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Negotiating a Truce

Heroes Remember

Transcript
It was a very touchy time, but no there were arguments about land because when they drew the de-embarkation lines it translated on the ground almost a hundred metres thick. Now a hundred metres in the desert can be a difference between a forward slope which gave you command of the territory or a reverse slope which means you couldn’t see anything. And so that had all the, we brought in a, there was an engineer survey troop brought in and they shot the line right down the centre, 50 metres on either side. But no, basically you negotiated with both sides, you met with both sides. For example, the Israelis wanted to be sure that the oil wells were going to be secure. The Egyptians wanted to be sure there wasn’t a lot of damage done so you took a reconnaissance party in on both sides so they could see what was going on. Oh yeah, and you saw, one drove out the gate and you saw what was left and you owned it for a little while and then you handed it over to the other guy. The Israeli attitude, the IDF, Israeli Defence Forces were basically they were pretty arrogant. They were pretty proud. They’d won. The Egyptians were not about to admit they had lost, so you had to treat both these feelings. You dealt with two winners.
Description

Mr. Henry discusses the difficulty in satisfying the Israeli and Arab factions in the Sinai, and the value of diplomacy.

William Henry

William Henry was born September 2, 1939 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. His father was a Second World War Veteran, which inspired Mr. Henry to join the School Cadet Corps. He received officer training and was commissioned in the 17th Recce, PEI Regiment. Upon completing his degree at Dalhousie University, he was re-commissioned in the Royal Canadian Dragoons. Mr. Henry eventually joined the Lord Strathcona’s Horse, attaining the rank of Major. His tours of duty included Cyprus, writing the orders of occupation for Sinai, and acting as an observer in Lebanon, a role he found difficult given his training as a military strategist.

Meta Data
Medium:
Video
Owner:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:
1:43
Person Interviewed:
William Henry
War, Conflict or Mission:
Canadian Armed Forces
Location/Theatre:
Egypt
Branch:
Army
Units/Ship:
Lord Strathcona’s Horse
Rank:
Major
Occupation:
Observer, Controller

Copyright / Permission to Reproduce

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