Close calls - Part 1 of 2

Heroes Remember

Close calls - Part 1 of 2

Transcript

Ah yes, yes. I had a number of very, very close call. I remember one day, actually I was, I'd finished talking with some Israeli officers during an operation, and then the Red Cross, International Red Cross, called for UN support in a No Man's Land and I took off, after checking the road was okay by the Israeli and they say, "Well, yeah, we're not intending to go that way the road is clear, as far as we know." So anyway, while zooming up the mountain in Lebanon and came around the bend and the, somebody jump up from the side and stopped me, stopped the vehicle, stopped the jeep. It was somebody from Hisbala forces and soon as he stopped the jeep, he removed this little, tiny little wire from in front of the vehicle. It was a road side bomb. So we went by and he put the wire back on. And if I wouldn't have stopped, I wouldn't be here today, but that was, you know, about two feet away from the bomb, by the time we stopped. So away we went and we were responding to this, these International Red Cross people. Peter Shearer was the person from, from Switzerland. He was the Director of the international people there of the Red Cross, International Red Cross, and I got Peter about another twenty minutes later he said, "We gotta go in the minefield. There's people out there." There was one international person. International Red Cross had wandered into the field trying to help some of the people and he was stuck in there. Now, of course, why the hell he went to a minefield, I don't know. I looked at it, I said, "You know I'm not going in there just yet. I gotta find information about this." So I went to the Israeli post close by and I talked to the officer in charge. I said, "I would like to go in there with Peter Shearer of the International Red Cross and we'd like to get first of all, his international guy out of there, his Red Cross guy out of there, and maybe there is two people stuck in there. What if they were injured." Well ... So I said, "I would like to get in there," and he said, "I'm not going to send anybody with you." I said, "I don't want you to send any soldier with me. I want your map. Your minefield map." He said, "You can't read that." I said, "Of course I can. You use the, the international way to set the map the same as we do in NATO and anywhere else." He said, "Yes, we do the same thing." According to the Geneva Convention, there's a certain way to set map, set mines in a field and once you know that, once you know where it is, then it's easy enough to, to make your way around it. So he gave me his minefield map and I said, "You have to take me by the hand to the first mine and show me exactly what the distance you have in between." He said, "It's a metre, three feet apart." "Well, you gotta take me where the first mine is. From there I'll be able to make my way." And sure enough, he did. He said, "It starts here." Then, then I could see where the little elevation. He said, "From there." I said, "I'm okay now." So I took down, I got, got our people out of there, but about an hour later I was shaking like a leaf. At that time I didn't realize the danger, but...

Description

Mr. Grossinger describes some ‘close calls’ he experienced during his experiences in Lebanon.

Red Grossinger

Red Grossinger was born in 1940 and lived most his life in Quebec. As eldest of 13 children, he felt a responsibility to find a job and help support the family. In 1957 he joined the local militia to help the family income. He then joined the Regular Forces in 1959 and completed tours in Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Cyprus where he had some very close calls.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 03:45
Person Interviewed:: Red Grossinger
War, Conflict or Mission:: Canadian Armed Forces
Location/Theatre:: Lebanon
Branch:: Army
Units/Ship:: 12th Armed Regiment
Rank:: Major

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Close calls - Part 1 of 2

Heroes Remember