Phillips, Barry J.: my armed forces recollections (November 3, 2008)
An interview/narrative of Lieutenant-Colonel Barry Phillips's experiences in Bosnia and Croatia. Interview took place on November 3, 2008.
Interviewer: Anderson, Dana
ABSTRACT: Barry Phillips Phillips_B_0561_01.mp3 Joined Regular force July 1961. Was a member of the Canadian Scottish Regiment before. [00:26] Completed his Basic Military Officers Training in Borden, Ontario. Posted across Canada. Posted to Germany. UN tours in Croatia, Haiti, Bosnia, Golan Heights. Tours at NDHQ (national defence headquarters) did not enjoy as much as being in the field. Exchange tour in the UK for 4 years served with British Army. [01:20] Downsized forces 34 years later. Army used formula to downsized members. Pay Sergeant told him to get out now or he would be working for free. [02:26] Workup Training for Bosnia was playing catch-up. Took command of a "gaggle" of 1 SVC BTN from Edmonton, Alberta and Valcartier, Quebec soldiers. [03:22] Unit cohesiveness took time to develop. [06:40] Deployed to Croatia-Bosnia in January right after New Years. Flew into Capital Zagreb (07:03) Trucked to Daruvar where the unit was to be located. Were sent into area to support two battalion sized battle groups plus Engineer regiments . [07:36] A Battalion of RCR and Phillips' Support Group brought in. Support Group to set up main supply route between Daruvar, Zagreb, and the Port of Rijeka.(10:06) First major task was to move the 2nd Battalion Group via train to Zagreb to the port of Rijeka. [11:00] [14:30] Realized that if they were to be there for 8-9 months they would need more permanent quarters. Brought in trailers, the trailers were damp and leaked. The trailers were shipped from logging camps in Canada, through Montreal to Rijeka. [15:50] The trailers were designed to moved along a Canadian transportation system. The trailers could not travel via the rail system in Bosnia, nor could they be properly transported via road because they were too long and wide. [18:38] Canadian politicians decided that Canadian soldiers were no longer required in Germany. Equipment was railed from Germany to Daruvar. [19:39] They had also sent tables, chairs and umbrellas with "Heineken" labeled on them. Phillips asked they stop sending useless equipment as they ultimately burned it. However the useless equipment continued to come. Flatbed trucks designed for use on the Autobahn were also sent down. [22:20] Containers were starting to be used by the Canadian Forces who sent the containers full with supplies to Bosnia. However the Support Group lacked the required cranes to properly stack and transport the containers. [27:54] The experience in Bosnia had drained him. [29:06] The Government at the time did not want the population of Canada to know about the Medak Pocket. [30:58] The main road between Ploce and Sarajevo goes through Mostar. Famous bridges in the town were destroyed. They had to find another way across the river. They connected with Spanish Infantry. They route recc'ed the back roads through the mountains searching for a route to Sarjevo. They encountered rural people who were farmers, they were unsure if the people were hostile or friendly. Stone huts were cut into the side of mountain. A man came out the house which a weapon (rifle), he was carrying a Blunderbuss (old shotgun). They were people who constantly fought the other valley peoples. They found a route through the mountains to Sarajevo. They were shot at with a high caliber weapon (mostly likely a .50 cal). [37:51] The Port of Ploce was controlled by the Croatian military. The Croatians believed that an service rendered to the UN would not be paid for. The Croatians only dealt with the Canadians because they had a reputation for paying their bills. [40:00] In Daruvar the camp hired locals as cleaning staff, cooks and general support. [43:30] One day Phillips was travelling to Daruvar. The children were waving flags and cheering when the convoy passed through a village. After the conference travelling through the same village, the children were throwing rocks at the vehicles. The change in attitude of the people was caused by a UN group somewhere else in the country had saved a group of Muslims from being massacred by Croats. Because of that the Croatians felt that the UN was siding with the Muslims. [49:55] Other contingents were good, including the British and Americans. Other nations did not want to get involved. European nations didn't want to be there when things were going on like today in Afghanistan [51:00] "Canadians were in hard places doing hard jobs" So were Brits. Americans as well. Others were just sitting back. French were brought in as logistics, had never done a UN job. They wanted to import their procedures from France, but everyone else had been on UN missions, knew the procedures. [54:00] Morale: Morale was always good. Always keen, bunch of kids. Keep them busy. Not difficult, so much to be done. Need to play every once and a while. Put together a contest. Tug of war, three legged races, military skills. Went on all day, really got into it. BBQ at end of day. Canadian beer flown in. [55:45] A convoy running up the road. He is in Daruvar. Gets into firefight between Serbs and Croats. They manage to get out of way. Young driver from Calgary in rig with fuel behind. Round comes through his windshield. They framed the windshield with hole in it. [59:50] Had some engineers working for him. Had to go out to various positions and fix generators, or fix things. Heading off to position south of Daruvar. Heading through Daruvar and got hit by a train. [1:03:15] Very little contact with media. Every once and a while senior person would visit, media would come with them. Take them into a room with big maps, explain what they were doing. Then they would ask to talk to troops. Would interview a few and then disappear not to be seen again. [1:04:45] Didn't feel like people back home got enough coverage in news. "For most part the Canadians had no idea of what we were doing over there" Just an attitude of neglect. Hugely different now. [1:06:00] "We had a firefight there and the politicians at the time said "Sh, sh" (Medak Pocket) Much better now. [1:10:00 ] Bureaucrats, the civilian side of DND didn't understand. Anyone who had served anywhere knew what was needed. [1:10:40] "Politicians. Not a clue" Even those that came over, like deer in headlights.
Interviewee: Phillips, Barry J., b. 1942
Rank: Lieutenant-Colonel.
- In Collection:
- 1 sound recording (MP3)
- 45.50884, -73.58781
- 51.5, 10.5
- 43.84864, 18.35644
- Original sound recording (MP3) also available.
- Canadian Military Oral History Collection
- PB_561
- 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
