Canada’s Nobel Peace Prize for Vietnam

Three years ago I wrote “(Canada’s Remembrance Day 2005)” in which I mentioned Canadian military forces serving in Vietnam during the Vietnam War era and the Nobel Peace Prize they were awarded for their service. I never realized the rancor that revelation would come to garner. It began when I was called a LIAR by a Canadian commenter to my own blog:

“The Canadian Armed Forces won a Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts in Vietnam.” What year was that? I used Google to save myself from Liberal bias, and discovered that this was a total blatant lie. (October 12, 2006)

To this day I am still being called a “LIAR” for writing facts that I found from my own research.

Political Forum Commenter: “but here is a link to the list of nobel peace prize winners. So far I do not see the Canadians on the list which leads me to believe that this blogger is a liar. They could have only made that up so if they made that up God knows what else.
Winners of the Nobel Peace Prize“

Apparently, for Canadians, the truth hurts. For Canada’s military to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for its war efforts is so discomforting to many Canadians that they refuse to believe the facts, and instead, label innocent researchers, such as myself, as LIARS! In 2005, Kerfuffles wrote in “Canada’s Remembrance Day 2005:”

In 1973, the International Commission of Control and Supervision Vietnam (ICCS) was responsible for securing the armistice that lasted two years from 1973 to 1975, known as Operation Gallant. Canada, a member of the commission, contributed Canadian Forces whose role was to monitor the cease-fire in South Vietnam, according to the Paris Peace Conference, and to arrange the release and exchange of more than 32,000 prisoners of war. **The Canadian Armed Forces won a Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts in Vietnam.

**The Nobel Peace Prize referenced was awarded in 1988, when United Nations Peace-Keeping Forces were awarded THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE for all peace-keeping duties up to December 1988.

On October 26, 2006 Kerfuffles wrote:

“In 1988, Canada and our peace-keeping forces shared in winning the Nobel Peace Prize. (Proceedings of the Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs, OTTAWA, Tuesday, February 3, 1998.” (See Canadian Peacekeepers and THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 1988.)

In 1988, the Nobel Committee recognized the good work that UN Peacekeepers had accomplished by awarding them the Nobel Peace Prize. The prize was awarded for United Nations-service/Korea service up until 10 December 1988, when the Nobel Peace Prize Award was granted. Therefore, these UN Peacekeepers included the Canadian peacekeeping troops of Operation Gallant, 1973, the military operation associated with the International Commission of Control and Supervision(ICCS) Vietnam whose role it was to monitor the cease-fire in South Vietnam as per the Paris Peace Accords.

Even though it offends the “peace-loving” sensitivities of many Canadians, I stand by my statement: “The Canadian Armed Forces won a Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts in Vietnam.” My information came from Canada’s own Canadian Veterans Affairs and Canada’s own Canadian Parliament.

Canadian Parliament, 12 March 1997
Mr. Jack Frazer: I think you will all have received a letter from the Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association. In it, in the fourth paragraph, they point out that Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar said in 1988, when announcing the award:

This Nobel Peace Prize is to be shared by every member of the UN Peacekeeping Force since its inception. That meant that Nobel Peace Prize was shared equally amongst the people who qualified for it at that time.

The Government of Canada has built a peacekeeping monument here in Ottawa, but there is no way for any individual, regardless of what medals he is wearing, to indicate he or she was a valid recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize when it was given to the then peacekeepers. That is what the people in the Peacekeeping Veterans Association are keen to have: recognition that they were part of the peacekeepers who won that recognition for Canada. It could be said that others since that time have done basically the same thing, but the truth is, of course, that the Nobel Peace Prize has not been awarded since 1988, so the people before that time do qualify, the ones post that time do not qualify.

My question for Canadians is why do you diminish the sacrifice and service of your own country’s military forces just because they happened to do their peacekeeping service in Vietnam?

Canada’s Vietnam Legacy

Of the more than 58,000 names inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., 103 of them are of “known” Canadians who served with United States forces. Although America has honored those fallen Canadians who did not return from the Vietnam war, their own native country never officially did so. The approximately 40,000 Canadian youths who volunteered to fight for freedom for others and against tyranny during the Vietnam era have never been acknowledged by Canada. Those who gave their lives in service to others have no official war memorial from Canada.

