack and Chris grew up together. They’ve been wrestling together for years. They graduated together. They’re very close.”
Nixon said Deering’s nickname from his wrestling days is “Rooney”, a name his friends still use while they are frequently e-mailing or chatting on Facebook with him while he is in Afghanistan where he was shipped in early September.
“They’re all so tight,” said Nixon.
She said Deering’s wrestling family has been very concerned about him since they found out about his being wounded.
Nixon said she felt she wanted to do something to show the members of the Deering family that people were thinking about them so on Wednesday morning she called Wilcox and said, “Let’s go ribbon tying.”
The two women bought out all the yellow ribbon to be had at the Wal-Mart and Mardens stores in Calais and, with the help of Nixon’s husband, started tying ribbons.
They started at the cenotaph on Milltown Boulevard and worked their way down that street, up King Street and along Union Street, the street on which the Deerings live, fingers freezing but pushed by determination. They made their way to St. Stephen High School and tied some ribbons there.
“We just feel so helpless. All our kids are hurting right now,” said Nixon, adding that because of the years of friendship, it sort of feels like it’s her son lying in a hospital bed in Germany.
“We want to show the family we’re thinking of them,” she said. “By tying the ribbons we feel like we’re doing something. We’d like to rally the community to do the same. Get some positive energy focused. Tie a ribbon and say a prayer.”
She said all Deering’s wrestling buddies are talking about travelling to Halifax to see him, if that’s where he is sent following his medical treatment in Germany.
“When that flight comes in his (wrestling) family is all going to be there,” she said.
The yellow ribbons are spreading. Teachers at schools in the community have donned tiny yellow ribbons on their collars, shirts or sweaters. SSHS students have made some to wear as well.
Deering’s girlfriend, Lisa McKinney, said the support from the community is overwhelming.
“All the support has been amazing and there are so many people in the town, including family and friends all over Canada, wishing Chris a fast recovery. We appericate all the thoughts and prayers but keep them coming, because there will still be a lengthy recovery when he’s back in Canada,” she said.
One St. Stephen woman is even decorating her Christmas tree with nothing but yellow ribbons.
Crystal Madsen is an aunt of Kayla Madsen, the St. Stephen woman whose boyfriend, Pte. Justin Peter Jones, was killed in the same bomb blast that wounded Deering.
Jones was from Newfoundland but spent most of his off duty time in St. Stephen with Kayla and her family.
“My tree has been up and there wasn’t an ornament on it,” said Madsen on Thursday. “I told my daughters this morning that I thought it would be appropriate to decorate the tree with yellow ribbons, not just for Justin, but for all the boys, in their memory and in their honour and in hopes for Chris Deering at this time.
“I think it would be a good idea if everybody put at least one yellow ribbon on their Christmas tree,” said Madsen.
Madsen described the fallen soldier as “just amazing.”
“He had a smile for everybody. My whole family fell in love. It’s a big loss. This boy who is so amazing, he’s just gone.”
She said the song by Jo Dee Messina entitled, If Heaven Was Needing A Hero is the song now that the family thinks of when they think of Pte. Jones.
Kayla flew to Trenton, Ont., where she met up with Pte. Jones’ parents for their son’s repatriation ceremony when his body was returned to Canada on Tuesday, Dec. 16.
“She’s holding strong right now because she’s a soldier’s girl. He was the most positive thing that could have happened to her and now he’s gone,” said Madsen.
Before she left for Trenton, Kayla said she and Pte. Jones had plans to be married when he finished his tour of duty in Afghanistan.
Lieut. (Navy) Brian Owens, the public affairs spokesperson for CFB Gagetown, said he could not formally release the name of the injured soldier or any information on his condition.
However he did talk about the battalion and their role.
There are 100 members of the 2nd battalion, RCR in Afghanistan as a security company for the Kandahar provincial reconstruction team, comprised of different agencies, both military and civilian, working on the development side of the Canadian mission in that country.
The reconstruction team determines what is needed, said Lt. Owens, things like wells, ditches, roadways, schools and other infrastructure “anything to help the people get back on their feet.”
“It’s a complex process to find out what’s needed,” said the lieutenant. He said local communities determine what projects are needed.
He said it is the job of the 2nd Battalion, RCR, to ensure the safety of the workers and other personnel involved in the reconstruction because there “is still that element that is averse to the development of Afghanistan.”
Deering’s company is due back from its six month deployment in February
“We do pray they come through without any more deaths and injuries, but it is a possibility,” said Owens.
He said it has been a very hard week at the base.
“The deaths of three soldiers hits the battalion very hard. Everyone knows everybody.” He said the military’s main concern now is to take care of the families of the fallen and injured soldiers.