Bridge on Highway of Heroes named to honour Capt. Nichola Goddard

A ceremony last week unveiled a plaque honouring Capt. Nichola Goddard on the Highway of Heroes in Ontario.

Goddard, who has family on P.E.I., was the first Canadian female soldier to be killed on the front lines. She died in Afghanistan in May 2006 in an operation against Taliban insurgents near Kandahar.

The bridge named for her is one of 12 set aside for commemoration by the True Patriot Love Foundation along the 170-kilometre stretch of highway. The highway is the final journey for fallen Canadian soldiers, running from the air force base at Trenton to the coroner's office in Toronto.

"It's ongoing recognition not just of Nichola but a variety of people who have given their lives to make what we have today," said Sally Goddard, Nichola's mother, who attended the ceremony Thursday along with other family members.

"It was steeped in all kinds of tradition and making new tradition, but it was a lovely ceremony, very poignant."

One of several memorials

The bridge named for Goddard is on Ontario Street in Cobourg.

The plaque was sponsored by Canso Investment Counsel. Employees at the company are graduates of Royal Military College, where Goddard went to school, and one of them was in the same class.

Goddard has previously had a school and a coast guard ship named for her. The Nichola Goddard Foundation raises money for health-care facilities in Papua New Guinea and for scholarships at the University of Calgary and the University of Prince Edward Island.

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