Because of this, a small group of Americans in Michigan designed, built, and donated the Canadian Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Canadian soil, in Windsor, Ontario. It was a long, hard fought struggle that began in 1986, after Vietnam veterans Ric Gidner and Ed Johnson first discovered the untold story of the Canadian Vietnam veterans. They joined with American veteran Chris Reynolds and eventually covenanted with themselves and the unsung Canadian Vietnam veterans: “As Long As We Live, You Will Live. As Long As We Live, You Will Be Remembered. As Long As We Live, You Will Be Loved“.

The three American veterans persevered and began planning fruition of the memorial, paying all expenses by mortgaging their homes, cashing their retirement funds and maxing out their credit cards. However, they never overcame the resistance of the government of Canada and were never permitted to build the Canadian veterans’ memorial under auspices of the Canadian government. It was the town of Windsor in Ontario that welcomed the memory of the fallen Canadian Vietnam soldiers, giving the memorial a home place on Canadian soil in 1994.

Unbelievably, in 1998, vandals struck the veterans’ memorial, severely damaging it, while leaving intact all other artwork in the Windsor park. It took one year and many thousands of dollars to restore the memorial and make security modifications to prevent further malicious destruction. (NOTE: By 2008, vandalism of war memorials has become commonplace, even in the U.S. – See video of New Haven, Connecticut.)

Recently, I was saddened to read of more disquieting news relating to the memorial and the Canadian Vietnam veterans. An Internet essay entitled “With Equal Pride of Place,” tells of irreconcilable breaches between two Canadian Vietnam veterans organizations. It is quite sad that the bitterness and resentments that Canadians harbored against their fellow countrymen who helped the U.S. fight Communism so long ago, seems to have now infected the Vietnam veterans groups themselves. From what I am able to understand from the aforementioned writings, “The North Wall, Canadian Vietnam Veterans Memorial” has vehemently denied any association or affiliation with “The Canadian Vietnam Veterans Memorial Association, Windsor, ON,” accusing the latter group of not abiding by the original mandate of the Canadian Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

According to the “With Equal Pride of Place” essay, many Canadian Vietnam veterans are complaining that the Canadian Vietnam Veterans Memorial, created with such great sacrifice by the three Americans, “ … has turned into something that is much less honourable:” an “ego trip” for many of the Vietnam Veterans and their associates in Windsor, Ontario. The Canadian Vietnam Veterans Memorial Association of Windsor, which apparently has sole responsibly for The North Wall, has been accused of “a misrepresentation of lineage, Orders of Battle, and the service of all,” including “Canadian Peacekeepers who fell In Harm’s Way during the years 1962-1973,” … whatever all that means.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” ~~John 15:13

It surely means sadness for all of the aging Vietnam Veterans who live in Canada. I hope that this ugliness is not true, but knowing how difficult it has been for Canada and Canadians to face their Vietnam legacy, I suspect that it is. How fortunate that so many of Canada’s veterans of the Vietnam War never returned to their native land, choosing to live out their lives in the United States, where exists for all of us – The Wall, – lovingly and respectfully maintained by the government of the United States of America.

“I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” –Isaiah 6:8

(The image close-up from an original copyright by George Mock, gmockrcpilot.)

Canada the Vietnam War

Canada’s North Wall

Canada Took a Pass on Vietnam?

Remembering Canada’s Role in the Vietnam War, I published the following essay at “Blatherings” on 10 February 2005. It is republished here due to revival of interest in the subject. (Video of Ann Coulter and Bob McKeown on CBC)

Has Canada shifted so far left that she is now a “denier” nation?

“Canada didn’t send troops to Vietnam, took a pass on Vietnam“. Bob McKeown, spokesman of Canada‘s government-owned television network, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, spoke those words on a program designed to showcase the professionalism and journalistic integrity of Canada’s state sponsored news media, as opposed to the “supposed” lack thereof and conservative slant in the privately controlled American news media, January 26, 2005. To date, no one from the CBC, nor from the Canadian government has come forth to correct that grievous and disgraceful statement.

