Michelle Lang, killed in Afghanistan, remembered in Washington and Ottawa

Calgary Herald reporter Michelle Lang, honoured in life as an award-winning journalist, will now also be remembered for her sacrifice at memorials in Ottawa and Washington D.C. Lang, 34, and four soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device while travelling in Afghanistan in December. She was the first Canadian journalist to die covering the war. In Ottawa, the generosity of a Second World War veteran will ensure that Lang and the soldiers will be remembered on the Tree of Life, a memorial located at Perley and Rideau Veterans' Health Centre in Ottawa. Four hundred who died in battle have so far been honoured with a memorial leaf purchased by friends or relatives for $1,000. Col. (ret.) John Gardam bought a leaf for Lang and the four soldiers who perished in the IED explosion near Kandahar City on Dec. 30.