EDITORIAL: Remember the warriors among us
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The 75th anniversary of D-Day should remind us that Canada’s military heritage is more than just our contribution to peacekeeping.
There’s no denying Canada was a major player in the invention and development of peacekeeping. Prime Minister Lester Pearson was one of peacekeeping’s original architects and Canadian troops were the best peacekeepers in the world for decades.
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What made our troops so good at peacekeeping was not that they were “nice guys.” Canadians excelled at peacekeeping because they commanded the respect of warring forces they stood between. Above all, those combatant forces respected the one thing they shared with Canada’s soldiers: they were warriors.
Only warriors can keep the peace, because only warriors command the respect of warring forces.
Canada’s soldiers have always been well-trained, well-led, highly-motivated and combat-capable soldiers ready and willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish the mission. Being great soldiers made them great peacekeepers.
Those same characteristics made the Canadians who stormed Juno Beach on June 6, 1944 some of the most tenacious and feared troops in the battle. By the end of that longest day, Canada’s 3rd Infantry Division had pushed furthest inland of any Allied force. They didn’t get that far by being nice.
From the Boer War to Juno Beach to Cyprus to Afghanistan, Canadian soldiers have always been warriors.
Warriors are not warmongers. They do not long for, nor start wars. Warriors are those special few amongst us who set aside self-interest, family and personal safety to do the miserable things that must be done to protect the innocent, deter evil and end wars.
For too long, Canadians have been taught the myth of peacekeeping: That Canada’s goodness and the kind, caring nature of our armed forces kept the world safe. That it was Canada’s nobility and fair-mindedness that won respect on other people’s battlefields. Not so.
Even on the mostly peaceful island of Cyprus, Canadian troops earned the respect of warring Cypriot and Turkish forces – not by being nice and fair, though they were both, but by being tough. Warring soldiers knew that shooting at the other side meant shooting past a Canadian soldier in the middle. And, shooting past a Canadian soldier meant getting shot by that Canadian soldier. Respect.
The brave veterans who stormed through hell and up the beaches of Normandy 75 years ago did not win our freedom by being nice. They won the war because they were tough, determined and lethal – and their enemies were terrified of them.
Let that always be so.
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