The Children of Sarajevo

Heroes Remember

The Children of Sarajevo

Transcript

The children, they were very happy to see us. They always would come up and, of course, like anyone else they would be starving for food. And I remember a few things that I seen that I had sorted out right away. The guys, some of the guys and they didn’t know they thought they were doing a favour by, when we drove by they would throw a couple chocolate bars out, but when there’s a group of ten, when we’d come back you’d see the guy that got the chocolate and kept it cause he was full of blood. And they were living in, they couldn’t really go out, just walking down in the city of Sarajevo because one corridor of it could have been one faction and then over down around the bend could be another. They couldn’t get out. If they went out, they’d b-line it across the road. And I had a few kids that always come up when we did distribution down to a certain warehouse in the city and they always come up and they couldn’t speak English, but they were always smiling and we’d play around with them and horse around while we were finishing up our task and that. You know people complain here back in Canada about having to live like this and they can’t afford ... that really hits home when you go away on tours and that was my first real eye opener and it was like. We have nothing to complain about it was just like. Living in cardboard boxes, they were living in houses that were half blown up with no roofs on them and trying to get food.

Description

Mr. Wadman expresses the feelings he had when interacting with the children, doing all he possibly could for a child’s survival.

Ed Wadman

Mr. Wadman was born January 5, 1967 in Cold Lake, Alberta. His father served in the air force so growing up in a military family was a big part of Mr. Wadman’s childhood. Unlike his father, Mr. Wadman decided to join the army realizing the security in life it could bring. Mr. Wadman that he was posted to Germany in 1988. He was than sent to Sarajevo for a six-month tour. As a member of 3RCR November Company Group, Operation Harmony, holding rank of Corporal, Mr. Wadman was awarded The Commander-In-Chief unit commendation award for his unique service within the besieged city of Sarajevo. Mr. Wadman’s military career also involved tours including Kuwait, Bosnia and Africa. After his retirement from the military, Mr. Wadman began teaching driving courses to military personnel.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 1:48
Person Interviewed:: Ed Wadman
War, Conflict or Mission:: Canadian Armed Forces
Location/Theatre:: Sarajevo
Branch:: Army
Units/Ship:: Royal Canadian Regiment
Rank:: Corporal

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The Children of Sarajevo

Heroes Remember