Canadian Peacekeepers: Ten Stories of Valour in War-Torn Countries

Sidney Allinson is Canadian news correspondent for Britain’s The Army
Quarterly and Defence. He is the author of The Bantams: The Untold Story
of World War I, Jeremy Kane, and Kruger’s Gold: A Novel of the
Anglo-Boer War.

The concept of placing a neutral military force between opposed warring
sides originated in November 1956, during the Suez crisis. The United
Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) was a personal initiative of Lester B.
Pearson, then Canada’s prime minister. The Canadian Armed Forces
continue to serve gallantly overseas in an important peacekeeping role.
They were particularly successful in Cyprus, where they patrolled the
demilitarized “Green Line” for over 40 years.

Our troops’ story is summarized in Canadian Peacekeepers, a brief
nine-chapter review that covers Canadian peacekeeping missions in Egypt,
Cyprus, Rwanda, Yugoslavia, and Afghanistan. The author, a Canadian
historian who was named an honorary peacekeeper by the Canadian Armed
Forces, details the careers of prominent Canadian commanders.

One of those commanders, General Tommy Burns, played a vital role as
UNEF’s first commander and greatly defined the role for his
successors. General Lewis Mackenzie led peacekeepers brilliantly during
the savage internecine war between Serbs and Croats, which equipped him
with a rare understanding of modern conflicts. Despite his outstanding
services, our politicians treated him churlishly, and he retired from
the army after criticizing the U.N.’s inability to support his troops.


General Roméo Dallaire is best known for his gallant efforts to curb
the genocide in Rwanda. His dedication there brought him fame and
honours, but at the personal cost of a nervous breakdown from the
horrors he saw, then the ignominy of forced retirement for “health
reasons.”

Leach rightly mentions some lower-rank individuals who quietly served
the cause of peace in Canada’s name and sometimes died for their
efforts. Master Corporal Mark Isfeld, whose love for local children
prompted him to give them small dolls, lost his life while clearing a
minefield in Croatia. Another hero is Sergeant Thomas Hoppe, who served
so coolly under fire in Yugoslavia that he was awarded both the Medal of
Bravery and the Meritorious Service Cross.

Younger readers will likely be baffled by a few now little-known
historical allusions that are mentioned without a word of explanation
(although interested researchers could track them down via the list of
references provided). The book does not include photographs of the
valiant individuals mentioned. Worse, not a single map is
included—which, considering the worldwide focus of the book is truly
unfortunate.