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Calgary-based reporter Michelle Lang, 34, collects a season's greeting from a Canadian soldier at Kandahar Airfield on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009. Lang was killed along with four Canadian soldiers by an improvised explosive device on Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2009, the first Canadian journalist killed in Afghanistan. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Colin Perkel

Memory of fallen reporter bestowed same honour as soldiers and diplomats

Lisa Grant and Grant Farhall Mar 13, 2010 22:13:16 PM

The father of Michelle Lang says he is honoured that his daughter is being recognized with a plaque at Kandahar airfield.

The 34-year-old Calgary Herald journalist and four other Canadian soldiers were killed in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb in late December.

Saturday, a memorial was unveiled by the Canadian military; a small plaque on a nondescript wooden post.   

It was placed between two media tents.

The acting Commander of Canada's task force in Kandahar, Colonel Simon Hetherington, tells The Canadian Press they wanted to honour Lang the same way they do fallen troops.

"The improvised explosive device on the 30th of December didn't discriminate between military or civilian, didn't discriminate between reporter or diplomat. Michelle Lang was a Canadian who died in the service of peace while serving in Afghanistan."

Lang's father tells CTV, the tribute means a great deal and will carry her memory forward.

Meanwhile, one military analyst and journalist tells 660News, better reporting by journalists has helped create a stronger bond between soldiers and reporters, who find themselves in close proximity during conflict.

Mercedes Stephenson says even though Michelle Lang was in Afghanistan for a short period, she spent a lot of time around the troops and quickly bonded with the soldiers.

She goes on to say, more time spent together changes the soldiers' suspicions and the preconceptions journalists may have about soldiers that are just as inaccurate.



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