UNEF Travel to Egypt

It was new to the armed forces and to Canada and especially to some of us young fellows. I had a chance to go there and then they named it the United Nations Emergency Force because it was an emergency. The Suez crisis, they had closed the Suez Canal, a battled between France and England, and Israel later attacked Egypt over it and almost a full fledge war actually broke out, you know. So we were assigned to go and it was late December that we left Halifax on a Canadian Navy aircraft carrier, loaded down with vehicles and equipment and we were on the ship, I think it was a 14 day trip from Halifax. I arrived in Egypt, I remember it was the 11th of January of '57. Arriving there and just travelling on the ship, working on the ship, replacing some sailors that they didn’t take over, we needed jobs to do while we were on the ship. So I worked in the laundry and again experience, you know, on something and filling in time. Anyway we got there and was loading up the ship. My job again was driving the vehicles off the Maggie, off the HMCS Magnificent and once we were there, the UN Headquarters was in a place called Dear Arabella. So we drove up in there and equipment and then a couple days later we moved into another camp Abouswaire, near Ismailia and we were there about four or five months, that was our home base. And I was only in Egypt about a week at the most and they started releasing Egyptian prisoners that had been taken by Israel. There was 5200 prisoners. So we had 16 trucks at the time and we had to go and pick up these prisoners. They probably loaded 40 prisoners in each vehicle and we had to take them approximately, I think it was 60 or 70 miles to a little train station, Mexfax Station it was called. We made enough trips there that I had seen the sign a few times. And dusty roads and terrible roads actually. The Israeli Army as they left Egypt soil to return to Egypt at the end of the war there, late November of ‘56, they had ripped the road completely up, just like it was a plowed field and we had to contend with that, you know. Anyway, we got through that job, probably at least 15 days, everyday, day and night we worked. And just to say how it was there, like I say, what made it such a learning experience was we worked day and night, like every day, Saturdays included, Sundays and our hours were from 6:30 to 7:00 o’clock in the morning we’d work til about 1:00. We’d have a mid coffee break, a sandwich around 10:00, 10:30 and then we’d be off from 1:00 to 3:00 because it was so hot and go back to work at 3:00, 3:30 and work til about 6:00 and then supper and by the time you were finished up you were kind of tired out. And they had absolutely nothing there, they had no sports fields, no nothing, no rec centres, no swimming holes, nothing. We were there and we worked constantly.

Mr Perry speaks about his journey to Egypt as part of the United Nations Emergency Force and their purpose for being there.

John Perry

Mr. John Perry was born October 30, 1936 in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. He came from a large family of nine children. During his teen years, he worked on fishing boats and local farms as a labourer and at age 17 decided to travel to Halifax to join the army. He accepted training in Camp Borden and spent two years in Manitoba. Too young to join the Korean War, Mr. Perry became part of the United Nations Emergency Force where he travelled to Egypt and worked in the motor transport area as a motor transport driver. After military service, Mr. Perry used his knowledge in motor transport and held various positions with the motor vehicle branch of provincial government. With 38 years service, Mr. Perry retired and settled with this family in Fredericton, New Brunswick.