[Hyack]

Quote:

This is the story of brave men of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (2PPCLI) who put their lives on the line to protect Serbian civilians of Medak Pocket from Croat ethnic cleansing and whose noble cause and valiant actions were kept under wraps under the general pressure of anti-Serbian policy.

In 1993, Canadian peacekeepers in Croatia were plunged into the most significant fighting Canada had seen since the Korean War. Their extraordinary heroism was covered up and forgotten. The ghosts of that battlefield have haunted them ever since.

Canadian peacekeepers in Medak Pocket, Croatia, found no peace to keep in September 1993. They engaged the forces of ethnic cleansing in a deadly firefight and drove them from the area under United Nations protection. The soldiers should have returned home as heroes. Instead, they arrived under a cloud of suspicion and silence.

In Medak Pocket, members of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry did exactly the job they were trained — and ordered — to do. When attacked by the Croat army they returned fire and fought back valiantly to protect Serbian civilians and to save the UN mandate in Croatia. Then they confronted the horrors of the offensive's aftermath — the annihilation by the Croat army of Serbian villages. The Canadians searched for survivors. There were none.

The soldiers came home haunted by these atrocities, but in the wake of the Somalia affair, Canada had no time for soldiers' stories of the horrific compromises of battle — the peacekeepers were silenced. In time, the dark secrets of Medak's horrors drove many of these soldiers to despair, to homelessness and even suicide.

[wildrosegirl]

Incredible story.... I'm speechless.

Fantastic find.

[DrCaleb]

I read the book, but didn't know there was a documentary.

[EyeBrock]

It's a sin that this isn't celebrated more.

[SprCForr]

It's still a very sore spot for those who were with the 2 PPCLI Battle Group.

[Curtman]

EyeBrock wrote:

It's a sin that this isn't celebrated more.

Celebrated? That seems like a strange word.

I watched the videos in the other thread that Hyack posted before these ones.

I understand why people might have a hard time celebrating. I wasn't able to watch those without tearing up.

[EyeBrock]

Yea, poor choice of words Curt. “Remembered more openly” is more appropriate. I work with a guy who was there.

[BartSimpson]

EyeBrock wrote:

It's a sin that this isn't celebrated more.

That's because some Canadians are ashamed of Canadian war heroes and they actively work to suppress reports of any untoward demonstrations of honor, character, courage, and manliness by good Canadian men.

[Curtman]

EyeBrock wrote:

Yea, poor choice of words Curt. “Remembered more openly” is more appropriate. I work with a guy who was there.

I thought maybe I had got a different message from the story. I thought about the animosity toward the U.N. that sometimes gets expressed here.

"They were blowing up buildings, setting fire, you could hear the screams. People were dying. It happened right in front of us. We weren't allowed to go into that sector"

"You see what they were doing, was killing people. And friggin throwing them into the building. So this bastard had just killed a kid, and he was dancing around with a friggin pair of underwear on his head. Thinking he was something special."

I think I understand.