Insurgents kill Canadian serving in US army

Insurgents kill Canadian in U.S. Army
Nov. 1, 2006. 01:00 AM
HALIFAX—Insurgents killed a Canadian serving with the U.S. Army in Iraq this week, just days before his return home.
Cpl. Michael Seeley, 27, of Fredericton was on patrol south of Baghdad with Bravo Company of the 28th Infantry when he died Monday.
Theresa Seeley, his mother, said yesterday her son was due to return to the United States last Saturday but his stay was extended until Nov. 5. Those extra days cost Seeley his life.
The Mi'kmaq joined the Canadian Forces in 1998 before enlisting with the U.S. Marines the next year.
He served with the U.S. Marines in Japan, South America, Africa and Iraq before getting an honourable discharge after four years. He then joined the U.S. Army and was stationed in Fort Hood, Texas, when he was deployed to Iraq.
Theresa Seeley, interviewed in New Brunswick's capital, said her son was dedicated to the military to a fault. "It's what he wanted to do and that is what he kept telling me. He said: `If it ever happened, I died doing what I wanted to do.' But that doesn't help right now."
Seeley said the RCMP informed her of his death Monday night. He was on a training exercise with replacement troops who were being shown the ropes, such as what roads to take. "They were in a convoy and met a vehicle ... and they fired at them. By the sound of it, it was something big they fired and Michael was hit. I am not sure what it was (but) I know that he had on all his armour and his helmet."
Burial will be in Fredericton.
Betty Ann Lavallee, chief of the New Brunswick Aboriginal Peoples Council, in a statement expressed pride in Seeley. "Like so many young aboriginal men and women ... Seeley volunteered to serve."