Nothing You Could Do

Heroes Remember

Nothing You Could Do

Transcript

There were a couple of deaths that were unnecessary, in a sense. That was, again, through folly, of carelessness on peoples problem with doing it. I guess, the only... They had to relax somehow, and they usually ended up with too much booze. Burned to death in drinking episode. And the materials you use to build your hoochies and that were oil and everything else and, somehow, I guess he knocked the candle over, and by the time the blaze started, there was... You couldn't even get near the building, and he walked out burning. He was a man that was, I'd say six foot three, about 250, and by the time he was shrivelled up, he was very tiny. Just I'd say like the same if someone got hit by a flamethrower. It would be the same thing... to actually see him come out walking, burning, and there's nothing you could do because we had no water to even, had to run for blankets to put over him, and then that was too late. And, so, you always have that feeling that, you know, could I have prevented this, had I stopped it all. And but, then they're of equal rank or higher, and that was the way you lived.

Description

Mr. Connelly describes the sometimes tragic results of living in isolation.

Duke Connelly

Dennis Connelly assumed his name ‘Duke' shortly after enlisting in the infantry. His older brother, whose nickname was Duke, had been killed overseas in the Second World War. One of his former officers mistook Dennis for his brother, and the name stuck. Mr. Connelly did one combat mission late in the Korean War, and later went to Cyprus on a United Nations peacekeeping mission, where he was in charge of all surveillance and reconnaissance tactics. He also did infantry and paratroop training for the Canadian Armed Forces. He left the army to become a park warden in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.

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