The 20-year-old Corner Brook man died in Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany Monday from wounds he suffered in an improvised explosive device blast eight days earlier during a foot patrol in the Panjwaii district of Afghanistan. He was serving with the 1st Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment battle group, but was a member of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment in Corner Brook as a reservist.
A candlelight remembrance of Pinksen was held in the parking lot of the former Regina High School Wednesday evening. It was organized by Jennifer Caravan and Meagan Musseau, who graduated from Corner Brook Regional High School with Pinksen in 2008.
Bishop was at the service, holding a candle and wearing the silver cross she wore as Motherhood Canada’s representative at Remembrance Day. She’s the mother of Sgt. Craig Paul Gillam, who was killed in an ambush in Afghanistan in October 2006.
The pain of her loss was freshened by the death of Pinksen earlier in the week, but Bishop felt she needed to attend the ceremony.
“You never get over it,” Bishop said. “You don’t get over it. You have your nightmares.”
She said it doesn’t get easier over time. At the service she was thinking of Pinksen’s family — knowing what they’re going through and what they’ve got to go through in the coming years.
She wouldn’t wish the sadness and grief on anyone, much less the family of the brave young man who died Monday.
“You can’t describe what they’re going to have to go through,” she said. “It’s sad.
“My thing is, let’s look at the positive side and think about the good things about him. Think about the good things. He was a good man. Now I didn’t know Brian, but for him to be over there doing the things he was doing, he had to be a brave young man.”
Pinksen’s cousin Grant Gillingham, who turns 19 in December, said he’s grateful Caravan and Musseau organized the remembrance. The ceremony helped him remember what kind of person Pinksen was.
Gillingham said it was easy to see by the crowd that attended the vigil his cousin, who was one of his best friends, touched a lot of lives.
“He was loved by so many people,” he said. “You could see it here tonight.”
While he loved his cousin dearly, he knows he’s now where he belongs.
“It’s hard that he’s gone, but it is better for him,” Gillingham said. “I strongly believe it is better for him.
“He suffered for a week and at the end he said ‘Mom, I’m tired.’ He told his mom he loved her, then fell peacefully into the presence of the Lord.”
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Andy Vincent, youth pastor at the First Pentecostal Church on Premier Drive, knew Pinksen well. He was an active member of the church and the youth group in particular.
He considered Pinksen a good friend and a good man. He held his family close to his heart.
“He was strong in his faith,” Vincent said. “He was at our church before he left for Afghanistan the last time that he went. The senior pastor at our church spoke a message and Brian really felt that message was directly for him to encourage his faith at that time before he left to go to Afghanistan.”
Ernest Power, who graduated from Corner Brook Regional High in 2008 with Pinksen, said he fondly remembered the soldier for the tie they shared lifting weights together in the school gym.
“We used to call him the ‘Bench Press Man,’” Power said. “He was one of the people in the whole school that pretty much everyone looked up to.
“The school had a weight lifting team and he kind of did his own thing. That’s what he was mainly known for doing. I don’t know what the number was, but it was an insane number. You could see the pecs on him, they were humongous.”
Sean Dwyer taught Pinksen physical education in Level 1.
“He was in that top-notch category of students that was always very mature and respectful, just caring for the whole process of school and what had to be done,” Dwyer said. “He did what he wanted to do, there’s no doubt about that.
“He always spoke about being in the (Canadian) Forces and going to Afghanistan. I was proud that he was going to get to do what he really wanted to do.”
Taylor Snow graduated with Pinksen, too. She enjoyed hanging out with him despite starting out in Regina High School where he started in the rival Herdman Collegiate. When the schools merged, they became friends.
“He was just a really nice, loving person,” Snow said. “He cracked me up. Me and him laughed so much.
“I miss him.”
Musseau, an organizer of the event, knew Pinksen from school her whole life, but didn’t feel she knew him well enough to go to his funeral. She had to pay her respects so the vigil became a natural event to get going.
She was shocked to learn of Pinksen’s death, but was glad such a strong turnout of about 500 people came to show their respects.
“The turnout, it’s amazing,” Musseau said. “I’m so happy. I’m really proud.”
