July 7, 2015
OTTAWA – “It is regrettable that Ottawa Citizen reporter David Pugliese has taken it upon himself to grossly misrepresent the state of affairs surrounding the presentation of the Sacrifice Medal and Memorial Cross to Mrs Sheila Fynes in honour of the service of her son, Cpl Stuart Langridge.
“Mr. Pugliese claims my letter to Mrs. Fynes indicated that she should never have received these awards and that the Department of National Defence was looking at the possibility of revoking them. Nothing could be further from the truth. The decision to award the medal and Memorial Cross was made based on a determination by Veterans Affairs Canada in 2010. This was wholly consistent with our procedures for such important awards.
“Never, at any time, has anyone in the Department considered revoking the awards, nor removing Cpl Langridge's name from the Book of Remembrance. To do so would be against our well established policies, and would be quite frankly dishonourable.”
General Tom Lawson
Chief of the Defence Staff
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