Edmonton soldier gets funeral he deserved: Wife
By KATHLEEN HARRIS, QMI AGENCY
Last Updated: September 27, 2010 7:11pm
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/09/27/15495326.html
OTTAWA — A Canadian soldier injured in Afghanistan finally got a military funeral with honours Sunday — 10 long months after his death.
Pte. Dawson Bayliss was never the same after he was hit in the head by the barrel on the turret during a ride through rough terrain in Kandahar April 2, 2006. He was sent home with head trauma, but his family says he was never properly treated for the concussion and post-traumatic stress disorder that resulted from the wound.
He died at age 24 on Nov. 23, 2009 from swelling to the brain, his pregnant wife Naomi by his side.
Sunday's funeral in Calgary was bittersweet after years of debilitating depression, seizures and headaches and a battle against the bureaucratic machine that left Bayliss bitter and exasperated.
"It's ridiculous that it took this long, but at the same time I'm glad it was done — that he finally got the honour and recognition he deserved," Naomi said.
Bayliss left the military in frustration, formally released voluntarily instead of for medical reasons. He ripped up every reminder of his time in service with the 1st Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry based in Edmonton.
"It was an absolute nightmare," Naomi said. "Everything was a fight. It was awful. He had just given up."
While Bayliss is not counted among Canada's 152 fallen soldiers, Naomi says the military has conceded his death was related to the injury in theatre, even though reports were inconclusive. They awarded her the Memorial Cross given to mothers and widows of men killed in the line of duty, and Bayliss' name will be added to the Books of Remembrance on Parliament Hill, which honours those who died in service.
Eventually the military also awarded most of the financial benefits to help provide financial security to Naomi and her son Deacon, born June 2.
Steven Taylor said the funeral gave his son-in-law the honour and recognition he deserved and some closure to the family.
Internal documents show Veterans Affairs Canada case workers acknowledged in Nov. 2007 there were "missed opportunities" to manage the client early in the transition process to achieve "a more successful outcome" and that certain things "fell through the cracks."
Taylor said the case represents all that is wrong with how Canada treats its war wounded — offering them "minimal, fractional" compensation and a "messed up" bureaucracy. The death benefit deducted compensation Bayliss had received for his traumatic injuries.
"To throw a couple billion dollars isn't going to fix the problem. It's a systemic problem that needs to be dealt with at a much bigger level," he said.
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