Those who attended Snow Lake’s 2015 Remembrance Day ceremony will recall later when the wreaths were being laid, Hudbay’s Tony Butt walked with determination to the cenotaph after being called to lay a special wreath. He turned when he reached the sidewalk leading to the memorial and stated that he was laying it in memory of Fintan H. Lalor, and on behalf of Hudbay’s risk and security advisor, Hank Morris.
Most of Snow Lake knows that World War II casualty, Pilot Officer/Navigator Fintan Howard Lalor of Pine Falls was the man Lalor Lake and the Lalor Mine were named after, but who is Hank Morris?
Tony Butt was asked for some background on the man and some idea on why he felt obligated to lay a wreath in memory of Lalor. “After coming to visit Lalor Mine and hearing the story of who Lalor Lake was named after, Hank personally purchased a wreath to be placed on Remembrance Day in honor of Second World War causality, Pilot Officer Fintan H. Lalor,” said Butt.
That certainly explains his inspiration for wanting to lay the wreath, but a look at Mr. Morris’s extensive background clarifies his inner motivation. After finishing National Service in the United Kingdom with Royal Fusiliers in the Middle East, Morris immigrated to Canada. He worked with Rio Tinto at Elliot Lake, and with the Geophysical Survey in British Columbia, as well as within the field of oil exploration in Venezuela. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1959 and was enlisted until 1992. During that time he served on five squadrons, flying in Canada, Venezuela, for NATO, and on exchange in the USA. Morris completed five United Nations tours in Central America and Angola and retired as a Wing Commander.
From 1992 until 1999, he served as senior principal political officer with United Nations missions in El Salvador and Guatemala. Since 1999, he has periodically worked as a facilitator with the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre on Demobilization, Disarmament and Reintegration and with a travelling team of experts focusing on post-conflict resolution conducted in Guatemala, Kosovo, Bosnia Herzegovina, Colombia, Romania, Chile, Argentina, Ghana and Sweden.
Morris also represented the Canadian Ambassador for Mine Action; verifying the destruction landmine stockpiles in Honduras and Nicaragua. Since 2000, he has worked as a consultant and advisor on risk, security, military relations, and the voluntary principles of security and human rights convention with oil and mining companies in Mexico, Dominican Republic, Turkey, Central and South America.
In addition to serving as the captain of the national biathlon team during 1964/65, Hank Morris has received a multitude of honours and awards over the years. These include: Order of Military Merit (Officer); Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal; Special Service Medal (NATO, Peace); UN Observer Group in Central America Medal; UN Observer Mission in El Salvador Medal; Canadian Centennial Medal; Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal; Canadian Forces Decoration (two clasps); Knight Commander, Order of General Estrada, Batalla de San Jacinto, Nicaragua; and the Military Cross of Merit (Distinctive White Cross) Spain.
It seems the homage Hank Morris paid Fintan Lalor with the laying of that wreath on Remembrance Day would have been reciprocated had the roles been reversed. The service of both these men reminds us of the debt we owe and the faith we are obliged to keep; “Lest we forget.”
