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G07 HMCS Athabaskan

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Here is an article sent to me via e-mail. It is a little bit out of date but is very poignant. Strangely enough it is not written by a Canadian.

    I have designed and tied 3 flies in support of our Canadian troops. I consider the Armed Forces my extended family. One is for our soldiers fighting in Afghanistan. One is for all of our other troops serving in non-combat roles, and the other is for all of our troops serving in peacekeeping roles around the world.

On Remembrance Day 2006, I had a thought about these flies. It did not seem right to have 3 flies for the serving troops and not one to signify the sacrifices made by our veterans. So in honor of the Veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces I tied up the following fly.

   It is named CFV which is short for Canadian Forces Veteran. It is tied in the red and black color scheme to denote the colors of the poppy, which is the Canadian symbol of remembrance. The silver you see in the fly is for all the Silver Cross Mothers, whose children have paid the ultimate price serving their country. This fly has also been added to the set of flies given to the military.

    The display case, at the top of the page, has been given to the military. It seemed appropriate that these flies should be displayed where everyone can see them not sitting in my living room. They are, after all, entirely for the troops. I support you folks 100% and I hope everyone else does as well.

    The military has created a custom display case for these 4 new flies. I do not have a picture at present but you should see this thing. It was made in-house by Formation Halifax Imaging. What a fantastic job they did. I tied another three of the original flies, for the military's display case. The original ones became a little too flattened to properly display. The originals are going to be fished next year by Formation Chief PO1 Carberry.

    I would like to thank General Rick Hillier, Chief Of Defense Staff. I had approached him about giving these flies to the military. The General thought this was a worthwhile thing to do. 

    I was given the opportunity to formally present these flies, in their display case, to Rear Admiral Dean McFadden on December 13, 2006. The Rear Admiral is the Commanding Officer of Marlant and the Joint Task Force Atlantic. There were about 15 people in attendance. Of course I have noone's name. I am told the flies will be displayed in Canada House at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan.

    I am not sure I am ready for all the attention this has drawn. I wasn't even thinking about that when I designed these flies. It is all about the troops. I sit back here at CFB Halifax while these brave hero's head out and put their life on the line. I just wanted to show them they are thought about by everyone.

    We have lost far too many good men and women in the fighting in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, and I am certainly hoping not, there will probably be more. We also lose far too many good men to peacekeeping duties.

    I have decided to do a set of memorial flies. What I will do with them I do not know. If you have an opinion drop me an e-mail and let me know what you think.

    Below are the pictures and story behind each of the original flies I tied. I hope you like them! I also have a page done on the HMCS Athabaskan. I tied a fly for the ship and crew. Check it out here. If you are interested in the fly pattern so you can tie your own, they are posted on my Salmon Wet Flies pages. You can view a slightly larger picture of these flies by clicking on them.

	This fly I have named the Red Friday. The reason for this is Canadians have decided to show support for the troops by wearing something red on Fridays. You will notice a little yellow in the fly and that is my way of signifying the yellow ribbon you see at the top of the page.
	This is the Red Friday brooch pin. I tied this one for myself to wear to work on Fridays. Has the same pattern as the above fly. It is just tied on a fishing hook brooch pin.
	I have designed 2 distinct patterns for the Peacekeeper. Peacekeeping is something Canada and it's Armed Forces are known for, around the world. The first fly is called the Peacekeeper Hairwing. This one is dedicated to all our men and women serving everywhere in non-combat roles.
	The second fly is called the Peacekeeper Featherwing. The feather wing version definitely shows the colors of the wing well. The red and white in the body and wing represents the color layout of the Canadian flag. The light blue on top of the wing represents the color of the UN berets usually worn by our peacekeepers.

Copyright © 2007 by Joel Sampson. All rights reserved.
Revised: Friday, November 16, 2007 1:54 PM
Saj's Fly Tying Pages banner graphic is copyright © 2007 by Tanya Marchenko and used with permission.
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