Winnipeg woman first Silver Cross Mother of soldier who died by suicide

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This article was published 01/11/2018 (2862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg mother who fought to have her son’s death recognized by the military has been named this year’s Silver Cross Mother by the Royal Canadian Legion.

On Remembrance Day, Anita Cenerini will place a wreath at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on behalf of all Canadian mothers who have lost sons or daughters in the service of the military.

The legion has awarded the honour every year for nearly 100 years, but this year will be the first time it has gone to the mother of a soldier who died by his own hand.

His mother fought for the recognition, engendering media interest including an investigation by the Globe and Mail that found Pte. Thomas Welch was the first Canadian soldier to commit suicide after returning from Afghanistan.

Welch enlisted in the army a few months before the 9/11 attacks and was deployed to Afghanistan in 2003. In media interviews, Cenerini traced the personality changes in her son, from jovial to withdrawn, over the course of his service as a rear gunner in the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment.

At the time, there were next to no treatment services for post-traumatic stress disorder, a mental-health issue now recognized as a devastating and invisible war injury.

Canada’s role in Afghanistan is noted for resulting in the largest number of deaths due to any of the country’s military missions since the Korean War.

After his return from Afghanistan, the 22-year-old committed suicide May 6, 2004 at his regimental army base in Petawawa, Ont.

The military initially determined his death was unrelated to his service. They gave Welch a military funeral but he was not awarded the Memorial Cross, which is given to families after soldiers die in active service. His name was omitted from the Book of Remembrance, which honours Canada’s war dead.

Thomas’s mother worked to have her son’s sacrifice recognized, the same as any other soldier would be.

The Legion’s website Thursday specifically noted the significance of Thomas’s death as the one that “marked the first death by suicide of a Canadian soldier returning home from the Afghanistan mission, attributable to military service.”

The designation lasts a year. Cenerini will perform a range of duties that honour Canada’s fallen until the next Silver Cross Mother is named a year from now.