Tension on Red Alert

Heroes Remember

Tension on Red Alert

Transcript

In 1966, I was again posted to Germany and this time with 3 Fighter Wing they called Zweibrücken. My work again was on the aircraft. In those days we had, the Cold War was very hot in those days and it was a matter - we were only a matter of a few minutes that the Russians at that time could have overcome our base quite easily with their aircraft because it only took maybe about ten, fifteen minutes from the time they took off to the time they’d be over our head. They used to have a call, “Snowball, snowball, snowball.” When you heard that you, you knew that it was an alert and at all times those alerts were red alert, in a sense. This was caused by a possible movement of troops in the Russians which were so close to our border down there that any time that they moved anything, everybody went on red alert. It was quite tense for the family as well. The idea was that if anything did happen, they were on their own. They had to take my car and go. I don’t know, they had different areas that they were told where to go for evacuation of the base. At that time, we were quite busy on the aircraft because we carried the nuclear weapons in those days and we had to arm the aircraft and everything, get them ready but those aircraft were on alert 24 hours a day with the pilot sitting right in the aircraft. So it was quite, it was quite tedious for us and quite hard for us to be able to leave your family behind with the possibility of invasion by the Russian troops.

Description

Mr. LeBlanc explains the tension experienced by the families and military personnel on the base.

Henry LeBlanc

Mr. Joseph “Henry” LeBlanc was born in Moncton, New Brunswick in 1928. After obtaining his high school degree, Mr. LeBlanc became associated with the military. His first employment began in 1944 on a troop train between Montreal and Halifax where he sold beverages and sandwiches to the soldiers. In 1946, at age 17, Mr. LeBlanc joined the Navy as a cook on board the HMCS Haida. He married in 1948 and left the navy to join the air force thinking it would be easier on his family. In 1951, Mr. LeBlanc travelled to CFB Trenton, Ontario where he trained as a weapons technician. In 1955, he accepted his first posting overseas in Germany. Throughout his military career, Mr. LeBlanc served on several aircraft bases within Canada, returning to Germany in 1966. After retiring from the military, Mr. LeBlanc became quite involved in the local legion and was recognized with a 40 year membership medal. He also volunteered many hours with Scouts Canada.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 2:18
Person Interviewed:: Henry LeBlanc
War, Conflict or Mission:: Canadian Armed Forces
Location/Theatre:: Germany
Branch:: Air Force
Rank:: Sergeant
Occupation:: Weapons technician

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Tension on Red Alert

Heroes Remember