When Virginia Hicks, Canada’s Silver Cross mother, heard of the fatal tragedy at CFB Wainwright she says it was “like somebody dumped a bucket of cold water” as her daughter also died in a training exercise.
Four soldiers died and dozens more were injured last month when a nearby grass fire overwhelmed soldiers taking part in live-fire training at the base southeast of Edmonton.
“It’s like somebody dumped a bucket of cold water, you could just… Oh my God, not again, and you have to feel for the families that this is not something that anybody wants ever to happen to their loved ones,” Hicks said in an interview with Global News. “When they go to work, they want them to come home.”
A veteran herself, Hicks lost her daughter Mariebeth Short in 2002 during a training exercise on the Matawa Plains in Petawawa, Ont.
As an investigation is ongoing into the Wainwright tragedy, Hicks encouraged families to “stay patient” and allow the Canadian Armed Forces to do its investigation.
It was the same thing her family had to do when her daughter died.
Mariebeth Short was a sapper who served with 2 Combat Engineering Regiment based in Petawawa. Both Hicks and her stepfather Brian were serving already, which piqued her interest.
Originally interested in becoming a navigator, Hicks said due to math scores Short had to look at alternatives and decided she wanted to become a combat engineer which gave her parents pause.
“Brian goes, ‘combat engineer? Are you crazy?’ He said, ‘you are four-foot-11, you weigh 95 pounds when you’re soaking wet, do you realize that a combat arms trade is really heavy work,’” Hicks explained.
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But their daughter was “feisty” and “liked a challenge,” prompting her to move ahead with her goal.
Short graduated second in her class and was eventually stationed at Petawawa.
On Sept. 23, 2002, she called her mother to let her know she’d get to drive first during a training exercise. She promised to call them once the exercise was done, likely later that week on Friday.
“I just wished her luck, told her to stay safe, and we’d talk soon,” Hicks recalled. “Then at 10 after 7 (7:10 p.m.) that night, we had a [military] padre at our door, so I realized at that point, there was no Friday phone call coming.”
A full military funeral was held for Short in Trenton, Ont., her mother’s hometown, with hundreds of soldiers in attendance. She now rests in the same Trenton graveyard as members of her family.
Each year on the anniversary of her death, Hicks said the family returns to Petawawa and is taken to the crash site by the military.
“We take roses and there was a little tiny tree the day of the crash … That kind of gives us a point of remembrance because that’s where her body laid when they took her out of the LAV, was by this tree,” Hicks said. “So every year we go back with roses and we stick roses in the tree. Well, back in 2002 the tree was about six to eight inches tall, now it’s like 25 feet tall.”
She added they put a rose at a monument put together for all members of the unit who were killed in Kandahar, Kabal and others killed in the service of Canada.
On Remembrance Day, Hicks will lay a wreath at the National War Memorial on behalf of mothers whose children died while serving the military.
Hicks said she’s honoured to be chosen as this year’s Silver Cross mother because it’s not only her daughter who she’ll be remembering.
“It is a remembrance of Mariebeth, but it’s also a remembrance of all the fallen, all of the mothers, the families, and you think of them daily and especially on Remembrance Day,” Hicks said. “When I lay the wreath I know I’m allowed to go up, I’m going to kneel and I always kiss my hand and then put my hand on the wreath and that’s like, my heart going out to them.”
As the victims and families of Wainwright observe the first Remembrance Day following the tragedy, Hicks stressed they have a large group of people they can lean on.
“I feel very badly for all the parents, even the parents of the ones that are still in hospital, they have a long road ahead of them,” Hicks said. “If there’s anything they ever need or want, there is a large group of Silver Cross mothers out there that, reach out to any of us, I’m sure we’ll help you as best as we can.”
—with files from Global News’ Touria Izri
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
