# Lest we forget the cost of peacekeeping



## PMedMoe (15 Jul 2009)

Mods, feel free to move to a more appropriate sub-thread, if necessary.

*Lest we forget the cost of peacekeeping*
*Article link*
By Robert Smol, special to CBC News

The news from the Afghan front in recent weeks has not been encouraging.

At least six Canadian soldiers have paid the supreme sacrifice in the last month alone, along with 15 British soldiers, a toll that has provoked a virulent public debate in the U.K. about the merits of the Afghan engagement.

Still, Canada's casualties these past weeks, no matter how tragic, pale beside the toll for a single 30-day period in the summer of 1974, a violent and trying time for the Canadian Forces.

In the one-month period between mid-July and mid-August of that year, a total of 13 Canadian military personnel died while on duty, mainly as a result of peacekeeping operations gone awry in Cyprus and the Middle East.

In that same month, six teenage cadets at Valcartier, Que., were also killed during a training exercise.

To this day it remains Canada's single worst month of military carnage since the Korean War — more than any single month in Afghanistan.

It is also part of the reason for recognizing Aug. 9 as National Peacekeepers' Day, a commemoration that somehow took until 2008 to be passed into law.

Why so long for the recognition? And why such seeming indifference to the history of the bloody summer of 1974 outside the military and veteran community?

As military historian Jack Granatstein says, "Canadians assume that there are no dead in peacekeeping and that is why they like it."

He is probably right. But the lessons from the summer of '74 suggest the risk between cold war and hot is much the same.

More on link


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## FormerHorseGuard (17 Jul 2009)

Very interesting news story. Is any official plans to mark this day in Ottawa? I would like to attend whatever they plan as a spectator to remember fallen freinds and one recruit school instructor from the days of my basic training. Seems a long time ago for me, but his family I bet  it is only  like yesterday he died.


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## gaspasser (17 Jul 2009)

Or the linemen who lost thier lives in the Golan Heights...or the officer (name escapes me) who died in Lebanon, and the officer who was captured in Kosovo (?) FRY.
My wife's uncle was in Cyprus in '74 and was caught between the two parties, he doesn't talk about it at all, even over beers with his brothers and me.  So it must've been a harrowing time for those that came home upright!  The beginnings of PTSD.  One of the things that p.o.'d him the most, was that he couldn't return fire when fired upon!  
Lest We Forget all of those who laid down their lives for others.


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## mariomike (17 Jul 2009)

BYT Driver said:
			
		

> Lest We Forget all of those who laid down their lives for others.



Thank you for reminding us. They should be found in the 7th Book of Remembrance:
http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=collections/books/b7thbook


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## gwp (29 Jul 2009)

FormerHorseGuard said:
			
		

> Very interesting news story. Is any official plans to mark this day in Ottawa? I would like to attend whatever they plan as a spectator to remember fallen freinds and one recruit school instructor from the days of my basic training. Seems a long time ago for me, but his family I bet  it is only  like yesterday he died.


Don't know about Ottawa, but B.C. was the first province to declare Aug. 9 Peacekeeping Memorial Day.   What follows is the official news release for this year's event that is organized by the Candian Peacekeeping Veterans Associaiton CPVA

*MEMORIAL PARADE REMEMBERS PEACEKEEPING LOSSES*​ESQUIMALT, B.C.—The 17th Annual Peacekeepers Memorial Day Service will be held at the B.C. Legislature Grounds Sunday at 7 p.m.  Members of Peacekeeping Veterans Associations and other veterans' groups will lead the parade joined by a platoon from Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt. 
	The parade is held annually on Aug. 9 to honour members of the Canadian Forces who have died on peace operations. The date recalls the deaths of nine Canadians killed when a missile hit their aircraft over the Golan Heights in 1974.  Thirty-five years later, the Golan Heights tragedy remains as the most Canadian lives lost in a single military operation since the Korean War.
Prior to the two minutes of silence, poppies with a UN-blue ribbon attached will be placed on a wreath at the cenotaph.  The names of Canadian Forces members who have died on duty since last Aug. 9 will be recited by representatives of the Navy, Army, Air Force and Police Services.
Guest speakers include navy Capt. Alex Ruben, Chief of Staff, Maritime Forces Pacific on behalf of Rear Admiral Tyrone Pile, representing serving members of the Canadian Forces retired brigadier general Larry Gollner Patron of the Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association and Ms. Bridget Preston, Victoria District Manager of Veterans Affairs Canada.
The Band of the Albert Head Air Cadet Summer Training Centre will perform a concert on the legislature grounds before the ceremony begins and provide music during the memorial service.
-30-​


