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My name is Daniel Wilson. I was a corporal in the Canadian Armed Forces. I served with 416 Squadron in the Gulf War. In 1990 I served as an aero-engine technician with 416 Tactical Fighter Squadron in Cold Lake, Alberta. We were a NATO-tasked rapid reactor squadron capable of deploying as an entire unit anywhere, anytime, and had arguably the best trained pilots and technicians of any CF-18 squadron. With the news of Iraq’s invading Kuwait in the summer of 1990, our focus took on a whole new dimension of reality. No longer were we training for an abstract enemy, we had a real one on our television each night. And how history repeats itself. Only in real life could it happen that 11 years later, the son of President George Bush is saying the same things about Saddam Hussein in preparation for another war.

Four-Sixteen Squadron left Cold Lake, Alberta en route to Doha, Qatar in November, 1990. Our CO shook each of our hands as we boarded the bus on our way to Germany for final NBCW training and then on to Qatar. We were excited, as Canadians had not embarked on a mission such as this since 1950. Qatar is a desert country, just south of Kuwait on the Persian Gulf. The first impression I had of it was, it looked like the planet Mars. It has only one urban area, the city of Doha, and that is where our base of operations was located. We were very concerned with physical security and expected attacks from the PLO which had supported Iraq. Our squadron flew combat air patrols, or CAPS, in support of the coalition fleet in the Gulf. The Americans had an F-16 Squadron and the French had a Mirage Squadron also at Doha. I can remember at the beginning of the campaign, how envious everyone was that the Americans were bombing and we were not. A few F-16s did not return from missions. It made everyone realize that this was for real. (more…)

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My name is Sandra Donin. My father, Andrew Lowe, was born in Winnipeg in 1897, and he joined the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force, the Cyclist Platoon, in Winnipeg when he was nineteen years old. I recall him describing the celebratory atmosphere as the boys fell into line behind the marching band, to much cheering and clapping, thinking that they were going off to fight the war to end all wars.

I think he was everyone’s fair-haired ‘boy next door’, as he received a send-off at the train station, and parcels and letters that I’m sure would rival royalty. One of the things I remember him personally telling me was when he left from Halifax on the troop ship and standing at the side, thinking probably what many of the boys were thinking, just wondering if he was ever going to see his country again.

He was stationed first in Seaforth, England, and his clerical skills became invaluable, and his letters from there, and initially from France, reflected a longing to get to the front and do his part. He had been employed by the Canadian Pacific Railway as a private secretary to the General Manager, and as such I think he had pretty good skills at shorthand and typing. This was very valuable to the officers. (more…)

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My name is Ann Styles. My maiden name, under which I served in the Royal Navy, was Lucas. I served in the Royal Navy in England for two and a half years. And I served basically on a shore establishment. All naval establishments were given ship’s names as if they were (laughter) actually vessels. But it’s because they were serving as establishments under the Royal Navy. And I was in HMS Lisard on the south coast of England. It was a very vulnerable area to air bombardment and we had quite a few daytime raids as well as night-time raids.

My job was an office job, which doesn’t sound very important or glamorous but actually, it was very important. It released a man to go to sea and I was involved in replenishing ships with both supplies on paper, and men. If ships were damaged they needed of course, repairs, they invariable were out of all kinds of supplies when they arrived on the south coast and we were responsible for getting whatever they needed. Whether it was coal from Newcastle, food or medical supplies; we were responsible for getting the requests out to the various places that could supply the items and getting the shipping organized to get them down to the south coast. (more…)