Highway of Heroes

Its is near Spring in Southeastern Ontario – but  Winter will take its ravages again this weekend. I am going to the 401 for the trip to Port Hope and then on to Toronto. I see a Mom with her little boy approaching the 401 overpass. Its already blocked by the Colbourne Fire Department and the 401  has become the Highway for Fallen Heroes.

For the 79th time, a Canadian returns home in  a motorcade to the waves of adults with children and Canadian flags along the Highway of Heroes. It is Trooper Michael Yuki Hayakaze from Edmonton by way of a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.

Each of us,  a dozen or so here – more just down the way in Cobourg and more again at Port Hope wave to the Trooper. And in fact there will be dozens of people on every overpass all the way to downtown Toronto – honoring a fallen soldier. There is a  tinge of loss, like the wetness on the pavement despite a chill wind.

It is a complex conflict  in a near narco-state of Afghanistan tainted with war for over two generations. Pillaged by cross currents of hates between and among Muslims and the infidels who influence if not determine the time and length of their battles. It uses technology imported from the infidels – and strikes 60-70% of the time with roadside IEDs-Improvised Explosive Devices.

And it is the reason Trooper Hayakaze gets to take the trip of his lifetime on the Highway of Fallen Heroes.