Soldier Patrice Vincent remembered at solemn ceremony one year after death
Second ceremony to be held in Ottawa on Wednesday
A solemn ceremony was held Tuesday for Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, who was killed in a politically motivated hit-and-run attack in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, one year ago today.
- Patrice Vincent, soldier killed in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, was close to retirement
- Patrice Vincent honoured at Longueuil funeral
- Martin Couture-Rouleau, hit-and-run driver, arrested by RCMP in July
The event, organized by the Royal Canadian Legion of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, celebrated the memory of the Canadian Services officer killed in a parking lot by jihadist Martin Couture-Rouleau.
As part of the ceremony, a banner with Vincent's likeness and the words, "we remember you," was unfurled above the boulevard at the spot where Vincent was attacked.
The local Legion posthumously gave Vincent the Hal Rogers Fellow Award to commemorate his sacrifice, while a calligrapher signed Vincent's name in the Book of Remembrance on Parliament Hill.
MP Steven Blaney, a former Minister for Veterans' Affairs and current Conservative MP for Bellechasse-Les Etchemins-Lévis, attended the ceremony, as did Vincent's mother and three sisters.
Others on hand included members of the Armed Forces, the Legion, firefighters and police.
The ceremony, which included music, prayers and the laying of a wreath, aimed at creating closure, a friend of Vincent's told CBC.