The Globe and Mail, Saturday, August 5, 2006
By SONYA FATAH
Sergeant Brad Worth survived an attack in Afghanistan on Wednesday with minor injuries, but family and friends in Canada could be forgiven for thinking otherwise.
Photographs released by the Department of National Defence of four soldiers killed on Thursday included Sgt. Worth’s photograph under Sergeant Vaughn Ingram’s name.
With the images released to major newspapers, including The Globe and Mail, and television stations, Sgt. Worth’s face was splashed across TV screens and front pages. The photograph was retracted close to midnight, too late for many publications to pull the image before their first editions reached readers.
His immediate family, including his parents, were spared the ordeal. Sgt. Worth called his mother’s home in Newmarket, Ont., at 10 p.m. on Thursday, and told his family that he had escaped with minor injuries. But relatives and friends across the country have been calling ever since his photograph was made public.
Neither his mother, nor his wife had seen the images before his call. But Sgt. Worth’s father-in-law, who lives in Petawawa, Ont., was watching the 11 p.m. news on television when he heard about the Kandahar attack and saw his son-in-law’s photograph.
“He’s severely upset,” said Jennifer, Sgt. Worth’s wife, who is visiting Newmarket from Edmonton with her two children, Jessica, 3, and Ethan, 1. “He was trying to get a hold of an MP in the area.”
Ms. Worth filed a complaint with the duty office associated with her husband’s unit. “A mistake was made, and it was a mistake,” she said, expressing relief that her husband is safe.
But she said the confusion caused an unending stream of phone calls from concerned friends. “We are from Ontario. We have friends all over the place.”
Information regarding the attack and the photographs that were made public came to DND’s Ottawa offices from Kandahar. The mix-up was attributed to human error, according to Lieutenant John Nethercott, a Defence spokesman. “We endeavour to provide the most accurate info as quickly as possible. In this case, a mistake was made and we deeply regret it.
“We will do what we can to make sure it does not happen again,” he said. “We have a duty to be correct.”
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