Troops or Mercenaries?

Canadian Mercenaries

Although it was never built due to American outrage, last year Canadians had a grandiose plan to erect a bronze memorial to American Draft-dodgers and Deserters. So what are their feelings about the Canadian citizens who served with the non-draft-dodging Americans in Vietnam, to whom they have never given any official positive recognition? “Mercenaries” is the operative word. Pundit Ann Coulter has been roundly trashed because she revealed to Canadians that “Canada sent troops to Vietnam”. I have become more enlightened from my research on the subject, such that I now believe that Canadians object to the word “troops,” as they consider that their young countrymen who were drafted or signed on for military service with the United States were“mercenaries.”

Remembering Canada’s Role in the Vietnam War
by Robin Collins, Peace and Environment News”, November 11th, 1992

The idea of Canadian complicity in the Vietnam war was once contrary to the customary mythology that “Americans fought and killed in Vietnam while Canadians opened their doors to conscientious objectors.” But these days, as memories fade and Vietnam war revisionism is buoyed by the end of the Cold War, there are new calls for official government recognition of the estimated 10,000 Canadians who served in Indochina as mercenaries. There has been de facto recognition already as a result of increased visibility of these soldiers at Remembrance Day ceremonies but some want the government to establish monuments to honour Canadian Vietnam war veterans. Is this a good idea?”

On Canada’s Remembrance Day, November 11th, 1992, “Peace and Environment News” asked “… some want the government to establish monuments to honour Canadian Vietnam war veterans. Is this a good idea?” Obviously, the answer to that question was “NO, it is not a good idea to honor Canadian Vietnam war veterans.” After all, there has been no honor given to them and now, fourteen years later, the Canadian government is rewriting history so that current generations do not even know there were Canadian soldiers fighting in Vietnam.

Canada’s Vietnam Veterans