Walton, Thomas: my armed forces recollections (October 22, 2008)
PublicInterviewee: Walton, Thomas
ABSTRACT: Tom Walton Walton_T_0562_01.mp3 Born in Winnipeg, raised in Vancouver. Joined reserves in 1959. Transferred to regular forces in 1960. Joined Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. Transferred to Royal Canadian Engineers in 1963. Retired in September 1994. Acting Troop commander of heavy equipment troop in Chilliwack during 7 months of training. Became Regimental Sergeant Major of Engineer Regiment. A combat engineer, did demolitions, road and bridge building, water purification, they no longer do minefields. Came back from Kuwait 11 months before leaving for Croatia. [2:45] Before they left not very much preparation. [2:55] Went over to Croatia on reconnaissance first. There for a week and a half. Then in September went over with 175-200 officers and men. Did not pick up mines. Built foundations for accommodations of various national contingents. [4:30] Women: No separate accommodations. In bunk beds and would hang blankets down the side for privacy. For showers, women given specific of their own. Mess: big tent. [5:25] Get up at 530-600 in morning. Eat breakfast. Do PT. Then out to field to visit different units. They were spread out from sector East to Sector South (a distance of 800-900km) [6:00] Contact with the locals: 42 civilians worked for them. Stayed in Daruvar 1 hr 45 min east of Zagreb. Staying in Croatian village. [6:25] Serb houses had been blown up in this village. [7:00] Locals, mainly Croatians working for them. [7:16] Had a civilian appreciation night [8:15] Still gets Christmas cards from Vitica and her [12:40] Canadians superior to other contingents. African countries showed up unprepared. Often unprepared to deal with cold. Ineffective. [14:30] Rules of engagement were different at different times, always went out with their weapons loaded even if they weren't supposed to. Never knew what would happen. [15:10] Glad to leave, felt like both sides didn't want them unless it was convenient for their position [15:37] When asked if ROE were stretched, denies, but finishes with "They looked after themselves." [17:45] "UNPROFOR did not work" Hostility shown to them when they tried to do their Job. [1848] Response was inadequate, especially to situation in Sarajevo [19:40] If he was in charge "I would have put in a lot more forces, maybe a lot sooner" [21:10] Diplomats don't understand the situation. "It's like they've never been there" [21:05] Had satellite phones to phone home, "like phoning your next-door neighbour" Wouldn't tell people at home about dangerous stuff, didn't want them to worry [22:20] Got the newspapers, thought they reported well on what was happening [22:45] 7 or 8 reporters came to stay with them, went out with them. [23:15] Not a big fan of media, they assassinated airborne regiment, regiment cleaned up by time it was disbanded. [24:45] Gave stuff to locals unofficially when they left. Cheaper to leave it there. [2545] Mike Ralph was killed shortly before he got there. Remote IED? [27:00] Young boy stepped on mine came to thank Canadians for taking him to the hospital [27:25] Farmer was shot close to ceasefire line. Lot of alcohol involved. [27:55] Town called Knin, in sector south. Occupied by Croatians. Two Serbian soldiers tried to visit Croatian friends there and were shot on sight. Hauled to main square. [29:30] Deserted, burnt villages. Blew up tourist hotels. Blow up church or mosque first. [30:50] Soldiers were allowed to go into town, there for 3-4 week. His driver was run over by a drunken police officer in uniform. [33:35] In Daruvar, guy threw a grenade into pub. Ex-girlfriend in pub with new boyfriend. [34:00] Had to put town out of bounds because of this. Instead on Saturday nights, had to come up with entertainment, invited locals too. [34:45] 48 Mounties belonged to mess, many on Serb side of line. Would watch hockey game on Mondays, place would be packed [35:00] [35:30] Jim Gilderstone and another helped out two sisters at a school in Packrac; they wanted to see what was left of their home. Provided an escort for Mounties and girls. Everyone came out, hugging and kissing. Parents had been killed for speaking to a Serb, bomb thrown through window and killed all three. [37:00] Youngest girl was bitter, pointed at man down street who had done it. Had snuck out into Croatia earlier. [37:25] Not supposed to do stuff like that, but felt good about it [39:00] Medications left when shutting camp down. Delivered to women [39:50] Before he went over Kiwanis club gave him $2000 dollars to distribute. Two Serb widows and two Croatians widows were given $500 dollars each. [41:55] Morale: Had a rink there. Gym in town, played basketball. Tried to do PT every day. [47:50] Came back to Canada in February. After that he had 14 months leave. Retired after this. Served for 34 years. Didn't want to be posted to Cold Lake. [49:00] Army was best thing that ever happened to him. [50:40] Then he started driving a school bus [50:50] Had to stop driving school bus because he was diagnosed with PTSD. He noticed he was losing his concentration. Lot of anxiety. Doctor had been at Medak Pocket. Doctor asked him if he was having problems. Yes, I pulled a guys leg off in Cyprus, thought it was broken, put traction on it, came off in his hands. Dreaming about it, covered in sweat, then cried. [52:00] Was missing kids at their stop and forgetting to let them off. "My mind wasn't there" Civilians didn't think they should be allowed to work because they were getting a pension. [53:00] "My wife has a hard time understanding" Built up "big macho thing" [56:35] In Cyprus, you would see babies that were killed. Some unofficial shooting going on when you saw stuff like that. In Yugoslavia, they would kill women and the kids first, when they saw real soldiers they wouldn't stick around [57:15] The ROE wouldn't let them help people "We could have saved all kinds of people" [58:00] When they came back from Kuwait they had an evaluation, he lied. [59:50] No evaluation until Gulf War, none after Cyprus Wasn't affected by it until 10 year ago. [1:00:00] Only sleeps 3-4 hours a night. Has trouble sleeping. Doctor gives him sleep pills.
An interview/narrative of Thomas Walton's experiences in Bosnia and Croatia. Interview took place on October 22, 2008.
Interviewer: Anderson, Dana
- In Collection:
- 1 sound recording (MP3)
- 44, 19.75
- 43.84864, 18.35644
- Original sound recording (MP3) also available.
- Canadian Military Oral History Collection
- WT_562
- Special Collections Finding Aid: https://uvic2.coppul.archivematica.org/military-oral-history-collection
- November 24, 2009
- 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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