Description
Mr. Wadman describes the devastation his unit witnessed upon arrival and the appreciation the civilian people had for the UN presence.
Ed Wadman
Mr. Wadman was born January 5, 1967 in Cold Lake, Alberta. His father served in the air force so growing up in a military family was a big part of Mr. Wadman’s childhood. Unlike his father, Mr. Wadman decided to join the army realizing the security in life it could bring. Mr. Wadman that he was posted to Germany in 1988. He was than sent to Sarajevo for a six-month tour. As a member of 3RCR November Company Group, Operation Harmony, holding rank of Corporal, Mr. Wadman was awarded The Commander-In-Chief unit commendation award for his unique service within the besieged city of Sarajevo. Mr. Wadman’s military career also involved tours including Kuwait, Bosnia and Africa. After his retirement from the military, Mr. Wadman began teaching driving courses to military personnel.
Transcript
In certain areas where we would go there was, they really hated one another. Like you would drive on, you’d go up to a checkpoint and drive about 15 - 20 feet through no mans land to the other side and they’d be just, just wanting to know what you’re saying to these people and that, they hated, really hated each other. Which was kind of odd because one day they were married, mixed marriage and the next day when the war broke out they just fought against each other which was, you know, I had never seen that before. Driving through towns to get to the town where we were staying at and it was, you know, devastation in the town, just levelled, some of the little towns were levelled, destroyed, people living in cardboard boxes and that. It was, it wasn’t the same as we were used to ever, everyday in Canada. The civilian people were happy that we were there because we were giving them aid and that and helping out, clean out things in towns and trying to get things back in order.