Thirty-two years ago today in an unprovoked act of aggression Syria fired three missiles on UN Plane 51 carrying 9 Canadian Peacekeepers on a routine supply run from Beirut to the Golan Heights just after the plane had been cleared to land by Syrian air traffic control and had begun its descent. The time was 11:50 a.m.
The pilots, Capt. George Foster and Capt. Keith Mirau, managed to evade the first missile but a second missile hit the left engine, a third missile hit the fuselage. Everyone on board was killed. It was the single largest loss of life in Canadian peacekeeping history.
Syria detained the remains of the soldiers for days and has never formally apologized or paid compensation.
Pierre E. Trudeau was Prime Minister of Canada.
A Soldier's Prayer for the Fallen:
To fallen soldiers let us sing
Where no rockets fly nor bullets wing
Our broken brothers let us bring
To the Mansions of the Lord
No more bleeding, no more fight
No prayers pleading through the night
Just divine embrace, eternal light
In the Mansions of the Lord
Where no mothers cry and no children weep
We will stand and guard though the angels sleep
Through the ages safely keep
The Mansions of the Lord
Capt. George Foster, 44
Capt. Keith Mirau, 29
Capt. Robert Wicks, 39
Master Warrant Officer Gaston Landry, 35
Warrant Officer Cyril Korejwo, 47
Master Cpl. Ronald Spencer, 29
Cpl. Bruce Stringer, 23
Cpl. Morris Kennington, 30
Cpl. Michael Simpson, 26
No comments:
Post a Comment