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Pte. Aidan Goulding in an undated handout photo.HO/The Canadian Press
A 23-year-old Canadian soldier was remembered Sunday as a globe-trotting, sporty and car-loving man with an infectious sense of humour and a fearless love for life.
A photo of Pte. Aidan Goulding sat in front of the hundreds of military personnel, family and friends who gathered at an armoury on a stormy day in Vancouver for his funeral.
Goulding was one of the four soldiers killed last month after a grass fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta overtook troops during a training exercise. Thirty-nine others were injured, and many remain in hospitals in Edmonton and Calgary.
Goulding’s funeral started with soldiers carrying his flag-draped casket into the armoury, with the sound of a bagpipe cascading, and some words from a rabbi.
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Sonia Monk, Goulding’s mother, then described his upbringing in North Vancouver with his brother, Wylder, who was also his best friend.
“They had each other’s backs,” she said. “Their relationship touched my heart deeply, and I was content in knowing that they would always be close.”
Growing up, he showed his competitive and curious side.
His family said in a statement he played many sports, including soccer and rugby, and developed a love for cars at a young age.
He spent many hours buying used cars, fixing them late into the night under the glow of a lamp on his family’s driveway and then reselling them.
The first car he fine-tuned was a used Chrysler 300C.
The modification: make it louder.
“He loved understanding how things worked and took great pride in making them his own,” his family said.
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He was also stylish.
Monk said her son asked to wear a white suit on his first day of Grade 4. When he turned 21, he asked for a gold suit.
“He was unapologetically himself, and I admired that,” his mom said.
After he joined the Canadian Armed Forces, Goulding felt like he found a place where he belonged.
“It gave him a sense of purpose, a family and a place he truly felt at home,” Monk said.
The family has also described Goulding as a globetrotter.
In his short life, he explored many parts of the world, including Mexico, Germany, Austria, Italy, Croatia, Malta, the Netherlands, England and Spain.
Reagan Goulding, the soldier’s aunt, said during the funeral that he often made those around him laugh.
She said it’s been hard knowing that he died at a young age.
“This is perhaps one of the hardest parts of losing someone so young,” she said. “It’s not just the memories we have lost, but the opportunity to make a relationship we still had time to build.”
She also remembered the other soldiers killed in the fire alongside Goulding.
They were: Pte. Hayden Lykkemark, 19, of Langley, B.C.; Sgt. Morgan Wong, 26, of Edmonton; and Pte. Shaun Farrell, 23, of Prince Albert, Sask.
“Aidan and his fellow soldiers will not be forgotten,” Reagan said.