Derkson, R. A.: my armed forces recollections (November 5, 2008)

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An interview/narrative of R. A. Derkson's experiences whilst serving in the armed forces. Interview took place on November 5, 2008.

Interviewer: Lopeter, Louise

ABSTRACT: Major R.A. Derkson Derkson_R_0584_01.mp3 - Served with UNFICYP in 1974 during the invasion - I joined the military because it seemed like a cool job. I had seen a poster of a guy jumping out of a herc. I did not expect to serve as a peacekeeper. - Volunteered to go to Cyprus for a 6mth period during the first half of the year. - I received no special training for the peacekeeping mission. Training for the patrolling, sentry and picket duty had been included in regular training for service. - We did attend pre-deployment briefings. Topics included: background on the country, history briefings by Captain Ian Nichol, the culture, the currency, the weather, all sorts of things that you would expect there. - My job was steward of the officer's mess. - We would lay on the beach during time off. However things changed after the Turks invaded. - It was an economic benefit for the Cypriots for UN to be there. Usually things were very peaceful and calm until UN mandate came up for renewal - and then there would be a smattering of small arms fire etc. Just enough until the mandate was renewed, because there were a lot of troops there with money relative to the rest of the population. Therefore, it was almost a holiday during the beginning of the term. - After the Turks invaded things changed. The rest of the regiment came over then. We did patrolling, sentry duties and that sort of thing. - In a typical day early on there was some uncertainty and reorganizing. The camp was shelled a few times. - After the invasion our mission was to secure Nicosia Airport, man the observation posts on and around airport, and report on any movements from the Turkish military forces. A main job was to fill sand bags so they could fortify their position. - We had the unique Opportunity to watch combat take place in a limited sense, without being in the thick of it (aside from when we got shelled). We were able to watch the Turkish aircraft come in and drop napalm and bombs and stuff on the Greek positions. It was pretty interesting, the Greek Cypriots had a battery of 100mm field guns, and they were shelling the Turks, and what would happen sort of late at night you would see a Turkish jet fly over, phantoms perhaps, for reconnaissance, taking photos of what the Greek positions were and in the middle of the night the Greeks would move their positions a couple thousand meters over and then at first light the Turkish aircraft would come in and drop napalm and bombs on the old positions where they the Greeks were I the Greeks had left dummy positions) and they would then think they had got the forces, and the Turkish troops would march their troops in, thinking they had got the artillery out of the way, and all of a sudden artillery would start exploding over their heads. We watched that for 3 days, and then finally the Turks were able to locate the forward observation officer that the Greeks had, that was directing the fire of their guns, and were able to take him out with napalm, and that silenced the guns for a bit, and they were able to conduct their attack successfully. Some of our guys actually had to go out and collect the bodies and return them to either side, but I was never involved in that. This was quite interesting to watch from a professional point of view - the Turkish army did a lot by whistle blasts, able to watch the Turkish troops form up in the morning for inspection and it was interesting to watch how they were treated: very badly. The troops went on runs in the morning, and if any of them fell behind the sergeant-major would kick them as they ran by. We had night observation devices too; we could see what went on at night time too in the trenches. - With regards to relations with the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots: we maintained a neutral posture between the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots. The Green line separated the country and ran through Nicosia: Greeks on one side and Turks on the other. In general you could say we were mostly sympathetic to the Turks, I don't recall just why, perhaps they were just more polite or friendly than the Greeks were. I'm not sure, that's just the impression I got. We had to be neutral of course. I think that the impression probably this was forged by the fact that many of the merchants we had to deal with, the Turkish ones were more honest than the Greeks were: the Greeks were out to make a buck, the Turks were more reasonable I guess. It was just interesting to see the different sides and see their capabilities and/or lack of capabilities. - One time when I was out for a drive: There was a really old Greek tank right out of WWII, and I had a camera with me and I stopped to take a picture, more as a tourist thing than anything else, we were in uniform, and the next thing I know there was a Greek soldier running up to me and he stuck his rifle at the side of my head and said to give him the film out of the camera. I said it was just an old tank, no intelligence value, but he got the film anyways. My machine gun was sitting beside me between the seats and I was thinking should I grab it or not, but there is no point in getting a bullet through the head for a picture of a tank you could in a group. - One time we were out in a convoy, I don't remember why we were out there. We had about 35 or 40 of us maybe 7 or 8 vehicles, and our troop commander at the time was Captain Mike Walker. The Turkish army blocked our way and didn't want to let us pass; we wore the berets at that time. The Turkish officer was quite adamant about not letting us through, and I remember our captain, we couldn't exactly hear what he was saying, but he took his beret off and through it on the ground, and reached in his pocket for his maroon beret, and he said I will tell my troops to put on their maroon berets, and we will no longer be peacekeepers, and we will force and we will fight our way through here, or something to that effect. We could hear a little bit, but it was more of the actions that we could see. And it was quite dramatic and the Turkish officer relented, and let us pass. So there were little conflicts like that. - I know that we had some guys that were killed. I know that one fellow