What exactly was Canada’s role in providing troops during the Vietnam War? Although in reality Canada was supportive of the U.S. goals in Southeast Asia, the Canadian government believed that because of its membership in the International Commission of Control and Supervision (ICCS), that it needed to be impartial during the Vietnam Conflict. At the same time that the U.S. was becoming involved in Southeast Asia, Canadian military forces were being permanently down sized. As it was no longer offering military training to its young citizens, which had been a long-standing Canadian tradition, Canada did nothing to hinder the tens of thousands of its citizens crossing the U.S.-Canadian border to sign up for the war. It would be fair to say that they crossed over with the blessing of Canada. Many young Canadian men living in the U.S. allowed themselves to be drafted. Tens of thousands of other Canadian youths crossed the border to sign on with the United States Armed Forces. They wanted to obtain some of the military skills that were not available in their own country, such as aircraft piloting and mechanics. Some joined for the noble cause of fighting the growing scourge of communism, while others were seeking adventure or signing on for personal reasons.

As a direct result of Canadian official and unofficial policies, these citizens of Canada formed the largest foreign fighting contingent in the U.S. military during the Vietnam era. The exact numbers are unknown. Most estimates range between 30,000 and 40,000 uniformed Canadians in service, and 12,000 Canadians in the war zone.

When the Canadian Vietnam veterans returned to their homeland, they were even less welcome than here in the United States. American veterans had access to veterans groups and government resources, whereas in Canada the Vietnam veterans were ignored and shunned. They returned to a Canada whose government policies had changed radically. Although they had fought a noble war for a noble cause, their countrymen did not accept them as noble veterans. The official Canadian view was that “Vietnam was not Canada’s war. Ottawa didn’t send troops – but sent a lot of other things, like medical clinics, doctors and nurses.” As a result, they kept so quiet about their service, that forty years years later, new generations are easily spoonfed the government propaganda line that “Canada didn’t send troops to Vietnam, took a pass on Vietnam“, as was emphatically declared by a spokesman on Canada’s government sponsored television, January 27th of this year.

Peter C. Lemon, born in Toronto, Canada, was a recipient of the Medal of Honor. He was the only Canadian citizen to win this medal while serving in the Vietnam War. At the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, there are 104 names engraved of those Canadians lost in battle or captured or missing in action. While refusing to acknowledge Canadian soldiers in American uniforms, Canada issued a Service Vietnam Medal to the 352 Canadian Forces participating in Vietnam with the ICCS’s Operation Gallant, January 1973.

Did “peace-loving, humanitarian” Canada send anything other than troops to Vietnam? Ever hear of Agent Orange?

Canada’s Fairness Doctrine

Message from Canada: War Resisters Welcome Here!

That was the message from Canada at the start of the Iraq War as Canada welcomed with open arms deserters from the United States military forces. Because Canada euphemistically labeled them as “War Resisters” a number of misguided U.S. soldiers took the bait. One of those DESERTERS turned “War Resister” was National Guard Sergeant Corey Glass.

So how fares War Resister Sergeant Glass in his newly adopted homeland? Well … Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board has just denied Glass’s application for refugee status and the Canadian Border Services Agency has issued him a June 12 deportation order to a country, the U.S. of A., where he is considered, not a “war resister,” but a genuine honest-to-god wartime deserter.

Canada to Deport U.S. Deserter
Sergeant Glass, of Fairmont, Indiana, says he attempted to walk away from the U.S. Army but was told that would be desertion, which was punishable by death. Therefore, he welcomed Canada’s most gracious invitation, as anyplace would be better than facing a firing squad. But now the Sergeant DESERTER is on his way back to the land, people and messmates that he deserted a few short years ago.

Now how fair is that Canada? To create a national folk hero out of an invited refugee because he spit in the eye of the United States military, and then to turn around and send that “invited refugee hero” back to his native land to face those same military mad dogs and wild wolves seems a bit inhumane, don’t you think, Canada? Sergeant Glass should take his case to the United Nations, as this is surely an international violation of human rights by Canada. If you are an American deserter or “war resister” BEWARE of Canada’s Open Arms. You cannot be guaranteed that you will receive that glorious welcome that awaited the Vietnam War deserters and draft dodgers of another era.

