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Lucas, Kennedy lauded for leadership
Fallen soldiers well liked by their peers

 
STEVE BARTLETT THE TELEGRAM
The Telegram - 10/04/2007

Myles Kennedy says he was more than Kevin’s dad.

He taught the fallen Canadian soldier in high school at St. Lawrence Academy and coached his boy in a variety of sports, especially basketball and soccer.

Besides being a “top athlete,” Myles Kennedy says Kevin was a “person magnet.

“People wanted to be around him. He would walk into a room and just his mere presence and charisma would just lighten up the room. If it was gloomy, all of a sudden everybody was laughing. He had very, very strong leadership skills ... He was always a leader at everything he went at.” Including, he says, the Canadian military.

The 20-year-old Kennedy, who grew up in St. Lawrence, was one of six Canadian soldiers killed in a roadside bomb attack in southern Afghanistan Sunday. Sgt. Donald Lucas of St. John’s also died in the incident. Both Newfoundlanders and two of the other soldiers killed were members of 2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, which is based in Gagetown, N.B.

“Kevin was well-liked in the military among his peers,” says his father. “Kevin was the go-to guy. When guys were complaining, he’d turned around and say, ‘Boys, let’s suck it up.’ He was well admired. I can tell you that.”

The 31-year-old Lucas, a father of two young children, was also known for his leadership skills and has been for a long time.

Bernard Davis remembers meeting Lucas in the summer of 1992 through the Church Lads Brigade (CLB).

“He took all the young ones under his wing,” says Davis, a lieutenant at the CLB. “He was sort of like the guru of the CLB. He sort of knew everything there was to know. (He had) a lot of leadership experience.”

Lucas went on to become the brigade’s battalion sergeant major, its highest youth rank. According to Davis — who would later fill the same position — “Don is how a lot of us judged ourselves in my age bracket.”



Kennedy told of fire fights

Myles Kennedy says he spoke with his son eight or nine days ago and he was involved in “fire fights” then.

“Even then, (he was) very, very motivated to get the job done to help the people over there. He was acutely aware of the dangers because they faced it night and day, because they were making tremendous success.”

The grieving, but extremely proud, father says that with his second son’s death — his oldest, Michael, is in the Canadian navy — his life will never be the same.

“Part of me has gone,” he says.

The mood is also quite solemn around the CLB, which Lucas joined as a six-year-old.

“It’s a somber mood. Reflective,” says Davis, noting the CLB Armory’s flags were flying at half-mast in honour of the fallen soldiers. “We’re all upset, disappointed. It’s sad when any soldier falls, but it really hits home when you know someone as well as we knew Don. And he has done much for the CLB.”

Col. Keith Arns, the organization’s governor and commandant, echoed Davis’s sentiment. He described Lucas as an outstanding young man who was a model to his peers.

“I’m sure there are boys who looked up to him at the time as an inspiration. I would assume that that would be his legacy.

“His was a good example. He was involved in all our activities. He obtained the rank of sergeant in the Forces and I’m not surprised by that, because we saw the leadership abilities when he was a young man.”

Other soldiers are also grieving Sunday’s casualties.

Capt. Rick Nolan is stationed in Kandahar City — about 75 kilometres away from where the explosion occurred. The Gander native says the mood is “pretty somber.” He learned of Sunday’s attack and spent a couple of hours that night “running it through in my head.

“I didn’t even know at the time where they were from,” Nolan says. “They could have been six guys from my very own unit, and that weighs with you right there — you don’t know ... The anticipation, the dread, I guess, of wondering if you do know them. And, even then, you put that out of your mind and go through the mourning and suffering for the six people who have lost their life. After that, when you find out they are from Newfoundland, it is really too late for it to have a deeper impact.”

Despite the mood caused by the tragedy, Nolan — who didn’t know Kennedy or Lucas — was impressed by the resiliency of the Canadian troops. He says it was business as usual Monday morning.

‘We’ve all volunteered’

“I think it is important that the readers know we understand that these things happen. It’s not that we accept them ... I don’t know how to word it exactly ... but we’ve all agreed to be in this situation. We’ve all volunteered to be in this situation and nobody is going to turn their back on this situation because these things are happening. Like I said, everybody suited up and everybody who went out this morning, did it without hesitation.

“The guys on the ground, they understand the risks. ... We mourn the loss, but we are resilient. We’re going to stay and we are going to do what we are going to do for as long as it takes and we’re told to stay here, and we’ll do it willingly.

“People need to know we are doing it willingly.”

According to his dad, Kevin Kennedy held a similar view.

“Kevin would say, ‘If you see evil and you don’t confront it and if you see evil and evil is causing mayhem and you don’t confront it, somewhere down the line you are going to be forced to confront it.’ ”

After the military protocol, Kennedy will be waked for two days in Marystown before being buried in St. Vincent’s, his mother Kay’s home community.

“He wants to be buried next to his grandmother,” his father says.

Details of Lucas’s funeral were unavailable at press time.


sbartlett@thetelegram.com