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Description
Mr. Ethell describes how the Turk Capriots and the Greek Cypriots interacted with the Canadian Peace Keepers and how the Canadians impacted the Communities in which they were stationed.
Donald Stewart Ethell
Donald Stewart Ethell est né en juillet 1937 et a grandi à Victoria (Colombie-Britannique). Son père était un ancien combattant de la Première Guerre mondiale et de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Sa mère était infirmière. Sa soeur et lui ont étudié dans un pensionnat en raison des emplois qu’occupaient ses parents et ils retournaient à la maison seulement à Noël et pendant les vacances d’été. La mère de M. Ethell est décédée lorsque ce dernier n’avait que 10 ans. <br><br> Lorsqu’il s’est enrôlé, M. Ethell a joint les Queen's Own Rifles à Calgary. Après plusieurs années de service comme soldat d’infanterie, on l’a recommandé pour qu’il reçoive la formation d’officier. M. Ethell réussit le programme et s’éleva au rand de colonel. Plus tard, il a commandé des troupes canadiennes et des troupes des Nations Unies au cours de divers missions partout dans le monde. Au milieu des années 1990, Col. Ethell a pris sa retraite après plus de trente-cinq ans de services distingués.
Transcription
It was fine, I know I was, the Kurds (sp) called it detained, I held a record, detained 8 times in one day. We were stopped and radioed in and escorted out of the area, usually by what we called the Turk Turks, because each of the national countries, were permitted to have one battalion there and the Turkish national battalion, was big and hard nosed and they didn't like to see UN reconnaissance platoons watching what they were doing, so that would be a little tension filled. The Greeks battalion was back in Nicosia and it was out of our area so we didn't see them too much. The Greek Cypriots and the Turk Cypriots, particularly the Turk Cypriots, were a hodge-podge of people, including young 12 - 13 year old children carrying weapons at check points and so forth, which could cause a bit of a problem. I think our Canadians, being Canadians they have a soft spot for kids, particularly, you know it wasn't, we weren't there very long, in fact we took it over, sorry from a previous Canadian battalion the orphanage in Kirinia had been adopted and the guys in their off days and so forth, with a hammer and a saw and scrounging clothing and so fourth and the same in the local villages, if you were living out there obviously you're gonna talk to the village leader and so forth and there's gonna be a school there, Canadians love kids. They make their presence felt.