“I don’t think it is fair that I should be returned to the United States to face unjust punishment for doing what I felt morally obligated to do. I appeal to the Canadian people and the Canadian government to honor their tradition of respect for human rights and support my decision not to participate in this unjust war.” (Corey Glass Begs Canada to Rescind Deportation Order)

YouTube Clip – Canada Has Failed Corey Glass

Canada’s Good $en$e

A War Profiteer in Peacenik Clothing

Just another one of those endless comments entered here about our peaceable northern neighbor: “Canada had the good sense to stay out of the Vietnam war.”  God bless Canuckistan and please, God, save the world from any more of her peacekeeping efforts!

Canadian Peacekeeping in the Cold War

Oh Yes – that is what Canadians believe, that they had the “Good $en$e” to stay out of the Vietnam War. However, … history tells the story differently. Although Canada didn’t send Canadian fighting forces – Canada sent a lot of other things – like war materiel that didn’t go directly to Vietnam, lest Canada’s ruse be discovered.  In fact, Canada was so busy manufacturing war materiel for the American forces in Vietnam that the entire country was booming like a well-oiled machine. And the Canadian government had the “good $en$e” to not tell its citizens just why the country was basking in economic good fortune, with unemployment below 4%, instead letting them believe that the manna falling from the heavens was their reward for being good little peacekeepers.

Canada’s “good $en$e” to stay out of the Vietnam War brought them record sales of iron ore, lead, zinc, copper, nickel, asbestos, and oil to the United States, not to mention the warplane components and arms sales. Although fighting the scourge of communism in Vietnam was offensive to Canadian sensibilities, American “blood money” was not. In June 1968, the new Canadian prime minister, Pierre Trudeau, officially declared that there was absolutely no immorality involved in selling arms to the United States during the war in Vietnam, any more than it was “to sell them nickel and asbestos and airplane components.”

During the Vietnam era, Canadians were too busy protesting the US involvement in Vietnam to make any efforts to discover their own country’s super secret role in the production and testing of Agent Orange, a weapon that would harm thousands of innocents. The government and manufacturers were claiming that they were shipping an everyday common herbicide that Canadians used to kill weeds in home gardens, under power lines and along railroad tracks. Even though it would wipe out entire jungles in Vietnam, Canadians were told that it was perfectly safe for people, and never, ever did the name of the herbicide, “Agent Orange” pass from their lips.

Oh yeah – Canadians had the “good $en$e to stay out of Vietnam” by selling the Agent Orange to the US army, which at the time  was involved in Vietnam. Since it was American planes that sprayed the Agent Orange, wiping out thousands upon thousands of acres of trees and crops in Vietnam, Canadians could continue to live free and guiltless. The fact that Agent Orange was more than a harmless herbicide, that it contained poisonous dioxins, was an American failing, and no fault nor moral problem for the Canadian manufacturers, … whose government leaders had had the “good $en$e” to financially profit from the Vietnam War, instead of fighting in it.

And if you don’t believe Kerfuffles, listen to voices from history describing “Canada’s War Profiteering” at Canada’s own CBC (The CBC Digital Archives Website): Supplying the War Machine: “The Uniroyal plant in Elmira, Ont., was one of seven suppliers producing Agent Orange for the U.S. military.” Or you can continue to believe the statement of the Canadian government’s report to parliament in 1970: “no research carried out by the Department of National Defence has affected the use of chemicals in Vietnam.”

When I mentioned at this blog that I was going to write about Canada’s role with Agent Orange and why all those Vietnam refugees taken in by Canada, were forced to leave their native land, one Canadian commenter replied: “Yeah we know: guns don’t kill people, people kill people, but all those Vietnamese who had Agent Orange dropped on them by the Americans were killed by Canada! Hilarious!” (Comment)

Mysteries of Canada

Yes, there was a time, in the long ago past, when Canadians and Americans publicly worked together for the common good. Those actions and days are now a part of the Mysteries of Canada.

