Sergeant Christos Karigiannis

Sgt Christos Karigiannis was born on September 20th, 1975 in Montreal, Quebec. As a youngster, he initially demonstrated an interest in the military when he joined the Royal Canadian Air Cadets, where he obtained his private pilot license in 1993.

Following that, he remained active in the Air Cadet movement and eventually joined the Cadet Instructor Cadre. Eventually, he decided to enlist in the Regular Force, land component, on August 15th, 1997. After completing basic training, he was posted to 1 PPCLI in Calgary, Alberta.

He deployed on two tours of duty to Kosovo and Bosnia before being posted to 3 PPCLI in June 2003. At 3 PPCLI he was part of A Company (Parachute), Reconnaissance Platoon, and C Company (Parachute), with whom he deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan, as part of Task Force 1-07.

He was qualified in Basic Parachutist, US Army Ranger, Military Freefall Parachutist, Basic Mountain Operations, Rappel Master, and Drop Zone Controller, to name a few. Christos is remembered as a quiet professional and a very good friend to all those who knew him.

He died while on duty in the province of Kandahar when the vehicle he was riding in struck an Improvised Explosive Device on June 20th, 2007. He is survived by his mother Niki, and his two brothers Peter and Spiro.