'This was an attack -- a sneak attack,' Master Cpl. Collin Fitzgerald told CTV Ottawa on Tuesday.

Fitzgerald, 27, suffered a broken nose, two black eyes and needed 10 stitches to close a cut above his right eye.

He also had his foot broken in three places.

Fitzgerald was recognized by Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean on Feb. 19 for braving enemy fire in Afghanistan.

Soldier calls nasty bar beating a 'sneak attack'
Updated Tue. Mar. 13 2007 10:40 PM ET


A soldier honoured for his military valour in Afghanistan is wondering why strangers attacked and beat him in his hometown bar this past weekend.

"This wasn't two guys on the ice dropping gloves and going, 'OK, let's go'," Master Cpl. Collin Fitzgerald told CTV Ottawa on Tuesday.

"This was an attack -- a sneak attack. To blindside a guy ... and hit him with an object, there's something wrong."

Fitzgerald is well known in Morrisburg, Ont., a small town about an hour's drive south of Ottawa.

He says he'd been in the bar only about 20 minutes late Friday, visiting with a childhood friend who introduced him to people as a war hero, when he was suddenly struck from behind with some type of object. Four men jumped him and began beating on him.

"They were saying 'What kind of hero are you now?'," Fitzgerald's mother Arlene told CTV News. Bystanders pulled the attackers off Fitzgerald and his friends drove him to hospital.

"If it was true that they said that, then they're ignorant," Fitzgerald said.

The weapons instructor at CFB Trenton, recognized by Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean on Feb. 19 for braving enemy fire in Afghanistan, had his foot broken in three places and needed 10 stitches to close a cut above his right eye.

Fitzgerald, 27, also suffered a broken nose and two black eyes in the Friday night attack.

"Whatever he hit me with, he could have easily taken out an eye," the soldier said. "What if he hit me in the throat? It could have been an artery." Fitzgerald is married, with a young family.

Decorated hero

He served eight months in Afghanistan. He was one of the first recipients of the Canadian Medal of Military Valour, "for outstanding selfless and valiant actions" carried out on May 24, 2006, during an enemy ambush "involving intense, accurate enemy fire."

According to the military, Fitzgerald "repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire by entering and re-entering a burning platoon vehicle and successfully driving it off the roadway, permitting the remaining vehicles trapped in the enemy zone to break free."

"Collin was safer fighting the Taliban. At least he saw the enemy coming, or knew the enemy was there," said his mother. "They are just total cowards, nothing but snakes," said Gerald, Collin's father.

Fitzgerald will need at least a month to recover from his injuries. Several of his army buddies are still recovering from injuries suffered in Afghanistan.

"They don't realize how good we have it here in Canada and what we're trying to help the Afghan people have," he said of his attackers.

Ontario Provincial Police have arrested 21-year-old Travis Baldwin, a Morrisburg resident and hockey player, and charged him with aggravated assault. An investigation is ongoing.

Baldwin will appear in Morrisburg court on May 1. CTV Ottawa has learned he may be the only person criminally charged in connection with the incident.


I don't give a damn what army your in this shit ain't right.

Never would have believed that fellow canadians would do this to one of thier own, but military members have to come to grips with the realization that everyone doesn't support the troops. People say they do, but many are just mouthing the words. I hope they locate and prosecute those 4 guy's for what they did. If they only charge the one, then I really hope they lock him up for a good long time.