Local sailor takes post at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Master Seaman Dany Nadeau. Photo credit: MCpl Levarre McDonald

Ashley Evans, FMF CB ~

It was a quiet Thursday afternoon at the Fleet Maintenance Facility (FMF) Cape Breton (CB) when Master Seaman Dany Nadeau received a phone call from his supervisor, Petty Officer Second Class Kevin Larsen, notifying he was being considered in the 2019 National Sentry Program.

“I felt quite honoured to be nominated,” said MS Nadeau, 30.

A nomination for this program is made for CAF members who have achieved a high standard of work, and whose presence reflects and represents the values of the CAF.

It was only one week after that initial phone call when MS Nadeau learned he had been selected for sentry duty at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from Oct. 22 to Nov. 10.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which sits in front of the National War Memorial in Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada’s most visible and iconic reminder of CAF members’ continued service and sacrifice.

In May 2000, remains of an unidentified Canadian soldier who had died in the First World War and was buried in Grave 7, Row E of Plot 8 of the Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery in Souchez, France, were repatriated.

On May 28, 2000, the Unknown Soldier was transported with full military honours to the National War Memorial on a horse-drawn Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) gun carriage where a large ceremony commenced.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was designed to honour the more than 116,000 Canadian lives sacrificed in the call for peace and freedom.

MS Nadeau was born and raised an only child in Montreal, Quebec, where he found his interests and passions in the millwright trade and playing guitar.

“Growing up, my uncle was in the army. He would tell me the character traits he saw in me  would be positively impactful through my own service in the Canadian Armed Forces.”

MS Nadeau began building his career as a millwright; however, in 2008 he decided to follow in his uncle’s footsteps by joining the CAF. He was drawn to the navy as a Marine Engineer and took the millwright qualifications he had earned prior to joining and turned them into a Red Seal Journeyman Millwright Certificate as a CAF member.

He is currently posted to FMF CB, where he began in the Diesel Shop before moving to the Millwright Shop. He is now the Military Production Assistant Supervisor overseeing military members within three groups in the production department.

The National Sentry Program was launched in 2014 with a CAF sentry posted at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of the National War Memorial from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.