Picture sourced: Royal Canadian Legion
This year’s national Silver Cross Mother has special significance here in the Ottawa Valley.
Virginia Hicks’s daughter Sapper Mariebeth Short was stationed at Garrison Petawawa (formerly CFB Petawawa) when she was killed on September 23rd, 2002.
Short, a member of 2 CER, was just 22 years-old when the light-armoured vehicle she was in rolled over during a training exercise on base.
Known as “shorty” to her colleagues, Short was a combat engineer who was known to be small in stature but mighty in her abilities. When she died, she was preparing for a possible deployment to Afghanistan or Bosnia.
Her mom Virginia makes an annual visit to Petawawa with her husband Brian to honour her daughter’s memory and her time in service.
As the Silver Cross Mother, Hicks will lay a wreath at the cenotaph in Ottawa during the national ceremony on Wednesday.
“Her presence on behalf of all mothers is so incredibly meaningful,” says Sharon McKeown, Dominion President at the Royal Canadian Legion. “In sharing her daughter’s story, we are all reminded with deep gratitude, of the incredible sacrifice of those who give their lives in service to our country. We will remember her.”
The naming of the national Silver Cross Mother is an annual tradition by the Royal Canadian Legion, recognizing the mother of a fallen Canadian Armed Forces member each Remembrance Day.
(Written by: Cindy Clyne)