Hearing the Snap of a Bullet
Heroes Remember
Hearing the Snap of a Bullet
The rules of engagement were there really to protect civilians,
protect us. Unless you knew who was shooting at you,
you couldn’t shoot back. But I was involved in a mini fire fight
near the airport where a sniper was taking shots at us.
Sergeant Davy McDade and was in a lead vehicle,
I was behind him and we were stopped at a checkpoint cause
sometimes vehicles could only go, you know, one at a time
because of a one-way street and we were kind of halted
between the airport and Beaver Camp on this highway.
It was kind of a no man’s land. It was an area where you just,
no one really owned it and we were waiting for a French
relief convoy to come through and next thing you know shots
started getting fired at us. I’ll never forget I was on,
I had my headset on listening to the radio and I heard the
snap of the bullet going by my head.
So that’s how close they were and they actually, and the sniper
shot at Sergeant McDade’s vehicle in front of us and I’ll never,
I remember seeing Corporal Dorinson with his binoculars
looking to our left. Looking at like a industrial area
about two 300 metres to our left and hitting Sergeant McDade
on the shoulder and pointing this way and I remember looking
and then he looked. And I can remember him having his rifle
up and firing and then I saw the silhouette in this window of
this warehouse complex and we were able to fire back.
Cause we knew this was the guy shooting at us.
But that was the only time and it was one of the very few times
that Canadians actually ever fired back because the rules of
engagement were so robust that unless you knew exactly who
was shooting at you, you cannot return fire. But it was for a
good reason cause there were so many civilians around you
had to be very, very careful because if you were to engage
somebody that you were a bit iffy, you could inadvertently hurt
a civilian. So and we knew we cannot fire back unless you
exactly know where that belligerent is or where that
person is otherwise you might inadvertently hurt some
civilians. So for me I think we all understood that’s the reason
why we have to have these rules of engagements.
Related Videos
Preparation and Training in Germany
Mr. MacDonald speaks about the training and preparation he received as a soldier.
First Night in Sarajevo
Mr. MacDonald speaks about the explosion and sights of tracer fire that rained down upon them the first night in Sarajevo, witnessing the aftermath of destruction, and dead bodies around the city the next morning.
Civilians being Targeted
During checkpoint duty at the PTT building, Mr. MacDonald describes the sights of civilians being targeted by snipers while walking down the sidewalks and the challenges they faced each day.
- Date modified: