The Bosnian Girl and Her New Dress!

Heroes Remember

The Bosnian Girl and Her New Dress!

Transcript

Once I was in Sarajevo in a little town called Boutonniere and we were one of the first soldiers to deliver humanitarian aid to that town. Of course, I wasn’t married at the time, I was just a young soldier, you know, single. There was this particular zone we entered and we came out of our vehicles and took positions just to guard the trucks. And the citizens, people from the town came out; and some people had, women, children had flowers, they had drinks for us. Basically even though they didn’t have much, they brought out whatever they had to show us their appreciation. However, there was this young, I was young too, about my age, this girl came to me and she couldn’t speak a word of English, so she was trying to talk to me and, you know, I can’t, I’m doing my job guarding my post and but I felt sorry for the girl and whatever money I had I gave her, it was only 10 marks, Dutch marks, German currency at the time which was strong there so I gave them, I gave her 10 marks just to make her happy, maybe she could get something, buy something, I don’t know and she was so thankful that a tear came to her eye and I didn’t see her again until approximately a week or two later that we went back to the same zone and she came looking for me and she was wearing a nice dress and she explained to me that the money I gave her she bought that dress, with the currency I gave her and she was very happy, and you know it seems it was like a long time that I was present there but it was actually, maybe just twenty minutes or five minutes that I seen her but it seemed a long, long, long time but it was time to mount up and go away, you know, take off and she grabbed my hand, even though I had my rifle in my hand, she grabbed my hand and I let go of my rifle and I was holding it with one hand and she was holding my hand and she didn’t want to let go of my hand, you know, and she started crying.

Description

Mr. Bojalil shares a story as how he unknowingly fulfilled a young girl’s happiness by providing for a new dress

Alfredo “Alphie” Bojalil

Mr. Alphie Bojalil was born in Mexico City, August 9, 1969. At the young age of 15, Mr. Bojalil had the keen desire to join the military as the discipline and adventure for travel intrigued his interest. In 1988-89, Mr. Bojalil went to Battle School in Petawawa, Ontario and joined the Royal Canadian Regiment. After his training, Mr. Bojalil was posted to Germany where he remained for 2 years. A big part of Mr. Bojalil’s military career involved his participation as a peacekeeper with 3 RCR, November Company where he and a contingent of soldiers travelled to the besiege city of Sarajevo in 1992 with their main task to reopen the airport and provide humanitarian aid and supply to the people of this city. For this, Mr. Bojalil gained recognition and was awarded the Commander-In-Chief Commendation for his participation in this effort. After discharge from the military, Mr. Bojalil became a strong advocate for his fellow soldiers involved in this mission and has tirelessly worked to bring them together for a reunion in 2009. Mr. Bojalil remains a strong voice for his service and holds great pride for his unit’s accomplishments. Mr. Bojalil married and has one daughter.

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