Former Shilo soldier receives award for pandemic response
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/11/2023 (910 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A former Shilo 2PPCL commanding officer will receive the prestigious Meritorious Service Decoration, presented by Gov. Gen. Mary Simon in a ceremony in Ottawa tomorrow.
From November 2020 to January 2021, Col. Michael Reekie led a team of dedicated Manitoba soldiers into six remote First Nation communities, including Red Sucker Lake First Nation, Cross Lake First Nation and Shamattawa First Nation, that had been hit hard by COVID-19.
“We provided two principal things. Number one was just immediate life support – bringing food and the right supplies to people because they couldn’t get it (in the remote communities while ill with COVID),” Reekie said in an interview from Edmonton, where he is now posted. “We were bringing firewood, ice blocks, the essentials to survive at -50 C. You can’t do it yourself because you’re bedridden with COVID. The second line was like very general purpose medical support. Just doing like welfare checks on folks that were ill.”
Col. Michael John Reekie (Submitted)
Reekie said soldiers were called back from personal leave at Christmas to respond to the emergencies in the remote communities. But he said was amazed at the high morale of the soldiers and the way they lifted residents’ spirits at Christmas.
“I have never seen morale at a battalion so high, to tell you the truth. It sounds counterintuitive to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to take away Christmas.’ But soldiers are in the army to serve Canadians. That’s why we are here,” Reekie said. “This Christmas (in 2020), we were home in Canada with Canadians. So maybe not our blood relatives. But I think we were giving back to the nation and our fellow citizens in a time of need. That’s what was kind of unique about this. It was an operational task, but at home in Canada. People really needed to be helped at that time.”
Reekie is quick to acknowledge that he may be accepting the honour, but it is an award for his whole company that provided the much-needed support to the First Nation communities.
“In terms of the award itself, it’s a reflection on the entirety of the unit – 2PPCLI and all the great domestic work that our soldiers did, to support fellow Canadians at the time of need. So it’s less of an individual award and much more, I think, is a recognition of the role that the battalion played during this time,” Reekie said.
Also being recognized with the Governor General’s Meritorious Service Decoration is former Shilo soldier Major Christopher Donavon Lunney, who has retired. A total of 62 of the awards will be presented on Thursday.