Soldier from Thunderchild lost his life in Iraq

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13

The picture of 'Robert Christopher (Horse) McCoy' was scanned from the Saskatoon Star Pheonix in September, 2005.

SASKATOON -- A former Regina resident was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq this week, becoming Saskatchewan's first military casualty of the conflict.

Robert Christopher (Horse) McCoy, a member of the Thunderchild First Nation, who has dual U.S.-Canadian citizenship, was on his third military assignment in Iraq when he died in the bombing early Wednesday morning.

"This time he won't be coming back," said Thunderchild councillor Ira Horse.

"It's pretty traumatic. Everybody here is feeling for his family."

Horse, a distant relative of McCoy's, said people are in shock at Thunderchild, located 250 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon.

"He risked his life and died standing up for something he believed in," said Horse.

She said McCoy comes from a lineage linked to the Cree Nation Warrior Society. It was their job to protect their people and lands, she said.

McCoy was apparently working as a private security agent for U.S. State Department officials.

He and three other agents were driving by car in Basra, Iraq's second largest city.

A roadside bomb went off, killing all of them. It was one of two bombings Wednesday in Basra. The other left 15 dead and 21 injured when a car bomb went off near a restaurant, officials said in reports.

McCoy's father is from Thunderchild, while his mother is from Texas. He's lived in Regina, North Battleford, and Texas. Saskatchewan family members were en route to Texas Thursday for the funeral there. A date for the burial has not been set.

"We are extremely proud of our young people and the commitment they make. There's no requirement for First Nations people to sign up (for military duty), but they do," said Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations vice-chief Lawrence Joseph.

"He does all First Nations people a great honour."

Last summer, McCoy was given a hero's welcome when he returned to Thunderchild for a visit. He and his great-grandfather George Horse, an 86-year-old veteran of the Second World War and the Korean War were honoured at a ceremony.

He had recently returned from a tour as member of the U.S. Marines. He said at the time he'd like to return this year on a private security contract.

McCoy said it could pay in the range of $175,000 US a year. That would allow him to buy a house in Calgary and start a family.

He also defended the highly controversial, American-led war, which Canada declined to participate in.

"I've never seen photographs like the photographs I've taken over there of the kids, the children, the families that were happy to have us over there," he said, adding those who opposed the U.S. presence were in the vast minority.

McCoy joined the Canadian army in 1998 but left a year later to join the U.S. Marine Corps.

In 2001, he got into the amphibious reconnaissance unit, the marine corps' elite equivalent to the Navy Seals.

"If you want more of a challenge than what you're already doing, amphibious reconnaissance is what you want," he said at the time.

After two years spent learning high-tech surveillance techniques and how to speak Arabic, McCoy was shipped to Kuwait. He remembers the "shock and awe" Patriot missiles soaring over his head on March 19, 2003, as he stood on the Iraq border waiting to enter.

In Iraq, McCoy travelled with a team of six special operations soldiers responsible for locating weapons caches and anti-aircraft guns.

During the day, the team interviewed children to find out where weapons were, and at night, they would get as close as they could to the fortifications. Using a laptop computer and a mini satellite dish, they would relay digital photos and grid co-ordinates back to headquarters.

McCoy said his team went undetected by Iraqi soldiers, which was fortunate because they were lightly armed and unlikely to hold off an entire unit on their own.

According to the Associated Press, the bombings that killed McCoy and others are fuelling fears the insurgency was taking deeper root outside Sunni-dominated territory. Attacks against Americans in Basra are rare. The U.S. has only a minimal presence in the area.

Also, Shiites, who are the dominant population in the south, have found themselves the political winners as new government structures take shape after the U.S.-led invasion.

McCoy will be honoured in late December when Thunderchild hosts an event for all First Nations veterans. There may also be something done in his honour at a powwow in North Battleford next weekend, Joseph said.

Obituary of Robert Christopher McCoy.
© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2005 http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=55878
Tom Dozier
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