RCMP officers travel to Mounties' repatriation ceremony

Two Moncton RCMP officers will be attending the repatriation ceremony at Canadian Forces Base Trenton, Ont. on Friday, for Sgt. Mark Gallagher, who died in last week's Haitian earthquake.

Flags still fly at half-mast in front of the Codiac RCMP headquarters in Moncton in honor of Gallagher, who spent many years working at the detachment, including time as a communications officer

Sgt. Terry Kennedy and Const. Peter Korotkov will be in Trenton for what they acknowledge will be an emotional ceremony.

Korotkov said he knew Gallagher for 24 years and while they were RCMP colleagues, they were also close friends away from the office.

Korotkov said he still hasn't grasped Gallagher's death but he wants to be there as his friend comes home.

"It was upsetting and I've tried not to focus on it but it's still very upsetting," he said.

"I have to go because of our relationship."

Kennedy said he also believes it will be difficult watching Gallagher returned to Canada. But he wanted to attend the ceremony even before he was asked.

"When Peter and I were talking that it's formal and all that stuff and I just said well if emotion gets the best of us I'm quite sure everybody'll understand cause it's hard to talk about," Kennedy said.

Kennedy said it's the last small thing he can do for his friend, a man who lost his life trying to help others.

Gallagher is being returned home with the body of RCMP Supt. Doug Coates, who also died in the massive earthquake.

Coates, who lived in Gatineau, Que., and was based at the RCMP headquarters in Ottawa, was the most senior RCMP officer in Haiti.

Coates's body was found in the rubble of the UN headquarters in Port-au-Prince on Saturday following the Jan. 12 earthquake.