that was killed, was out to feed some chickens or farm animals in the Greek zone, because the farmer couldn't get back to his property. We were driving ¾ tonne standard military vehicles at that time. When the driver came up to one of the Turkish road blocks, he panicked and he turned the truck around, and started to head the other way, and the Turkish outpost opened fire on him and the vehicle. There were three of them sitting in the front, and the guy in the middle got a round in the back of the head, and killed him. We were told later on that it wasn't a very good thing for the guy to turn around the way he did, because the Greek army had similar vehicles, and they were painting them white to let them move around a little more freely, in UN colors. And when the guy turned around and took off, the Turkish sentries thought it might actually be Greeks. You have to remember, a lot of those kids in the Greek or Turkish army are not very well educated, come from dirt poor countries and they do exactly what they are told. It is still like that today. - We lived in the blue beret camps. Later we stayed in a 5 star Greek hotel, and they were happy to have us. It was quite nice. - Contingents generally operated within their areas. Canada was near Nicosia. We didn't have that much contact with the other contingents. We did have a British welder attached to us for about a month, he was helping with the construction of some observation posts and he absolutely loved being with us. He said he never ate so well, and he never had so much fun. He was only supposed to come for one week, and managed to stay for about a month and a half and we kept finding jobs for him to do so he wouldn't have to come back. It was quite interesting. - One fellow was on sentry duty. He had been out there for 12 hours and the man who was to replace him was sick so he was told to stay for another 12 hours and not to fall asleep. Well, our commander, Captain Walker found him asleep and charged him with sleeping in the face of the enemy, which is a very serious crime. It turns out, it the Turks were not our enemy, because we were not at war, so it was a lesser crime, but I think he still got a fine of about $600. His name was Bill Black. - A Ping pong table set up at the palace. We had a movie theatre. We were busy enough not to have a lot of spare time. Before the war of course was different. We would take time off and go touring in the mountains or down to the beach, lay on the beach. Stay in a hotel for a couple weeks. A lot of guys went water skiing, some went scuba diving. Some took Greek dancing lessons. We went shopping for touristy stuff to send home. The merchants were happy to have us there, they could mark up their prices, and of course who else would they sell it to. At the time the Cypriot pound was $2.72 for one Canadian. The merchants and people were friendly enough, but you have to remember they had an agenda. If they were being nice to you, it's because they wanted something: whether it was to sway your opinion on what you think or to sell you something. After the war started, we had very little contact with the civilians. - Description of jump training for airborne - Duties: general clean up, security of buildings, patrols for example at the airport. There are a lot of wild dogs in Cyprus. One group need to clean out refrigerator at airport - after power went out in airport during war, meat was left in building for a couple of weeks. Also, sometime we needed to retrieve bodies after skirmished. Any number of tasks. Mostly it was observation and reporting on the movements of the Turks and the Greeks. It all got feed into the joint operations. At that time I was just a corporal in the field observing and reporting. I did not know the bigger picture. One of the things that I got tasked to do was a little demeaning, but I was apprenticed to be a sign painter before the military. So I got tasked to paint Greek letters on the buildings around the airfield. - After being there for 9 moths I was happy to go home. Before the war it we got to do some touristy things: we saw King Richard's Castle, and toured monasteries, and we saw beaches and such. It was almost like a holiday, since life had settled into a nice dull routine and nobody was going to get hurt, just do your job for 8 hours and on you weekend off go travel anywhere. Prior to the war, a lot of Europeans were going to Cyprus for holidays too, Germans and Swiss. We were just like the other tourists. - I don't think we were effective in really stopping anything that happened. I think the Turks probably had their own agenda, and they were going to go as far as they were going to go, and if they stopped before reaching that point, I think it would have been from outside pressure rather than from us. Maybe on a small individual scale I made a difference. - I found it quite interesting how you can take a bunch of guys and put them under a lot of stress and a lot of hard physical labour, and how they come together as a team, and you can see that this is how it forges the relationship of how guys fight and how they survive, and you go into combat or you go into battle, and you're not fighting for yourself per se, you are fighting for buddy. That is the kind of relationship that is forged.

Interviewee: Derkson, R. A.

Rank: Major.

In Collection:
Contributor Subject Language Keyword Date created Relation Resource type Rights statement Extent
  • 1 sound recording (MP3)
Geographic coverage Coordinates
  • 35, 33
  • 60.10867, -113.64258
Additional physical characteristics
  • Original sound recording (MP3) also available.
Physical repository Collection
  • Canadian Military Oral History Collection
Provider Genre Archival item identifier
  • DRA_584
Fonds title Fonds identifier Is referenced by Date digitized
  • September 28, 2009
Technical note
  • Digital sound recording in .mp3 format at 56 kbps and 24 kHz. Digitized by JF, technical and cataloguing metadata provided by JF and JP. Interview recorded in digital format for UVic Special Collections in 2009. Migration metadata by KD and MT.
Rights
  • This interview has been posted with the understanding that it may be used for research purposes only. Should the interviewee or their heirs have any objections to this interview being accessible on the Internet, it will be removed promptly. Contact UVic Special Collections for permission if using for other than research purposes: speccoll@uvic.ca
DOI

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