Richard Green (soldier)

Private Richard A. Green (May 26, 1980 – April 17, 2002) was one of four Canadian soldiers killed by American forces during the Tarnak Farm friendly fire incident near Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Early life
Green was born in Edmonton, Canada in 1980 and grew up in Mill Cove in Nova Scotia, Canada. He graduated from Forest Heights Community School in 1998.

Military service
Green joined the Canadian Land Force Command in September 1998. After training, he served on a peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

He was killed with three others when an American laser-guided bomb was dropped on his unit while taking part in a live-fire training exercise. Their deaths were the first of Canada's war in Afghanistan, and the first in a combat zone since the Korean War.

Legacy
Green's mother, Doreen Young, was chosen by the Royal Canadian Legion to be the Silver Cross Mother for the Remembrance Day ceremony in 2002. In February 2003, she filed a wrongful death claim against the U.S. government. Her claim argued the pilots acted recklessly when they dropped the 225-kilogram bomb.

However, lawyers representing Young were informed by the United States that, under the Foreign Claims Act in the U.S., Afghan legal codes would have to be applied in the case against the U.S. government.