Military: Medal presented to parents of private killed in Afghanistan

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SAINT JOHN - Their final official visit to CFB Gagetown was a bittersweet one for Donnie and Laurie Greenslade.

Enlarge Photo Peter Walsh/Telegraph-JournalDonnie and Laurie Greenslade with the Sacrifice Medal. With them is Lily Faith, an Airedale that replaced Colby, their son David’s Airedale, which was euthanized in December. Last week, the couple received a Sacrifice Medal at a ceremony at the army base. The medal is given to soldiers wounded or killed in action.

It's been nearly three years since their only child Pte. David Greenslade died with five other soldiers in Afghanistan.

"Until this war ends, the active part of it, there's not going to be any real amount of peace," Laurie Greenslade said.

"Every day we wonder, will a soldier die today?"

David Greenslade, a 20-year-old private, was killed on Easter Sunday in 2007, along with five other soldiers, when a roadside bomb exploded as they drove through a maze of irrigation ditches in Afghanistan.

The medal marked a solemn milestone for the Greenslades.

"For us it's the final trip to Gagetown," Laurie Greenslade said. "It's great to have - sorry to have it."

Greenslade, her voice cracking, said the medal is special. It's the final thing, she said.

"I'm very proud of David," she said. "Who would ever think I would raise a hero?"

Brig. Gen. David Naismith presented the medal to the Greenslades and a number of other families.
"I could tell when I looked in General Naismith's eye's, the sincerity of him recognizing the sacrifice," Greenslade said.

Their son's beloved Airedale terrier, Colby, was euthanized in December because of a brain tumour. Published pictures of David Greenslade with his pet, who he called the horse, brought comments from across the country including Hockey Night in Canada's Don Cherry.

The new Airedale is called Lily Faith.

"It's for a little faith," Greenslade said.