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Welcome Home, John Robert Gallagher

by Jonn Lilyea••8

Welcome Home John Robert

Former Canadian soldier, John Robert Gallagher, was killed in Syria earlier this month while fighting with the Kurds against ISIS. The UK’s Daily Mail reports that his hometown, New London, Ontario, turned out in large numbers to welcome Gallagher on his last trip home;

Hundreds including firefighters, the local police force and supporters came out to pay their respects, as they lined overpasses while a hearse carrying Gallagher’s casket made its way along a major highway in Ontario known as the Highway of Heroes.

[…]

His mother, Valerie Carder, was overwhelmed by everyone who came out to honor her son during his homecoming.

‘We’re very, very touched and we want to thank everyone very much,’ she told CTV News.

‘It’s such an honor for my son, and I hope that it can do some good in terms of bringing awareness to the situation that he went to try and help.’

John Robert

According to the article, Gallagher was shot at close range in a gun battle with ISIS troops with a 9mm pistol and bled to death as a result. The Kurds consider him a hero and a Kurdish martyr, I guess that’s tribute enough coming from an entire tribe of heroes.

Thanks to one of our ninjas for the link.

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8 thoughts on “Welcome Home, John Robert Gallagher”

  2. Rest In Peace John Gallagher. You gave your best, then went to give more, then you gave your all. I wish I had had the honor of knowing you.

  3. And they who for their country die shall fill an honored grave, for glory lights the soldier’s tomb, and beauty weeps the brave.

    —Joseph Rodman Drake

  4. In Flanders fields the poppies blow
    Between the crosses, row on row,
    That mark our place; and in the sky
    The larks, still bravely singing, fly
    Scarce heard amid the guns below.

    We are the Dead. Short days ago
    We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
    Loved and were loved, and now we lie
    In Flanders fields.

    Take up our quarrel with the foe:
    To you from failing hands we throw
    The torch; be yours to hold it high.
    If ye break faith with us who die
    We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
    In Flanders fields.

    — “In Flanders Fields,” LtCol John Macrae, MD

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