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The Governor General has honoured Canada's first fallen female soldier for sacrificing her life in Afghanistan with a meritorious service medal.
Capt. Nichola Goddard, a Calgarian who last May became the first Canadian woman soldier killed in combat, was posthumously awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for her work in Afghanistan.
Goddard died at age 26 in a rocket-propelled grenade attack while serving in Afghanistan on May 17.
In Ottawa on Monday, Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean presented 33 medals for meritorious service, some for work done in Afghanistan, some for other missions.
Jean presented Goddard's husband, Jason Beam, with her award.
"I'm not quite sure she would enjoy all this publicity about it and being up front and on stage and everything," he said.
"She definitely deserves it and definitely earned it."
The Goddard family's grief was played out in the public eye as the nation mourned the passing of the first female Canadian soldier to die in battle.
When Goddard was buried in Ottawa, her family kept some of her ashes to place in Calgary.
On Monday, Jean presented six other medals to men who performed extraordinary deeds under fire in Afghanistan.
On a stifling afternoon in Afghanistan last summer, a group of Canadian soldiers came under heavy fire as they attacked a Taliban outpost.
After two senior leaders were hit, Sgt. Patrick Tower took over command. With rocket-propelled grenades going off all around, with machine-gun fire lashing the area, Tower led a medic and a second soldier over 150 metres of bullet-whipped ground to the rescue of the wounded.
He loaded them aboard an armoured vehicle and got them to safety. Four soldiers died that day and more might have been lost but for Towers.
That same summer, Capt. William Hilton Fletcher, Tower's company commander, made a habit of leading under fire, even after two soldiers were shot down beside him.
On Monday, Sgt. Patrick Tower of Edmonton and Sidney, B.C. and Capt. William Hilton Fletcher of Edmonton, became the first soldiers to receive the Star of Military Valour, second only to the Victoria Cross as a decoration for courage. Four others were awarded the Medal of Military Bravery, the third ranking medal.
The country's awards for military valour were established in 1993, but were never awarded until Monday.
Fletcher and Tower were cited for courage and selflessness.
"Sgt. Tower's courage and selfless devotion to duty contributed directly to the survival of the remaining platoon members," his citation read.
Fletcher's citation said: "His selfless courage, tactical acumen and effective command were pivotal to the success of his company in defeating a determined opponent."
Tower, a soft-spoken, modest young man, said he was surprised by news of his award. "I was just doing my job."
He said the loss of four soldiers killed that afternoon, overshadows the honour, but he paid tribute to his comrades.
"Although it was a bad day, the way the troops acted, the way they fought and faced the enemy, they showed so much bravery that day. The medal's for the whole platoon."
Sgt. Michael Denine of Edmonton and St. John's, N.L., Master Cpl. Collin Fitzgerald of Shilo, Man., and Morrisburg, Ont., Pte. Jason Lamont of Edmonton and Greenwood, N.S., and Capt. Derek Prohar of Edmonton and Avonlea, Sask., were cited for valiant and selfless action.
Denine was in an armoured vehicle when its main gun and machine-gun broke down. He climbed out to an exposed gun and drove off the attackers while completely exposed to fire.
Fitzergerald was in a convoy that was hit by a roadside bomb. He climbed into a burning vehicle to drive it off the road and allow the rest of the convoy to get out of the fire zone.
Lamont, a medic, sprinted across open ground under fire to aid a wounded soldier.
Prohar was serving with the American Green berets when their convoy was ambushed. Despite being wounded, he manned a machine-gun to return fire.
The Governor General said the fighting in Afghanistan has exposed soldiers to the deadliest combat since Korea.
"However, our forces' experience in Afghanistan suggests that the most trying circumstances can bring forth the most noble human qualities," she said. "Qualities like loyalty, bravery, resourcefulness, compassion, boldness and sheer determination."
Fletcher said he doesn't remember what went through his head as he led his men to the attack. But he said he's learned that the ties between fighting men are very close.
"It's been said that you go to war for Queen and country but you fight for your fire-team partner, the guy by your side, and I think that's very true.
"There's a bond that I really can't put into words that I've got with the soldiers I was overseas with."
Fletcher said the hardest things he did in Afghanistan were the airport ceremonies sending dead soldiers home.
"We take, I guess, a bit of comfort there knowing that they all died doing their duty. They died moving towards the enemy. They died doing what we asked of them."
Tower is due to return to Afghanistan a year from now.
Why?
"I believe deeply in the mission and why we're there. I've seen all the good things that we do over there."
Fletcher isn't scheduled to go back, but said he would go without a qualm.
"I would go back any time because I firmly believe we are doing some good there."
He said he has some advice for soldiers going to Afghanistan for the first time: "Stay low, move fast and rely on your training."