The Smell Never Goes Away

Heroes Remember

The Smell Never Goes Away

Transcript

The smell. If anybody ever tells you that they witnessed a traumatic event where there's a dead person, they'll forget the dead person but they'll never forget the smell and that never goes away. When we had to work in Port au Prince it was the toughest and worst place to be in because of the, I mean 2/3 of the nation is there living in ramshackle, you know pieces of tin put together and stuff. Yeah, that was tough. Nobody wanted to claim dead bodies because it cost. Nobody had money. So they let the UN do it. So the UN drove by, saw, called it in, picked the bodies up and off they went. One event, one situation, it was our second day there and we were very new there and still, we were driving out to our supervisor, was our major station there for the year and we were driving out to his house for a meeting and we drove by and there was a woman on the ground. Her torso was covered by a bush and we couldn't see her face, just the rest of her body and neat, dressed, everything looked all normal. It was such a shock to us that we never even stopped. We just drove by and to this day this is the worst unanswered question I will always carry. Was she alive or was she dead? Why didn't' I stop? I was driving. It was just a shock to be in an environment so full of anarchy, so full of lawlessness and it was just the brain couldn't absorb it all. So yeah, between the smell and that one lady ,that we never stopped to check, yeah those are memories that just never go away.

Description

Mr. Vaillancourt describes the smell that remains with him to this day and the devastating sights he witnessed during his tour.

Marc Vaillancourt

Mr. Vaillancourt was born April 22, 1957 in Sturgeon Falls, Ontario. After high school, Mr. Vaillancourt was interested in receiving a trade and with the desire to live the adventure of the military, age 19, he decided to join. At this time, Mr. Vaillancourt trained as a vehicle technician and joined with the Elelctricial Mechanical Engineer branch. Mr. Vaillacourt held rank as Master Warrant Officer. In 1990 Mr. Vaillacourt’s postings began as part of the 12th Armoured Regiment with a tour to Cyprus and in 1997 was part of a unit that travelled to Haiti; a specialized tour organized in Ottawa with only 5 soldiers in command. Mr. Vaillancourt was discharged from the military and now resides in Barrie, Ontario with his family.

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