We were Peacekeepers

Heroes Remember

We were Peacekeepers

Transcript

See we were peacekeepers so you were allowed to carry ammunition, but you couldn’t have it in your weapon. If you know what I mean. You just take a clip and you keep it in your pocket. And you’re only supposed to use it again, you had to sign it out and sign it back in. If you used it then there was an investigation of why you had to use it. You had to patrol the area overnight and that was dicey at times because you’re out there at three o’clock in the morning in the middle of no where, can’t see anything. You got five rounds in a machine gun and you’re not allowed to use it unless your life’s in danger. So, I never had to use any anyway. The odd time we had to take somebody with us in a vehicle to ride shot gun if we were going downtown. They would let us know. We had a good colonel who briefed us weekly, every Thursday, all the other ranks got a briefing. Colonel Hamilton was his name and he was very good at telling us what was coming. Then he would go over that the next week and say this is what happened after I said this and then he’d tell us what happened and then he would predict the next couple of weeks. We knew exactly what was going on at all times.

Description

Mr. Diamond talks about being a peacekeeper and some of the situations which occurred while he was in the Congo.

Bert Diamond

Bert Diamond was born on April 6, 1936 in Montreal, Quebec. He worked as an Administrator for the Canadian National Railway for eight years before joining the army. He was talked into joining the service corps by his younger brother. Mr. Diamond said they were always looking for hockey players and baseball players, he was the 4th in the family to join on the January 13th and bunked with his brother in Borden just after basic training. He joined the army to travel so he was glad to go to Leopoldville in Congo where he was in charge of sport and welfare. M r. Diamond was in Congo for nine months, one year in Egypt, two years in Ghana and five years in Germany. Mr. Diamond was married and has two daughters.

Meta Data