2006, Nov 27, Corporal Albert Storm CD, 1RCR, Afghanistan

Here is a copy of the speech for those who could not attend.

Good afternoon.

My name is Michael Blais, I am the president of the Niagara Branch, The RCR Association. Permit me to welcome you on behalf of the Cpl Albert Storm CD Branch, Canadian Association of Veterans of United Nations Peacekeeping, the Niagara branch, the RCR Association and the unit wherein Albert served so valiantly, The Royal Canadian Regiment. I cannot express how grateful we are as a regimental brotherhood to see so many veterans, legionnaires and Friends of the Regiment join us today as we offer our continuing support to Cpl Storm’s family and commemorate his ultimate sacrifice for the sake of this great nation.

Since we assembled here last year, our Branch has been very honoured to assist the Crystal Beach Fireman’s Association in their quest to honour our regimental brother by creating the Cpl Albert Storm CD memorial playground in Crystal Beach Ontario. This project was successfully completed on the 19th of September, 2009 and I would take this opportunity to once again thank the many people present that contributed to this honourable project. By all accounts, Albert loved children and it is so appropriate that a measure of his legacy would include such a noble facility.

Today, we have joined together to commemorate the memory of Corporal Albert Storm CD. Albert was a valiant member of 1st battalion of The Royal Canadian Regiment and at the moment of his sacrifice was deployed to Khandahar as a member of The RCR Battle Group, Joint Task Force Afghanistan. Albert was a senior corporal with the Regiment and had been selected to drive the Bison APC of a Royal Canadian whom I knew and had the pleasure of serving with thirty years ago when the RCR maintained Cold War vigilance in what was then West Germany.

His name was Robert Girouard and at the time of his death he served as 1 RCRs Regimental Sergeant Major. Many of you met his widow Jacqueline this past summer when she joined us from Kingston to participate in the Niagara Falls STT Rally and Pachino Day dinner and I can assure you, our prayers have been with her during this mournful period. Having known Bobby and the sense of loyalty his very presence instilled, it is no surprise to me whatsoever to note Cpl Storm’s determination to deploy to Afghanistan for the second time.

Albert Storm was thirty-six years old and a mere three years away from retirement when he and RSM Girouard were attacked by a Taliban suicide bomber on November 27, 2006. Albert joined The Royal Canadian Regiment in 1990 and by 2006 had become a seasoned veteran with tours in Croatia and Kosovo. I would have you read the tributes on the second and third page of your brochure. They were written by Major Robert McBride and Drill Sergeant Major Rolfe, Royal Canadians who served with Cpl Storm in Kosovo. By 2005, Albert had served in Afghanistan once already and was determined to join his regimental brothers in 1 RCR for the next deployment.

Had he wished, Cpl Albert Storm could have been honourably excluded from the 1RCR’s deployment to Afghanistan. Albert had been seriously injured prior to the scheduled training regimen and there was very little time to recuperate and return to combat fitness levels before the First and Finest deployed.

Cpl Albert Storm did not wish!

Cpl Albert Storm was motivated by a devotion to this great nation to which he had selflessly served with distinction since 1990 and a powerful allegiance to his regimental brotherhood. Painful rehab and hours in the gym were required and it was through this steadfast resolve that Albert was confirmed for deployment to Khandahar, Afghanistan where he would serve as Regimental Sergeant Major Girouard’s driver.

Approximately three years, one day and seven hours ago, Corporal Albert Storm and RSM Robert Girouard were in a convoy of vehicles traveling on Highway 4 between the Khandahar Air Field and Khandahar City. The tactical situation at the time was very tense as Operation Medusa, the first major combat operation the Canadian Armed Forces and The Royal Canadian Regiment experienced since the Battle for Hill 187 in Korea, May, 1953, was being fully implemented. Twelve Canadians would perish before Taliban forces, sustaining hundreds of casualties, were vanquished from the field of battle.

Cpl Storm was driving RSM Girouard’s Bison, an eight-wheeled Armoured Personnel Carrier laden with ammunition, medical supplies, water and rations destined for 1RCR’s rifle companies as they advanced to contact through the Panjawai Valley. Regimental Sergeant Major Robert Girouard was in the Bison’s commander’s hatch where he assisted Albert by navigating and searching the area around them for IEDS.

At approximately 0830 hrs Afghani time, a Taliban suicide bomber approached the Canadian convoy driving a car containing a massive improvised explosive device.

The consequences were catastrophic.

Albert Storm and Robert Girouard, two of Canada’s finest sons, did not survive this cowardly attack and would, to The Royal Canadian Regiment’s profound dismay, become the 12th and 13th member of the RCR to be engraved upon the Regiment’s Afghanistan Roll of Honour. Three years after this tragic event, 14 more valiant Royal Canadians have died fighting in Afghanistan including Cpl Tyler Crooks and Mcpl Sean Vermelli. Lest we forget.

Most of the members of the Niagara Branch, The RCR Association and those veterans and legionnaires who have assembled here today to honour our fallen comrade did not personally know Albert Storm. We are of another generation and in many instances our time on active duty preceded Albert’s by decades. This afternoon, there are Royal Canadians present who have served from the battle ravaged hills of Korea, to Cyprus, the Golan and the Middle East, Bosnia, Kosovo and Croatia. Most of our missions were conducted under vastly different conditions then Canadian soldiers in Khandahar now experience and were more often then not bereft of the extreme violence, terror, anarchy and turmoil we have borne witness to in Afghanistan since 2003.

Yet while we may have not known Albert Storm the man, we know in our hearts Albert Storm our brother. Albert Storm was a Royal Canadian, a fraternal member of a regimental brotherhood that has flourished for 126 years and contributed valiant young patriots very much like Albert Storm to every major conflict abroad since Queen Victoria waged war against the Boers at the turn of the last century.

Today, we stand beneath our regimental banner and national flag to honour our brother’s contribution and to revere Corporal Albert Storm’s ultimate sacrifice on behalf of the Regiment, Canada and this nation’s honourable quest to bring peace and security to the destitute and oppressed people of Afghanistan. Let us take this solemn opportunity to reflect on our regimental brother Albert’s service and in his name, pray for the safety his many valiant comrades who will this spring once again fly the banner of freedom in Khandahar with 1st battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment.

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