Peter C. Lemon was born June 5, 1950, in Toronto, Ontario. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in Tawas City, Michigan and served with distinction in Vietnam. Sergeant Lemon, Company E, 2d Battalion, 8th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honour for his actions of April 1, 1970 in Tay Minh Province. Mr. Lemon now resides in Colorado, USA.

Canada and the United States…
What do we have in common?
“Canadians know a lot about the US, while Americans (OK, maybe not all of them!) couldn’t find Canada on a map. But for all our difference, there are many things we have in common. One thing we share with the Americans is their Medal of Honor (Honour) recipients. There are 54 “known” Medal of Honor recipients who are or were from Canada.” (Mysteries of Canada)

Video from CBC of Ann Coulter and Bob McKeown

Quebec’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial

The North Wall

North Wall, Assumtion Park, Windsor, Ontario

How Many Canadians In Vietnam?

Canadians in Vietnam

Canada’s Involvement in Vietnam

Assumption Park Vandalism 1998

Allies in Vietnam

The North Wall and The Wall That Heals

Canada’s Open Arms

February 8, 2006

Message from Canada: War Resisters Welcome Here!

And just how many Iraq War Resisters took up the invitation to flee northward into the “warm and furry” embrace of Canadians? I counted nine at their website. Interesting, as it is not really necessary to become an Iraq War resister as there exists NO draft in the United States.

Actually, these are not really “war resisters,” they are DESERTERS, for they have already “voluntarily” joined the United States military and “voluntarily” sworn an oath to serve. Why would a “war resister” join the military? Any “war resister” with a brain would choose to NOT join the U.S. military and stay home in the United States as opposed to joining up and then running to Canada to escape going to war. Perhaps cowards lack brains; I just don’t know. Perhaps these nine really were looking for an opportunity to live in Canada and could not get immigration papers unless they were genuine American Deserters. After all, Canada is very selective about “which” Americans may live there, and with draft-dodgers no longer available as immigrants, Canada has had to settle for what are euphemistically described as “war resisters,” whom everyone outside of Canada knows as DESERTERS.

So what was the point, Canada? Oh, I get it: “War resisters welcome here!” So, I guess, a few years down the road, we can expect to hear clamoring for A Canadian Memorial to Iraq War Deserters?

Save To:

The image, Vietnam War Resisters say Let Iraq War Resisters Stay – February 8, 2006 at Toronto Federal Court – 052, is subject to copyright by photopia / HiMY SYeD. It is posted here with permission via the Flickr API by barneykin.

Canadian Vietnam Vets

As we edge ever closer to Canada’s Remembrance Day 2006, I take it upon myself to remember Canada’s Vietnam Veterans, as, if history is any kind of a teacher, Canada will give them not a crumb of respect for their service. This post was made at “Blatherings” on 10 February 2005:

It was like we came home as thieves in the night

Recently there was a snarky dialogue between the CBC’s Bob McKeown and Ann Coulter on a state sponsored television show called the The Fifth Estate. American Coulter reminded the Canadians of something they refuse to acknowledge; that their young citizens had served with the U.S. in Vietnam. Canadian bloggers have gone ballistic and attacked her as a liar and worse and have even attacked and disrespected the Canadian soldiers who fought in their behalf, against Communism. At Blogs Canada E-group there was the following comment from one of those “morally superior” Canadians: “Plus if I’m not mistaken, most of those thousands of Canadians were Aboriginals who signed up after being given a fantasyland pitch by US military recruiters.” made by Robert McClellan. Sounds to me like those tiresome “morally superior than the U.S.” Canadians do not consider that “Aboriginals” could even count as Canadians, much less Canadian troops.

As here in the US, at this very moment, we have brave young soldiers willing to sacrifice their lives to keep us (and Canada) free, I find such comments extremely offensive. As Americans, let us never see our battle weary soldiers return home as thieves in the night. I think Canada should be ashamed.

Dennis Thomson was twenty-one years old when he boarded a bus in Hamilton, Ontario to cross the international border at Buffalo and join the United States military. This was at the same time that thousands of American draft-dodgers and deserters were going north into Canada and being welcomed as heroes. However, most Americans viewed the border crossings a bit differently, as an old grizzled Marine said; “we sent them our worst and they sent us their best.”

