NB woman who lost her 2 sons while serving in Afghanistan was named Silver Cross Mother

Maureen Anderson lost both her sons in overseas service with the Canadian Army, even though they died years later and a continent away from the hot dust and violence of the Afghanistan war.

Ron Anderson was more serious growing up, “a little warrior,” his mother recalls. His younger brother Ryan was quieter and gentler. They both joined the military before finishing high school and were already sure what their career paths would be.

“My sons were very kind to me, and I miss them very much,” Anderson said in an interview this week at her home in Oromocto, near Fredericton.

Sergeant. Ron Anderson, a father of four, died by suicide in 2014 at the age of 39. Ryan, who was also a sergeant and father of two, died in 2017 at the age of 38. Anderson doesn’t like to discuss the details of how they died, but attributes both deaths to post-traumatic stress disorder they suffered from extensive military service abroad, including in Afghanistan.

Anderson, 78, will travel to Ottawa to lay a wreath at the national Remembrance Day ceremony on Nov. 11 as this year’s national Silver Cross Mother. The silver cross, also known as the memorial cross, is awarded to the mothers or widows of Canadian soldiers who died during or as a result of active duty.

Anderson said it was “a little overwhelming,” but he was honored to be selected by the Royal Canadian Legion.

Although she has only lost two children, she says she never wanted them to choose different careers. In some ways, military life seemed almost inevitable for both.

WRISTWATCH | ‘‘None of them were the same when they came back’:

Anderson is the daughter of a World War II veteran. Her late husband Peter was a soldier and
Canadian Guard Regiment on Parliament Hill and then the Royal Canadian Regiment. Maureen served briefly as an Air Force nurse in Ottawa.

He said Ron decided early on to follow in his father’s footsteps.

“This was her life and she loved it,” she said, adding that Ryan wasn’t far behind.

Ron became a valued Army member, serving in Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo before completing two tours of duty in Afghanistan. But after he returned home from his second stint there in 2007, he changed, becoming distant and short-tempered, his mother said. “He wasn’t the same,” he said.

She learned she had received an award after jumping out of the vehicle to perform first aid in Fredericton after Ron died.
To a young boy stranded on the side of the road in Afghanistan despite the danger around him. Ron didn’t tell anyone because he didn’t want to be alarmed. “That was his path, but when we got the certificate we were devastated thinking we could have been there,” Anderson said.

Ryan said he started going “really downhill” after his brother’s death. His marriage suffered and he became lonely, sad and withdrawn. He had served alongside his brother in Afghanistan, as well as several overseas missions, including Bosnia, Ethiopia and Haiti.

A July 2007 Afghanistan article in the National Post detailed the dangers the brothers faced if a series of bombs were dropped.
The convoy going to Kandahar province to support the Afghan police was shot by the convoy.

Don Martin’s article described Ron Anderson witnessing the explosion of a suicide bomber and Ryan riding in a vehicle that hit an improvised explosive device, just days after six Canadian soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb.

Since his sons’ diagnosis, Anderson has publicly called for better treatment for veterans with PTSD. He questions whether Ryan is taking too much medication and wonders if veterans need more conversations, check-ups, and specialist doctors. But ultimately they have no answers.

“I don’t know how much they did for the soldiers,” he said. “I don’t really know, but maybe they’re not trying hard enough.”

She feels that more people are willing to talk openly about PTSD than in the past and hopes to use her time as a Silver Cross Mother to ensure that continues.

Anderson, who is retired, said he keeps his sons’ memories alive by looking at their photos every day and remembering the good times. Ron also has six grandchildren, including one of his sons who joined the military, and several great-grandchildren.

She stays busy seeing friends and volunteering in her community, including helping with the annual Memorial Day poppy drive. While his prominent position at this year’s national Nov. 11 commemoration is new, he says he always attends local Memorial Day events no matter where he is.
the family was deployed.

“Whether it was rain, sleet, snow or anything else, I didn’t miss any of it,” he said. “So this was just part of November 11 for me,
Always.”