Biography
GRAHAM, Private Mark Anthony - Suddenly and tragically while serving his country in Afghanistan, on September 3, 2006, at the age of 33. Beloved son of Albert and Linda. Loving brother of Jason and Daniel. Cherished father of Shae-Lynn. Dear grandson of Dane Learn. Mark will be fondly remembered by many aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. Visitation will take place at West Highland Baptist Church, 1605 Garth Street, Hamilton, Ontario on Tuesday from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Funeral Service will be held at West Highland Baptist Church, Wednesday at 1 p.m. Private Family Interment, Beechwood Cemetery, Ottawa. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Shae-Lynn's Trust Fund or Stewart Memorial Church.
The death of Private Graham hit the Hamilton community hard
By Evelyn Myrie
(Sep 11, 2006)
Hamiltonians from all walks of life awoke to the news last week that one of our own citizens had been killed in Afghanistan.
Thirty-three-year-old Private Mark Anthony Graham became the city's first casualty of the war in Afghanistan. The daily news of this brutal war became painfully real to us as we acknowledged that one of our young talented men had been killed in the prime of his life.
The Afghanistan mission has so far claimed the lives of 32 Canadian soldiers.
One Sunday, not too long ago, Private Graham, proudly wearing his full army uniform, walked into Stewart Memorial Church with his father Albert, who serves as deacon at the city's oldest black church. This impressive and regal figure had come to tell the congregation of his plans. He was heading out to join his battalion based in Petawawa. He stood elegantly, and confidently -- with so much promise. His dad proudly looked on as the congregation admired his son.
The close-knit congregation wished him well and Stewart Memorial Pastor George Horton offered a special prayer for his safe return to his family.
It was not to be. News of his death has hit hard.
This promising young man, who represented Canada on the world stage when he ran as a member of the country's 4x400 metre relay team at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, was killed and more than 30 others wounded when two U.S. aircraft mistakenly opened fire on Canadians. This horrific attack from friendly fire is hard to bear: too many questions and not enough answers.
A shining star is cut down too soon.
From the many tributes to him, it is evident that Mark Graham was a specially gifted young man who came to Hamilton from his native Jamaica some two decades ago and became a solid and integral member of his new community. He embraced his new home and in return it embraced him.
His family and friends were proud of his accomplishments, especially the athletic scholarship from Nebraska University in the late '90s. According to former coach Gary Pepin, "Mark was a great person and probably one of the most gifted student-athletes we have ever had here at Nebraska."
Family friend Bill Delisser said Graham joined the 1st Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment and was deployed to Afghanistan last month because he wanted to contribute to his community.
His hopes and dreams as a father of one and the older brother to two young men will remain no more than that.
His death by friendly fire makes it more difficult to comprehend. It brings back the painful reminder of the 2002 "friendly fire" bombing of Canadian troops that killed four young men.
Ontario's Lieutenant Governor James Bartleman was right in his statement of condolences to the Mark Graham's family: "It takes a special courage to face the terrors of war and to endure the grief that it can bring."
Freelance columnist Evelyn Myrie lives in Hamilton and is a social development consultant.
City soldier's funeral to be held Wednesday
The Hamilton Spectator
(Sep 11, 2006)
The body of Private Mark Graham arrived home yesterday, one week after the Hamilton soldier was killed in Afghanistan when an American pilot accidentally fired on Canadian troops.
The hearse carrying his body from Toronto was accompanied by a single unmarked police vehicle and arrived at the Cresmount Funeral Home on Fennell Avenue East yesterday afternoon.
Graham's family, including his parents Albert and Linda, brothers Jason and Daniel, and seven-year-old daughter, Shae-Lynn, were at CFB Trenton last Wednesday to meet Graham's flag-draped casket when it arrived from Afghanistan.
The bodies of four other soldiers killed the day before Graham also came home. Graham was the first Hamilton soldier killed since the Korean War.
Graham, 33, became a local hero when he ran for Canada in the 1992 Olympic Games in the 4 X 400 men's relay.
A Canadian flag outside the funeral home was lowered to half-mast, an honour funeral director Emily Balsdon said was reserved for prominent community members.
A visitation will be held at West Highland Fellowship Baptist Church at 1605 Garth Street tomorrow from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m.
