Kyle Ruttan to be Navy representative at Cenotaph in Ottawa on Remembrance Day

Jeff Green | Oct 26, 2016

Growing up north of Verona in the vicinity of Oak Flats, Kyle Ruttan became interested in the naval forces thanks to his great grandfather, Clifford McGinnis, from Sharbot Lake.

McGInnis served aboard HMCS Strathadam for four years during the Second World War, and Ruttan knew him when he was growing up in the 1990s. McInnis lived on Road 38 south of Sharbot Lake until his death in 2006.

“I didn't join the navy until after he died, but his legacy was one of my reasons for joining the navy when I did,” said Ruttan.

He has made his own mark since joining the navy. He received a commendation for helping his cousin pull a man from a burning vehicle near Victoria late one night in 2014 while he was headed to the airport to come home for a leave, and he has also been identified as a hard-working team member wherever he has been stationed.

Late last week he received word that he will be traveling to Ottawa to stand guard as a sentry at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National War Memorial on November 11 with other Canadian Armed Forces members representing the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force, along with one Royal Canadian Mounted Police member.

LS (Leading Seaman) Ruttan said it was a “complete surprise” when he learned of the honour, partly because he works as a logistics and supply officer, “which is a support trade, not a hard navy trade.”

He admits to being nervous about it, because a sentry is required to stand solemnly, head bowed and white-gloved hands on the butt of a ceremonial rifle, straight-faced and with no emotion, throughout the 90-minute ceremony.

“Straight-faced and with no emotion; that will be the hardest part, because it is an event that always tears me up, especially when they play the Last Post,” he said.

It will be the first time LS Ruttan has ever done sentry duty.

“This is not just standing sentry at one of the local ceremonies back home, which would be hard enough. It will be in Ottawa, with all the dignitaries there and in front of the whole country,” he said.

Remembrance Day will also evoke memories of LS Ruttan's mother, who died last April. The two would watch the ceremony from Ottawa when he was growing up.

His father Micheal will be his guest in Ottawa, not only at the ceremony, but for an entire week of festivities and gatherings preceding November 11.

“It is very exciting,” said Michael Ruttan. “I'm obviously very proud of what he has accomplished. I knew he was well regarded by his colleagues because when I visited him where he is stationed in Esquimault, near Victoria, everyone told me that he was really good at everything he did and had a great attitude. Everyone had a lot of respect for him.”

While standing sentry, Ruttan will be thinking about his family, and also about LS Brandon Smith, a colleague of his who died in Tanzania while the two were deployed on HMCS Regina, and about CPL Nathan Cirillo, who was killed by a gunman as he stood guard over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on October 22, 2014.

“His memory will certainly be etched in my mind,” said LS Ruttan.

(with material from Lookout newspaper, a weekly published at CFB Esquimault)