While serving in Afghanistan on Oct. 14, 2006 Corp. Jess Larochelle was alone,
manning an observation post when it was shattered by a rocket-propelled grenade.
He was blown off his feet.
Larochelle, then 24 and a private, was able to provide cover for other soldiers in the
First Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment, even though he was running
perilously short of ammunition and seriously wounded.
Two of his friends were killed that day. He didn’t tell anyone he had been injured
until after the ramp ceremony, where he helped carry Pte Blake Williamson’s casket
to the waiting aircraft. Only then did he go to hospital to be treated for a fractured
vertebrae.
He was awarded the Military Star of Valour, his citation reads: “His valiant conduct
saved the lives of many members of his company.”
Larochelle was medically released from the military in 2008, after receiving the Star
of Valour.
Now in hospital, there is a move under way for him to become the first recipient of
the Canadian Victoria Cross. Unlike the British Victoria Cross, the Canadian version
has never been awarded.
For more information see the Canadian Legion Magazine.
CANADIAN AFGHANISTAN HERO
Corporal Jess Randall Larochelle, 1st Battalion RCR
Cpl Jess Larochelle, Star of Valour