A funeral will be held at the church on Wednesday at 1 p.m. On Friday, Graham will be buried in the National Military Cemetery in Ottawa. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Shae Lynn's Trust Fund or Stewart Memorial Church.
Donation cards will be available at both the visitation and the funeral or through the Cresmount Funeral Home at 905-387-2111. Online condolences and tributes can also be made at
www.mem.com.
By PAUL MORSE The Hamilton Spectator
(Sep 9, 2006)
Albert Graham walks slowly into his west Mountain back yard, lush with elderberry-laden bushes, smoke trees and a trickling stream and pond.
"This is my sanctuary," he says, the place he's spent many hours since he was told his eldest son, Private Mark Graham, 33, had been killed in Afghanistan by an American pilot who fired on Canadian troops by mistake six days ago.
"Why does it keep happening?" he asks, his close family gathered around him. "It happened before, it happened now, and I'm sure it will happen again if they don't communicate properly ... Don't guess. Don't hope you have it right."
Graham and his wife Linda, along with sons Jason and Daniel, are struggling to find the right balance between their pride in their son's military career and outright anger his life was taken away by a military blunder. It has not been easy for them.
"I believe in peace, I don't like wars -- too many parents suffer," Albert Graham says, as his sons sit close by, one caressing his thigh whenever tears well up. "Bombs, bullets, they all kill," Graham says with sudden vehemence. "And I'm mad."
Losing a son to U.S. friendly fire is an unbelievably complex emotional issue for the Graham family. Mark's seven-year-old daughter is American, and lives with her mother in Ohio.
And Mark's younger brother, Daniel, 21, is also in the Canadian military, just out of boot camp and stationed at CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick. They won't say it aloud, but their fear for Daniel is palpable.
Graham was a world-class runner who competed for Canada at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, then moved to the U.S. after first being recruited by the University of Nebraska, then moving to Kent State University.
He was full of life, full of fun, his dad says.
At the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, B.C., Graham was stunned when he was invited to lunch with Queen Elizabeth. His dad told him to be a gentleman, so he sang O Canada for the Queen before becoming so flustered he forgot the words and fellow Canadians came to his rescue by joining in.
Graham met Traci Luther, 31, a national-calibre high jumper, in Ohio, and they became partners for six years before parting amicably. Their daughter, Shae-Lynn, 7, lives with her mother in Youngstown.
When injuries ended his running career, Graham returned to Hamilton and joined the military in 2004.
"He thought the army would be a good place to continue to serve his community," his father said. "I was happy for him and I encouraged him."
Graham also saw the military as a way to develop his computer technology skills, his family says, but he was also interested in using his university psychology training to help soldiers with post traumatic stress disorder.
Graham was very excited when word came he would head to Afghanistan with his 1st Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment at the beginning of August.
"For the first couple of weeks, he talked to us twice a day," his dad says. "He believed he was trained enough to be OK, but that there was no guarantee."
The Canadian troops were sent into Afghanistan's Panjwaii district in Operation Medusa, a major anti-Taliban operation west of Kandahar.
On Monday, two U.S. A-10 Thunderbolt ground-attack warplanes mistakenly fired on Graham's platoon. Graham was killed and more than 30 were injured.
Yesterday, Major Matthew Sprague, of Kenora, said the soldiers had just woken up and were "lounging around having breakfast" when they came under fire. The attack caused dozens of casualties, but Sprague shuddered to think what it would have been like if the pilot hadn't stopped firing when he did.
"I turned around and started walking up the hill and all of a sudden bad things happened," he recalled. He likened the scene to "walking into a wall of blue sparks and people beating you on the head with a hammer."
"Why did it happen to my son?" Albert Graham says.
If nothing else, the military needs to improve battlefield coordination and communications between ground and air troops "so they know where their comrades are and are not just guessing."
A military memorial was held at CFB Petawawa yesterday, where four of five soldiers killed last weekend were based.
In a letter to the soldiers, the Graham family thanked members of Mark's platoon for "being there in at his time of greatest need" and prayed for physical and emotional healing.
The Grahams are bringing his body back to Hamilton for public visitation at West Highland Fellowship Baptist Church Tuesday, from 2 to 4 p.m., and 7 to 9 p.m. A private full military funeral will be held at the church on Wednesday at 1 p.m. Graham will be buried Friday in the National Military Cemetery in Ottawa.
With files from Canadian Press