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## Greymatters (29 Jul 2009)

Ive read a few discussions recently about how the word 'peacekeeping' is used and whether it is a valid term for describing any or some of our operations - articles like this make it clear that the word 'Peacekeeping' just cannot be removed from common use...


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## gwp (29 Jul 2009)

Greymatters said:
			
		

> Ive read a few discussions recently about how the word 'peacekeeping' is used and whether it is a valid term for describing any or some of our operations - articles like this make it clear that the word 'Peacekeeping' just cannot be removed from common use...


Quite right ... and it is a real challenge to on one hand recognize the thousands of Canadians whose military service defines them as peacekeepers yet make it clear that that they were only successful because they trained for combat.  Here is an example of the speeches presented at this event.  



> Sixty years ago Canadian military personnel first became involved in UN Peace initiatives. It was as a result of the lingering dispute between India and Pakistan over the state of Kashmir.  The first United Nations Military Observer Group was created in 1949.  The first chief military observer was a Canadian, a reserve officer, Brigadier Henry H. Angle.  He had previously served on the UN Commission for India and Pakistan.  It was his job to observe the cease-fire line and determine any violation by either side.  He is considered to be the first Canadian peacekeeping fatality.  Brigadier Angle’s effective contribution was ended when he was killed in a plane crash on July 17, 1950.
> Tonight we honour those whose service to Canada defined them as peacekeepers.  During a remarkable time of world history, they prevented wars, and saved lives because they trained for war.  The men and women who mostly wore the blue beret of the United Nations are among thousands of Canadians who have kept the faith.  Whether they are members of the police services, civilian diplomats and administrators, or members of the Canadian Forces, we owe each of them our gratitude.
> Congratulations to the Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association for your initiative 17 years ago to have this day set aside as Peacekeeping Memorial Day.
> Canadian military fatalities in operations from the end of the War in Korea mostly came in ones and twos; and until the on going operation in Afghanistan that began in 2002 for the previous 50 years most fatalities went unnoticed and unheralded.
> ...


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## Dennis Ruhl (29 Jul 2009)

BYT Driver said:
			
		

> One of the things that p.o.'d him the most, was that he couldn't return fire when fired upon!



I don't know whether this was true in all cases.  An ex-airborne soldier I met said a Turkish soldier who put some holes in their trucks was handled appropriately.  This might have been an individual initiative.


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## Roy Harding (29 Jul 2009)

Dennis Ruhl said:
			
		

> I don't know whether this was true in all cases.  An ex-airborne soldier I met said a Turkish soldier who put some holes in their trucks was handled appropriately.  This might have been an individual initiative.



http://vetsunnatocanadaen.multiply.com/notes/item/5
http://army.ca/wiki/index.php/The_Canadian_Airborne_Regiment#Nicosia_-_1974


Amongst others.  Google "Cyprus 1974 Canadian Airborne"


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## AJFitzpatrick (6 Aug 2009)

One could argue that the Canadian contribution to NATO in Germany was the most successful "peacekeeping" operation ever undertaken by Canada as the peace was most definitely kept.


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## George Wallace (6 Aug 2009)

AJFitzpatrick said:
			
		

> One could argue that the Canadian contribution to NATO in Germany was the most successful "peacekeeping" operation ever undertaken by Canada as the peace was most definitely kept.



And how long did that take?  1945 to 1992 ........and still Foreign Troops are stationed in Germany and Japan.

This is why I have a hard time comprehending how the Canadian Public and MSM can think that we can bring "PEACE" to Iraq and Afghanistan in a couple of years, especially when these are totally different cultures.


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