Hundreds of people turned out today to honour Canada's peacekeepers for National Peacekeepers’ Day.
Aug. 9 was chosen because in 1974 nine Canadian peacekeepers died when their plane was shot down by missiles over Syria.
The sound of bag pipes filled the air over Peacekeepers Park in Angus as more than 150 men and women from six decades of peacekeeping missions marched towards the roll of honour.
“Unless you've never had the taste of the freedom taken away from you, you never know what it’s like to miss it,” says retired peacekeeper Bill Buck. “There was so many of us who kissed the pavement when we got back to Trenton.”
Buck was a peacekeeper for 30 years. He served in Europe and the Middle East. Today he is remembering the friends he served with and the ones who didn't return home.
“We basically kept trying to keep people from shooting each other and keep them talking,” he says.
As the ‘Last Post’ rang out, 274 Canadians who lost their lives while trying to restore peace in volatile countries were remembered, including the recent mission in Afghanistan. They were members of the armed forces, the RCMP, and public servants.
“We're all over the world as peacekeepers in very dangerous and hot spots and even today they are out there,” says Fern Taillefer, president of the Peacekeeping Association’s central Ontario chapter.
This year's ceremony also recognized the 40th anniversary of one of the worst tragedies in Canada's peacekeeping history. On Aug. 9, 1974, nine Canadians were killed when their plane was shot down over Syria. It remains the largest single-day loss of Canadian lives during a peacekeeping mission.
One by one the names of the nine soldiers were read out loud, and two of them are from Angus: Cpl. Bruce Stringer and Acting Master Warrant Officer Cyril Korejwo.
Stringer’s mother Regina laid a wreath on behalf of her son and all fallen peacekeepers.
“It's a day of great honour”, she says. “When our son went into the military I tried to tell him, ‘You're giving your life’ and he said, ‘This is my country and what I live for.’”
It's a day of mixed emotions for Paul Korejwo as he honours the father he lost 40 years ago and the eight other soldiers who were killed that day. He hopes more people become aware of the sacrifice and dedication made by peacekeepers past and present.
“When you look at the devastation in the world and people like the peacekeepers, what they do around the world is very important and I think when we have ceremonies like this I think it enlightens more and more people,” he says.
