Mom of last Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan chosen as Silver Cross Mother

Byron Greff was a 28-year-old master corporal with the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry based out of Edmonton.

We’ll see you at Christmas.

It was October 2011 and Candy Greff was standing outside a restaurant in Morinville, Alta.,saying goodbye to her son Byron Greff. Little did she know that it would be the last time she would see him alive.

A 28-year-old master corporal with the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry based out of Edmonton, Byron was heading back to Afghanistan following a brief visit home to see the birth of his daughter, Brielle.

“It was difficult to say goodbye to him,” Candy remembers. “But then at the same time: ‘Goodbye, love you. See you at Christmas.’”

Days later, Byron and 20 other people were killed when a suicide bomber ran his explosive-laden car into an armoured bus carrying troops through Kabul. He was the last of 158 Canadian soldiers killed in the war in Afghanistan.

Eleven years later, Candy has been named this year’s Silver Cross Mother by the Royal Canadian Legion. She will lay a wreath at the National War Memorial on Remembrance Day on behalf of all mothers who have lost children in service to Canada.

Speaking about her son from her home in Lacombe, Alta., Candy recalled Byron as “a little mischievous,” but someone who gave his whole heart to whatever he was doing. That included playing hockey and golfing with his wife, Lindsay.

Byron didn’t grow up with military friends or family, so it was a bit of a surprise when he told his parents in Grade 9 that he wanted to join cadets in Red Deer. Three years later, he announced he wanted to join the Canadian Army.