No Time to be Scared

At night, I slept with my pistol on the dresser or under the pillow, something like that. They’re not going to… the only person that’s going to hurt you over there… I’d say the criminal element thinks they’re going to get something from you. The people are not going to hurt at that time or injure anybody belonging to the UN because the UN is pumping so much money in there, we’re talking a lot of money. So, if the populous turns against the hand that’s feeding you, then maybe that hand won’t feed you anymore so they had to be careful on that side of it. There’s lots of criminal activity over there, loads of it. But no, the Russian base… the Albanians don’t like the Russians because the Albanians are the (inaudible) of the Serbs. So, the Albanians don’t like the Russians and that’s a historical thing, it goes way back. And before you go there, you sort of read up on these things and see exactly, try to dig into the conflict itself. But yeah, one day the…one week the Russian base was under attack for like, eight days. And we’re right next to them. It wasn’t under attack in such, at night they would or someone would toss in a few mortars or drive-bys and toss in a few grenades and things like that. They weren’t concerned, they’d just go out and throw it all away. But then you get different people in the community coming up and protesting against the Russians being there and so forth and so on. But the Russians, at the time, were part of the NATO force. Like it or lump it. But scared? No, not really. Just…if you’re going to be scared to go out in the daytime or out at night, just get on the plane and get out of there. There’s no sense in you being there. The people are not gonna hurt you, you’re there to help them. And, yeah. I didn’t think so. No, never had time to be scared.

Officer Hickey speaks about interactions with the locals and how their sense of fear was soon allayed as they realized that the UN presence was a good thing!

Bill Hickey

Mr. Bill Hickey was born July 5, 1956 in a small town outside of St., John’s, Newfoundland. As a young boy, Mr. Hickey always has great involvement with sports and recreation. Realizing his desire for community work, Mr. Hickey held a career as a Police Officer and as well at a very young age joined the Reserves in role as chief warrant officer having opportunities to deploy to different areas of the world. Together with this Police and Reservist career, Mr. Hickey expresses his great sense of pride for his achievements and opportunities throughout his years in service. After 34.5 years of police service, Mr. Hickey has retired and now resides in St. John’s Newfoundland with his family. As part of the delegation of Newfoundland Veterans, Mr. Hickey accepted the opportunity as part of the 100th Anniversary of Battles of Somme and Beaumont-Hamel to travel overseas to commemorate this special event.