ABOUT NATHAN HORNBURG
Cpl. Nathan Hornburg grew up in Calgary, and spent much of each summer at his family's ranch near Nanton. A long-time reservist with King's Own Calgary Regiment, he joined Lord Strathcona's Horse Regiment of Edmonton in order to serve in Afghanistan where he was employed as driver/operator of Leopard Armored Recovery Vehicle.
On Sept. 24, 2007 during an ambush he drove his ARV between the enemy and a disabled Canadian main battle tank. In the long tank recovery operation he was struck by enemy fire and killed. He was 24 years old. For his courage and devotion that day and during the mission he was posthumously made an honorary member in the Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, and was honored by Canada's Governor General with the Mention in Dispatches award for bravery under fire.
A gifted student and athlete (junior high athlete of the year for independent schools), Nathan used his skateboard for fun and transportation. The freedom, creativity and bravery involved in skateboarding reflect his life and his fun-loving personality.
His personal philosophy is reflected in these excerpts from emails he exchanged with another soldier when he was still a student at Mount Royal College:
“The world is becoming too small of place for political boundaries to protect dictators and tyrants from prosecution, and to prevent liberated people from helping our suffering fellow humans.”
“Problems can be ignored for great lengths of time, but eventually they will have to be fixed. If it is not the “arrogant”, globetrotting USA doing the repairs, it will be another country or coalition down the road. The globe will be ONE place. Humankind will be ONE. It is unavoidable that in years to come the world will be a fully connected, functioning planet. Wars will be fought, boundaries will shift, the environment will change, and people will die. But more people will be born, and with each generation the world will seem a little smaller, and be a little closer to being healed. Although new problems will always arise, with each positive event our earth will be a fraction closer to being a mended, healthy, war-free planet.”
“.... the world’s population continues to grow, and it is the death of hope, not the death of people that is actually a stinging blow towards our growth as a planet.”