Biography
Mrs. Maureen Anderson
Maureen Anderson grew up in Derby, New Brunswick in the Miramichi region, but Oromocto is now home. The small town is not far from Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Gagetown where her two sons later trained to become soldiers. Maureen’s life began overseas in England, where she was born. She was barely a toddler when her parents moved to Canada in 1947.
“My mother was a war bride,” she explains. Her English mother had met her Canadian father while he was serving in Europe during the Second World War. A mill worker from New Brunswick, he joined the Canadian military and was part of the North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment.
Maureen was the oldest of seven children and helped look after her siblings from a very young age. Being “church oriented” she joined Sunday school and the church choir, and along the way she babysat a lot to make money. She remembers selling wild fruit like blueberries and strawberries which she had handpicked from nearby fields, going door-to-door.
She had always wanted to be a nurse. After graduating from Millerton High School in New Brunswick, she attended what was then the Moncton Technical Institute and graduated as a registered nursing assistant – now often called a licensed practical nurse. She stayed in New Brunswick at first, working in Moncton and then Bathurst.
“I loved it!” she recalls. That profession would later take her to Ottawa, Ontario after she noticed an ad in a newspaper looking for people to join the The Royal Canadian Air Force. It piqued her interest, and she answered that call, working at the National Defence Medical Centre and living at the former CFB Rockcliffe.
One of her patients turned out to be her late husband Peter Anderson – an Army Veteran who began as a member of the former Regiment of Canadian Guards on Parliament Hill, and then joined the Royal Canadian Regiment. He later became a Sargeant Major and retired as a Master Warrant Officer. When the two married, Maureen recounts how she had to step down from her job with the Air Force - though she didn’t want to - because of the working regulations at the time.
Peter was stationed in several locations over the years, so their family moved a lot, living in Baden-Baden Germany, Yellowknife NWT, Petawawa, and Pembroke ON, and in Oromocto. She and her husband raised two children: Ron and his younger brother Ryan. The boys were born five years apart and both would grow up to follow in their father’s footsteps, joining the military as soon as they could, even before finishing High School. “They knew what they wanted,” she says. While they fought regularly as youngsters, the two boys were close. They were very good buddies right up until the end, she recalls.
Maureen still finds it hard to speak about learning the tragic news of her sons’ eventual passings, and she focuses instead on who they were as two special people now residing firmly in her heart.
She describes how difficult it was to retire from the work she loved at the age of sixty-eight. It followed several months after her first son’s passing, and she had other health challenges, so had to step away. But she’s also an experienced seamstress who did a lot of sewing and knitting over the years - making cardigans and clothes for her sons, and uniforms for herself. She loves to bake; always happy to make sweets and squares for church functions.
She feels being named Canada’s National Silver Cross Mother is a great honour and says, “it brings back a lot of memories of loss, especially if you’ve lost kids of your own.” She plans to spend time speaking to other military mothers and families who have lost children, particularly to PTSD.
“It (PTSD) is rampant, and it’s a shame,” she says. A couple of her sons’ friends and comrades who live with the condition, still stop by to visit her regularly to this day.
Biography
Sgt. Ron Anderson
Sergeant Ron Anderson was a member of the Royal Canadian Regiment. He served in locations including Petawawa, Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo and had two tours of duty in Afghanistan.
Born on May 27, 1974 in Lahr, Germany, the country where his parents were living at the time, Ron knew what he wanted to do from an early age. A very active and energetic youngster, one precursor to his later desire to enlist was a favourite pastime he shared with his younger brother Ryan. “As kids, they played war games,” she recalls. Ron began in cadets, then jointed the militia in Nova Scotia, and later trained in Gagetown, New Brunswick, becoming a member of The Canadian Army.
While her sons rarely spoke of their roles and actions in the forces, including when they served overseas, they were clearly affected by their experiences. She believes an accumulation of tragic experiences overseas led to Ron taking his own life in 2014. Upon his return from his second tour in Afghanistan, she says he had changed. He wanted to be alone. He was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
One bright memory Maureen shares is how Ron had been awarded a commendation for having saved the life of an injured little boy while in Afghanistan, and under deadly circumstances. “He performed First Aid, and I guess he was surrounded by Afghans with all these guns pointed at him,” she recounts. His actions in the face of danger that day don’t surprise her. “That would be him,” she says. “He was a rough, tough guy, that wouldn’t bother him.”
But Ron never told his parents he had received the award, she learned of it only after his passing. “He was very proud, he did not want any scene, any big fanfare,” she says. She and her late husband later received the certificate that came with his commendation and hung it with pride in their home.
Ron had four children at the time of his passing. His son Bryce is now serving with The Canadian Army.
Biography
Sgt. Ryan Anderson
Sergeant Ryan Anderson was a member of The Royal Canadian Regiment. He served in Gagetown and Yellowknife and in various places overseas such as Bosnia, Ethiopia, Haiti and also in Afghanistan alongside his older brother Ron.
Born on February 19, 1979 in Oromocto, New Brunswick and just about as active as his brother, Ryan was into martial arts. He trained in Taekwondo and Karate, and he did well, says his mother. He also knew at an early age what he wanted to do. He joined the militia in Nova Scotia as soon as he could, then trained in Gagetown, New Brunswick becoming a member of The Canadian Army.
Maureen describes how both her sons’ personalities changed upon their return from Afghanistan. They were not as jubilant, funny, or happy like they used to be. They were kind of “quiet” and she noticed Ryan’s mental health deteriorated faster, with his condition also affecting other parts of his life. He too was diagnosed with PTSD.
She remembers the effects of PTSD well, and how Ryan who lived in the same complex, would sometimes call her for a visit in the middle of the night. She always said yes.
“And I would get out of bed and go over to his apartment and get some coffees and just sit with him and listen to him.” Sometimes they would just watch music videos. “Sometimes he would cry and I’d say ‘what’s wrong’ and he would say ‘I don’t know’… I don’t regret that, thankfully I did that,” she says.
Maureen relates how Ryan’s health took another downturn fairly quickly after his brother’s passing, and he grew more isolated as well. He passed away in 2017. Both Ryan and his brother had been receiving help for their PTSD conditions before they passed.
Ryan had two children at the time of his passing.
Past recipients
Every year, Legion Provincial Commands and individuals forward
nominations for the selection of a National Silver Cross Mother. These
nominations are reviewed by a selection committee at Dominion Command
and one mother is chosen for the year which begins on 01 November until
31 October of the following year.