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A FELLOW JOURNALIST IS DEAD. She was our neighbor to the north and a colleague in the profession, reporting from Afghanistan for the Calgary Herald in Alberta, Canada.
Michelle Lang, 34, died in December 2009 when an IED destroyed the armored vehicle she was riding in. Four soldiers also were killed in the bombing just outside Kandahar City.
Several weeks ago, on Oct. 23, an official plaque honoring Michelle and 14 Canadian soldiers was unveiled at the Saskatchewan War Memorial in Regina. Michelle was a former reporter for the local Regina Leader-Post, and the soldiers were residents of the province.
Michelle is the first civilian ever to be listed on the military memorial and the first Canadian journalist to be killed in Afghanistan. She was almost halfway through a six-week assignment when the incident occurred.
An online guest book has 1,159 entries expressing condolences, regrets and tributes for Michelle. They fill 232 pages and were recorded in the two weeks immediately following her death. One after another, the notes convey the personal loss felt across the nation.
But it is the individuals Michelle saw and worked with every day who knew her best. Robin Summerfield, a former Herald reporter and friend, explained that Michelle was both an...