Chief Warrant Officer (Ret'd) William "Bill" Richards

Richards joined the Canadian Armed Forces in March 1984. As an Armoured Soldier, he was posted in numerous locations across Eastern Canada as well as to Germany, he deployed to Bosnia and Afghanistan.

“When the ice storm hit it was all hands on deck. We wanted to get out there and help people. Petawawa was deployed complete.”

In January 1998, after a series of ice storms hit Eastern Ontario, Québec and New Brunswick, the affected provinces requested aid from the federal government. The Canadian military answered the call and launched Operation Recuperation on 8 January.

In the days before the operation began, Bill remembers getting advanced notice that his unit might be deploying from Petawawa. “When the ice storm hit it was all hands on deck. We wanted to get out there and help people. Petawawa was deployed complete.”

They soon left home and headed to a staging point in Ottawa, taking every piece of winter kit they owned with them. From there, military units were sent to affected areas across the region.

Recently promoted to Warrant Officer, he was responsible for more than 30 soldiers at the time. They were sent south of Ottawa, to Metcalfe, Ontario. They were housed in a community rink and  worked from sunrise to sunset—departing at 8:00 AM and returning around 7:30-8:00 PM each evening.

“We were 30-35 guys, with 17 or 18 chainsaws. It didn’t take us long to clear swaths of roads.”

In Metcalfe, they adopted a routine. In the morning, they freed ice covered power lines in areas Hydro Ontario identified in preparation to restore power. Both those on the ground, and those still attached to poles were encased in centimetres of ice. “It’s always dangerous to touch downed lines,” he said. They communicated regularly with Hydro Ontario to ensure no lines were live in areas they were working.

Once finished, they helped locals in the afternoon.

“We were 30-35 guys, with 17 or 18 chainsaws,” he says, “it didn’t take us long to clear swaths of roads.” They removed ice and fallen debris from roads, pumped water from basements and freed homes covered in branches, tree trunks and ice. “There was a couple of houses with so many trees on them you could barely tell they were houses,” said Richards.

Using a City of Ottawa bus as a mobile heating shelter, they worked in shifts, as temperatures were -10 degrees Celsius and lower.

“It was definitely gratifying, some people were almost in tears thanking us.”

He remembers one instance of that gratitude very clearly. While in Metcalfe, their cooks ran low on potatoes and word got out to the local community. Later that day, tens of farmers had shown up at the community rink where CAF members were staying, each with bags and bags of potatoes. “It was amazing, morale was through the roof,” he said. “It was definitely gratifying, some people were almost in tears thanking us.” After spending roughly three weeks deployed, he returned home to Petawawa.

With more than 15,000 total CAF members deployed, Operation Recuperation finally concluded on 28 February 1998. It remains the largest domestic troop deployment in Canadian history.

One of Canada’s Veterans, William Richards has left his mark. Discover more stories.