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C.B.S. native to receive Medal of Military Valour
DAVE BARTLETT
The Telegram
A Canadian forces medical technician originally from this province will soon be awarded the Medal of Military Valour.
According to a Canadian Forces website, Master Cpl. Michael Bursey of Conception Bay South will get the medal "for courage and decisive leadership when exposed to sustained enemy fire, he repeatedly returned to a burning vehicle filled with exploding ordnance, to help extract and tend to casualties."
On Friday, The Telegram reached Bursey at Canadian Forces Base Shilo in Manitoba, where he is stationed.
On Sept. 3 of last year, Bursey said his unit was parked while on patrol when the light armored vehicle (LAV) next to him burst into flames.
"We were ambushed in the Pandjwaii area and one of the LAVs exploded," the 36-year-old said in an interview.
Three of his comrades - Cpl. Andrew Grenon, Cpl. Mike Seggie and Pte. Chad Horn - were killed and five others wounded.
"I had to go and get them out of where they were and we were under heavy enemy fire at the same time and the LAV was burning and it was full of explosives - grenades and bullets - and they were exploding around us at the same time we were getting shot at," he said, describing that day.
Bursey said if he and his fellow soldiers didn't try to help the wounded they would have lost more of their colleagues.
His seven-month tour of duty was scheduled to end only days after the explosion.
The day it occurred was to be their second-last patrol before returning to Canada, but was their last.
Bursey said it's been mentally hard to deal with what happened, but he credits his family and military colleagues for helping him deal with it, and he's doing pretty well now.
Seggie's father Jim - also a member of the armed forces - and Bursey have become very close since he's returned from Afghanistan.
And Bursey's wife is working on organizing a charity hockey game in Shilo for November to raise money in Seggie's name.
Bursey's sister, Madonna Scott, still lives in C.B.S. She says the family is very proud of him.
"Ever since he was a little boy he was interested in helping people," she told The Telegram. "He joined St. John Ambulance when he was seven years old."
Scott said when her brother was overseas she worried about him.
"From the day he went over there, you live your life in fear," she said. "If the phone rang in the night time, you were just scared to death to answer it."
Scott said she was the contact person if something were to happen to her brother and would have been the person to tell their mother, if anything were to happen.
When asked if he'd go back to Afghanistan, Bursey didn't hesitate.
"I'd certainly go back again, in a heartbeat. I really do believe in the mission and I do believe in the work we're doing over there," he said.
While Bursey may be ready for another tour in Afghanistan, Scott is in no rush to see him go again.
"I'd just like to take him and hide him somewhere so they can't find him to send him back," she said with a bit of a nervous chuckle. "I don't know how we'd managed to get through another tour."
But Scott knows it's part of the job her brother loves.
Bursey said he doesn't know when he'll get the medal, but it will be presented to him sometime in the future by the governor general at a ceremony in Ottawa.
dbartlett@thetelegram.com
Master Cpl. Michael Bursey, a medical technician with the Canadian Forces, poses in full military gear in front an armoured vehicle in Afghanistan. — Submitted photo
Yes I know the caption is wrong but taken directly from the article link.
Edited by Roy Harding to correct spelling in title
C.B.S. native to receive Medal of Military Valour
DAVE BARTLETT
The Telegram
A Canadian forces medical technician originally from this province will soon be awarded the Medal of Military Valour.
According to a Canadian Forces website, Master Cpl. Michael Bursey of Conception Bay South will get the medal "for courage and decisive leadership when exposed to sustained enemy fire, he repeatedly returned to a burning vehicle filled with exploding ordnance, to help extract and tend to casualties."
On Friday, The Telegram reached Bursey at Canadian Forces Base Shilo in Manitoba, where he is stationed.
On Sept. 3 of last year, Bursey said his unit was parked while on patrol when the light armored vehicle (LAV) next to him burst into flames.
"We were ambushed in the Pandjwaii area and one of the LAVs exploded," the 36-year-old said in an interview.
Three of his comrades - Cpl. Andrew Grenon, Cpl. Mike Seggie and Pte. Chad Horn - were killed and five others wounded.
"I had to go and get them out of where they were and we were under heavy enemy fire at the same time and the LAV was burning and it was full of explosives - grenades and bullets - and they were exploding around us at the same time we were getting shot at," he said, describing that day.
Bursey said if he and his fellow soldiers didn't try to help the wounded they would have lost more of their colleagues.
His seven-month tour of duty was scheduled to end only days after the explosion.
The day it occurred was to be their second-last patrol before returning to Canada, but was their last.
Bursey said it's been mentally hard to deal with what happened, but he credits his family and military colleagues for helping him deal with it, and he's doing pretty well now.
Seggie's father Jim - also a member of the armed forces - and Bursey have become very close since he's returned from Afghanistan.
And Bursey's wife is working on organizing a charity hockey game in Shilo for November to raise money in Seggie's name.
Bursey's sister, Madonna Scott, still lives in C.B.S. She says the family is very proud of him.
"Ever since he was a little boy he was interested in helping people," she told The Telegram. "He joined St. John Ambulance when he was seven years old."
Scott said when her brother was overseas she worried about him.
"From the day he went over there, you live your life in fear," she said. "If the phone rang in the night time, you were just scared to death to answer it."
Scott said she was the contact person if something were to happen to her brother and would have been the person to tell their mother, if anything were to happen.
When asked if he'd go back to Afghanistan, Bursey didn't hesitate.
"I'd certainly go back again, in a heartbeat. I really do believe in the mission and I do believe in the work we're doing over there," he said.
While Bursey may be ready for another tour in Afghanistan, Scott is in no rush to see him go again.
"I'd just like to take him and hide him somewhere so they can't find him to send him back," she said with a bit of a nervous chuckle. "I don't know how we'd managed to get through another tour."
But Scott knows it's part of the job her brother loves.
Bursey said he doesn't know when he'll get the medal, but it will be presented to him sometime in the future by the governor general at a ceremony in Ottawa.
dbartlett@thetelegram.com
Master Cpl. Michael Bursey, a medical technician with the Canadian Forces, poses in full military gear in front an armoured vehicle in Afghanistan. — Submitted photo
Yes I know the caption is wrong but taken directly from the article link.
Edited by Roy Harding to correct spelling in title
