Canada Jay Renaud,Medal of Military Valour, Afghanistan [Archive] - APACHE CLIPS - A MILITARY MEDIA AND FORUM FEATURING AWESOME VIDEOS AND PICTURES

bobdina

08-23-2009, 12:46 PM

The explosion that killed two of his crew mates in Afghanistan blew Pte. Jay James Renaud out of his armoured vehicle and knocked him out.

When the Essex County native came to, he ignored his own injuries to provide life-saving first aid to a seriously wounded crew member.

His actions following the deadly April 11, 2007, incident have earned him Canada’s third highest military decoration — the Medal of Military Valour — which he will receive Wednesday from Governor General Michaelle Jean in Ottawa.

“I’m very honoured to get the award,” Renaud, 21, said in a phone interview from Canadian Forces Base Petawawa. “It means a lot to me and to my two comrades who are receiving it with me.”

Pte. Shane Aaron Bradley Dolmovic of Cottlesville, N.L., and Cpl. Dave Gionet, of Pigeon-Hill, N.B., will also receive medals of Military Valour for pulling another soldier to safety following the same explosion that killed Master Cpl. Allan Stewart, 30, and Trooper Patrick James Pentland, 23.

All were members of the Royal Canadian Dragoons stationed in Petawawa.

Renaud, still reluctant to talk about the ordeal, said he and his Coyote crew were returning from three days manning an advanced reconnaissance duty at a forward observation post near Nalgham, Afghanistan. They were 38 kilometres west of Kandahar City in the Zhari district at about 8 p.m. when their Coyote military vehicle drove over an improvised explosive device (IED). There had been a similar blast nearby earlier in the day in which one Canadian was injured.

“My vehicle hit an IED sending it on it sideways and I was ejected,” Renaud recalled. “Two crew mates were killed. The others survived with injuries. I did a lot of handling the casualties.”

He lost consciousness at first, but upon coming to began tending to the wounded. He described his own injures as non-life-threatening, whiplash and a few minor wounds, one to the knee. He returned to the Canadian forces base at Kandahar the following day.

When asked how he felt in the moments and days immediately following the blast, he said: “I don’t know. I was just in mourning after that.”

The attack came during a particularly bloody period for the Canadian troops. The previous day there had been a ramp ceremony at the Canadian base for six fallen comrades.

Nevertheless, Renaud said, he decided to stick out his deployment until August.

“I did have options,” he said. “It’s just I wasn’t that injured. I wanted to stay and finish my duty. There was probably a little anger involved. It seemed like the honourable thing to do.”

Renaud, who went to high school in Tilbury and joined the military at age 18 “for something to do and to travel,” returned to Canada in August. He said he has since visited family and friends in the Windsor and Light House Cove area. He said he rarely talks about his military experiences with his friends, though they have congratulated him and he knows they are proud of his service.

Asked whether his tour has changed his changed his thinking on the Canadian mission in Afghanistan, Renaud would say only: “No comment. It would be a biased opinion.”

He isn’t sure if he will return but possibly “in a year or so,” he said.

In the future, he plans to return to university and study pharmacology, possibly pursuing a career as a pharmacist in the military.

Joseph Renaud, Pte. Renaud’s father, said he wasn’t surprised to learn of his son’s actions under pressure, and described Jay’s general personality as “very nonchalant.”

Still, the incident was “quite an ordeal” for Jay, and it wasn’t until several months after that Jay started returning to his old self, Joseph Renaud said.

“When he came home (in August), it was a soldier who’d just got back from the field. Normally, they are quiet anyhow. Well, this didn’t help. And it wasn’t until at Christmas when he came down again that you could see ... that some of his humour was coming back.”

Only three people are allowed to accompany Jay in the room where the Governor General will pin on his medal.

Joseph Renaud said his son specifically asked that the soldier who was seriously injured in the IED blast attend the ceremony. “He wants him to be a part of that... It’s because of him that (Jay)’s getting that.”

Pte. Renaud will be among 36 soldiers to be decorated Wednesday for their service in the war in Afghanistan.

Joseph Renaud said he is “extremely proud” of his son. “I am a true Canadian. I really respect what these soldiers do. And I find it really difficult that so many people question our responsibility for NATO... They don’t understand the sacrifices that we have to make in order for us to enjoy what we have, and other people to have the opportunity to experience what we have.”