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My name is Donald Gibson. I joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1951. Stationed at several places, but Rockcliffe RCAF Station, Ottawa was my home base for quite a few years. Then the Suez Canal crisis broke out in October of 1956. Britain, France and Israel attack Egypt. Now Canada’s Lester B. Pearson suggested that a peacekeeping force made up of non-Security Council members of the United Nations be formed. And this was accepted. And the United Nations Emergency Force came into effect shortly after. And Mr. Pearson later became our Prime Minister and a year after this force was formed, he was the first Canadian to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

The first Commander, Canada’s contribution, was General E. Allen Burns. He had a firsthand grasp of the situation. A very fine leader. There were ten nations represented in this group. The First United Emergency Force. And they were made up of non-Security members: Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Colombia, Finland, India, Indonesia and Yugoslavia. Our base was halfway between City of Gaza and the Suez Canal. Very close to the Mediterranean Sea.

I was with 115 Air Transport Unit. So my task was aero-engine technician, working on two types of aircraft, single engine Otter aircraft. Also twin engine DC-3s. Both famous aircraft. These aircraft were flying pretty well every day except when they were in… under inspection. Most inspections take several days, so our task was keep the aircraft serviceable. And in the last six months, I made a lot of trips all over the Sinai, over to Cairo, back. Up into Lebanon and we would be carrying troops, food and equipment. We did medevac out of Sharm ash Shaykh, for instance, at the very far end of the Sinai. This is a desperately hot part of the Sinai and many personnel suffered from the heat and exhaustion.

Today, I’ll mention this that the wives and families at home deserve our recognition and thanks during separation of one year or more. Many were separated for long periods of time and during this period, my own little daughter was born in Ottawa while I was stationed on the Gaza Strip. And so that’s one of the hard things. But the conditions were peaceful. People were friendly. I had no fear. The United Nations personnel, I believe, were excellent diplomats and the people responded.

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My name is Susan Parish, and I’m the granddaughter of Lieutenant Dr. James Wells Ross. My grandfather was in World War I, and he had actually started medical school before he left and signed up for World War I. He ended up receiving his notice that he had finished and that he had his Bachelor’s Degree of Medicine. It was mailed to him January the 8th 1915 overseas, so after that he was officially a doctor and able to perform more of that role.

Dr. Ross was at the battle of Ypres, and I can read a short bit out of the newspaper:

“The trenches and battery were subjected to very heavy battery fire, and reminded many of the battle of Ypres. Some of the officers were under particularly good service under the action. Captain J. Ross was an observing officer for the battery and was under heavy shell fire all day.

During the morning, an Artillery Major of the Imperial Army lay wounded out in the open, and Captain Ross climbed out of the trench and went over to him, rendering first aid, and tried to bring him back, but the Major would not consent, as others were laying there also. It was a splendid act, and Captain Ross was mentioned by Colonel Mitchell for distinguished service.”

There is one funny anecdote that was kind of interesting. He was “wounded” in 1915. I think he was embarrassed that he made the casualty list. He wrote, “I thought I’d better explain my cable, in case you should see the casualty list, because even a scratch like mine gets into those things. Mine is like a bump on the head from the corner of a bureau, about a quarter inch long and just the skin. It was only a little splinter that hit me, and a piece of court plaster would have fixed it. I haven’t anything on it at all now, and have been on duty all the time.” That was his only injury. He was extremely lucky, but I think he was embarrassed that it was so small.

In the late 1960s my uncle was working in the engineering department of Canadian Breweries, and he had a chap from England as one of their architects. He was telling them about an adventure he had in the war. He said it was nearly dawn one day as he was riding his bicycle along a wet and muddy road near Passchendaele in France, and as he was driving past the hedge row, there was a mighty thunder of gunfire from the other side of the hedge, and in the excitement he fell off his bike. With great apologies, he was picked up and cleaned up by the gunners, offered a hot tea, and was sent on his way by the Canadians. A few days later I was talking to my father and asked him if he had by any chance been firing on a particular day in France in an early morning barrage on the Germans. He replied that yes he had, and in fact remembered it vividly, because they had caused a British dispatch rider to fall off his bike. I then told him the rest of the story. It really is a small world.