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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A soldier dressed as Santa Claus sat among scores of his fellow troops, watching with rapt attention, as a guitarist clad in the shortest of dresses performed at Kandahar Airfield — a defiant show of Christmas spirit in the shadow of wartime tragedy.
Like the Afghan mission, like life itself, the show had to go on.
As Vancouver-based performer Melanie Dekker’s last chords faded from the inner field, they were replaced by the familar strains of a lone piper Thursday as thousands of soldiers said goodbye to Lt. Andrew Nuttall, a soldier with “fire in his soul.”
In a show of profound respect, they stood silently as pallbearers carried Nuttall’s casket to a military transport waiting to take him from a country he was determined to help and back to his grieving West Coast family.
“It is, no question, a difficult time and we’re very cognizant of the impact this will have on (his family) for the rest of their lives,” said Lt.-Col. Jerry Walsh, commander of the Canadian battle group.
“On this Christmas Eve, at this special time of the year, when giving seems foremost on the minds of so many, Andrew — a true Canadian hero, a selfless young man with a passion for life and a commitment to all peoples — gave his life in the service of his nation.”
Nuttall, 30, an avid athlete from Prince Rupert, B.C., was killed Wednesday by an improvised explosive device during a routine foot patrol in the town of Nakhoney, west of Kandahar city in the restive Panjwaii district of southern Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, too, acknowledged that word of Nuttall’s death was “especially profound” during a season devoted by so many to festivities, family and friends.
Indeed, the incongruity of smiles, silly hats, entertainment and pizza parties alongside the depths of personal tragedy seemed almost to disappear naturally in the often surreal environment of the Afghan war zone.
As one soldier put it, Nuttall was given a properly respectful farewell and his family would surely have wanted the seasonal festivities to go ahead.
A few kilometres away, in a stark reminder of what Canadians like Nuttall are trying to resolve, a man on a horse-drawn cart detonated its load of explosives in the heart of Kandahar city. At least eight people, including a child, were killed, according to police.
“May we fight for the people of Afghanistan for whom Andrew gave his life that they may know peace,” Padre Steve Defer told the troops gathered for Thursday’s ramp ceremony.
In Nuttall’s home province of British Columbia, Premier Gordon Campbell expressed the province’s “deep sadness” and expressed gratitude for his courage and bravery.
“During this season of family and togetherness, the loss of this brave soldier is a reminder of the sacrifices made by the dedicated men and women who work to safeguard our freedoms,” Campbell said.
The blast that killed Nuttall, along with an Afghan soldier, called a sudden end to a period of relative calm in the wake of Afghanistan’s traditional fighting season.
He is survived by his mother Jane and father Richard. Nuttall was a member of 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton.
In a statement, his family said he always put others ahead of himself, and they were proud of his decision to join the military.
“We have lost a bright light in our lives,” they said.
The death was the first of a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan in almost two months — Sapper Steven Marshall died in a similar blast Oct. 30 — and the first since Brig. Gen. Daniel Menard took over as top commander in Kandahar province.
Menard called Nuttall an “excellent young officer” who had “fire in his soul.”
“Andrew came to Afghanistan because he honestly thought he could make a difference to the people of Afghanistan,” Menard said.
“He wanted to lead from the front and set the example, attributes he passionately displayed every time he was in front of his platoon.”
In all, 134 Canadian soldiers have now been killed as part of the Afghan mission since it began in 2002.
With the relative quiet of the post-summer ebb in violence, Canadian soldiers — reinforced by hundreds of fresh American troops — have been attempting to establish secure areas in and around Kandahar city.
Nakhoney, about 25 kilometres southwest of Kandahar City, one part of what has been dubbed the so-called “Panjwaii triangle,” has been an area in which Canadian forces have frequently encountered problems.
