Every day is Remembrance Day for Jim Seggie

I do not come from a military family. I come from a family of farmers in Inwood, and I am quite positive that there has only been one person in my family ever to be in the military. Five years ago I was not sure what I wanted to with my life. Maybe I was drunk or something, but I thought that joining the military was good call. But after researching a few other options, I settled on CreComm, and it turned out to be a good call. But just because I don't have a military background, it doesn't mean I don't take the time to remember. 

On November 11 last year, I went to Minto Armouries for the Remembrance Day ceremony. The most memorable experiences about it besides seeing the cadets faint, was Jim Seggie.

Seggie had a son named Mike. Mike died in Afghanistan in 2008. I got to speak with Jim Seggie last year for a school assignment, and again this year for a Metro article.

You can read the Metro article here. 

And this is the story I wrote last year around this time.  

Every Day is Remembrance Day

Soldiers of all ranks marched in unison through Minto Armoury on St. Matthews Avenue with guns drawn. Watching the young men and women practice their routines for the Remembrance Day ceremony like he does every year, Master Warrant Officer Jim Seggie can’t help but think of his son Michael.

"Every day is Remembrance Day for me," says Seggie, “now that the lake has been named after Mike, this Remembrance Day is extra special.”

Four fallen soldiers were honoured by the Manitoba government during a ceremony at the legislature Thursday where it was announced small lakes northwest of Utik Lake, located about 50 kilometres north of Oxford House, will forever bear their names. The fallen soldiers are Private Lane Watkins, Corporal James Arnal, Corporal Michael Seggie and Sapper Sean Greenfield.

21-year-old Michael Seggie, who served in the Second Battalion of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry based in Shilo, Manitoba, died before his time. He and two other soldiers were killed in an attack by Taliban fighters on September 3, 2008. He was on his first tour and less than two weeks away from coming home.

Michael’s death was the 94th since Canada’s Afghan mission began in 2002. To date, 152 Canadian soldiers have died in the war that was brought on by the September 11 attacks on the United States. Canada entered the war almost a year after American troops arrived with the objective of defeating al-Qaida.

Like all other Canadians who die in war, Michael is automatically entitled under a national program to have a geographic feature, such as a lake or hill, named after him. After two years of waiting, Michael was finally honoured earlier this month. There was controversy this summer when Chicago Blackhawks Captain Jonathan Toews was honoured with a lake being named after him while the Seggie family had been waiting years. Seggie said he is not upset anymore that a lake had been named after Toews.

“While the honour came just a little over two years, it was well worth the wait," he says.

Now that the lake has finally been named after Michael, Seggie said he and family members hope to fly to the lake. He says their trip will take some planning, but they will make it happen.

Seggie, who has been in the been in the Canadian Forces for 32 years, makes sure he keeps his son’s memory alive by visiting his grave site regularly and having a wall dedicated their son in their home.

To Seggie, Remembrance Day is a “time to reflect what the soldiers have done for us, for what Mike has done for us.”

            Inside an envelope in his left pocket sat 19 postcards all addressed to him from young Winnipeg students. Seggie was visibly touched by the words on the back of the cards, kind words such as, "Michael gave his life for Canada and so we have a safe place to live," and "thank you for being so brave, we miss your son. I always have your back."