“Thomson served two tours of duty as a combat medic in Vietnam, one in 1968 during the Tet Offensive and another in 1971. Between tours, he served in a med-evac hospital in Japan.

He has two answers for why he went to Vietnam. “Why not?” and more seriously, because he could not allow himself to sit back and let somebody else go instead.

He reaches back into his memory and recites an old Indian proverb: “We do not for ourselves alone, but die for others.”

“There’s a certain percentage of men who have the call, the call for freedom,” he says, “and that’s a good enough reason for anyone to do this.”

After the war, Dennis Thomson returned to Canada to live. On Memorial Day, 1999, he visited the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. for the third time to read some of the 58,000 names etched there. He and some others placed small Maple Leaf flags along the walls where the names of Canadians appear. He said “This is the American way of saying, ‘lest we forget‘.” He said that despite all the medals and ribbons awarded, none of the Canadian Vietnam veterans ever received any official recognition of their service from either the Canadian or U.S. government. “We never got a parade when we got home all we had was our brothers,” he said. “It was like we came home as thieves in the night“.
Canadian Hawks Fly South

Video from Canada’s CBC

This video from January of 2005, is at the heart of my postings on Canada and her disgraceful shunning of her own Vietnam veterans. The video is of Ann Coulter being interviewed on Canada’s Public Television by Bob McKeown:

Regarding the McKeown/Coulter exchange at the heart of my posts, at first glance, a fair-minded person would say that both McKeown and Coulter were correct. Ann Coulter said “Canada sent troops to Vietnam,” which was certainly true in 1973, although she was probably thinking of the tens of thousands of Canadians who everyone knows were in service with American forces during the Vietnam era. Bob McKeown said “Canada didn’t send troops to Vietnam.” and if he was meaning the government of Canada, he would have been correct also.

However …. neither McKeown nor Coulter specified “the Canadian government.” Although Ann Coulter never backed away from her original statement, although she may not have known the circumstances of the Canadian troops being in Vietnam, Canadian journalist Bob McKeown embellished his statement, saying that “Canada … took a pass on Vietnam,” a statement that cannot be accepted by any fair-minded person.

A polite person could say that Canadian journalist Bob McKeown was ignorant of Canadian history. A more realistic person would say that Bob McKeown, spokesman of the Canadian government’s CBC, was misleading the Canadian people by rewriting history.

As for Ann Coulter, she is not a Canadian and she has never claimed to be a student of Canadian history. She was stating what she believed to be true … and guess what, it was. As for Bob McKeown, and other ignorant Canadians who have condemned Ms. Coulter, they need to become more aware of just what their country was all about during the Vietnam era.

“Canada Took A Pass On Vietnam?” — give me a break from Canadian fairy tales!

O Canada, We Stood On Guard For Thee

I originally made this post on 9 February 2005 at “Blatherings”. It is repeated here because of new interest in the subject and to remind Canadians of their “other” veterans that they do not include in their upcoming Remembrance Day in November.

O Canada, we stood on guard for thee.

Recently, an American pundit, Ann Coulter, has been ridiculed for believing that there were Canadian troops in Vietnam. Why does she think they were there? Because they were there, as the image above demonstrates. The soldiers in battle proudly posted the ensign of their beloved land. However, their country, Canada, does not return that respect.

Tens of thousands of Canadians crossed the border to join up with the American military during the era of the Vietnam War. Over one hundred Canadians lost their lives in battle. One Canadian won the Congressional Medal of Honor. Today, Canada points with pride to the fact that they welcomed with open arms, America’s military deserters and draft evaders, yet they do not acknowledge their own citizens who fought against the evils of communism during the Cold War.

It seems the present Canadian government is attempting to rewrite the history of their country’s involvement in the Vietnam War. Recently, Ms. Coulter, on a government supported Canadian broadcast, lauded the Canadian troops that fought in that war. She was rudely slapped down and told that she was wrong. The host, Bob McKeown, an employee of the government controlled Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) told her and his viewers that Canada “took a pass on Vietnam”.