Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island

In 1998, Trevor Jain was a reservist with experience in pathology when he was awoken at his Halifax apartment by a 3 a.m. call from the operations officer with the 36^th Canadian Brigade headquarters.

That call changed everything.

“Trevor, we have a civilian airliner down and we need you to report to Shearwater,” the operations officer said.

Jain quickly dressed in his uniform and a RCMP member picked him up and drove him to Shearwater Air Force Base.

Swissair 111 had crashed into the waters near Peggy’s Cove just hours before. What started as a search and rescue effort quickly became a recovery mission.

As day broke the next morning, Navy divers delivered the first body bag of human remains to Hangar B and Jain realized the enormity of their task ahead.

Jain looks through an important memento, his field message pad, the first entry he made in the hours after the crash on Sept 2, 1998.

“We realized we were going to have our work cut out for us.”

Shattered aircraft parts were sent for reconstruction to Hangar A. Hanger B was for human remains. It was transformed into a multi-suite morgue with eight autopsy suites, two forensic dental suites and a radiology department.

“By day two this big empty warehouse is now a fully functioning forensic pathology multi-suite morgue,” LCol Jain said.

Jain never wanted to meet the passengers’ families and loved ones because he felt it would make his work more difficult, but he always kept them front of mind.

“(We) were given a task and it was no fail – we were going to do it.”

“We knew the importance of having something to cremate or bury for religious reasons,” he said.

“The loved ones needed to know that manifest was correct. They needed to hear those horrific words that no parents want to hear so that they can start some sort of healing.”

They were long, grim days.

Eight harrowing weeks later, the team of RCMP, reservists, Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) dentists and civilians collected 2,000 pieces of DNA. The members of Operation Persistence (CAF) and Operation Homage (RCMP) had identified the earthly remains of every one of the 229 souls on board Swissair Flight 111.

Of all of LCol Jain’s eight overseas and domestic military missions, Operation Persistence had the greatest impact on him, he said.

“It was the most traumatic deployment,” he said.

“It was just the randomness of it – it scarred us.”

In a testament to the human spirit, the team, under the most terrible circumstances, became an extremely close-knit family.

“At the end of the day you didn’t want to go home. You didn’t want to be alone.,” he said.

The impact of the mission lingers. Years later, LCol Jain still randomly smells jet fuel.

During this life-changing mission, Jain realized he had a skill to remain calm and think clearly in distressing situations.

“Coming out of that has given me resilience and allowed me to function in a chaotic environment,” he said.

“I realized I could manage myself in chaos.”

“It put me on a path of emergency and disaster medicine.”

In 1999, Jain was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal of Canada by the Governor General for his efforts during Operation Persistence.

He’s quick to share that honor with his team.

“It was a multi-faceted operation on land, air and sea, but the people who worked Hangar B were an incredible bunch of people who I am honored to know. There was a group of Canadians in that hangar who did incredible things.”

Two decades after the crash of Swissair Flight 111 LCol Trevor Jain was given the keys to “Hangar B” at Shearwater Air Force Base.

It was the first time he had revisited the “sacred ground” where he spent eight weeks as a young medical school student working to identify everyone who perished when Swissair Flight 111 crashed off the coast of Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia on 2 September 1998.

It was really a difficult space to revisit.

As a padre waited in silent support, Jain spent a reflective hour in the massive hangar, flooded with memories of the unforgettable, sad and monumental task – and incredible success -- he was part of at just 28 years old.

“It felt unreal. We had multi-faith leaders consecrate that place. When I left, I closed the door and locked it. I don’t need to go back there again.”

LCol Jain, now a Senior Staff Officer with the Canadian Forces 4^th Health Services Group and the 36th Canadian Brigade Group Surgeon, has gone on to a very successful career in emergency and disaster medicine.

With courage, integrity and loyalty, Lieutenant-Colonel Trevor Jain is leaving his mark as one of our Canadian Armed Forces members.

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