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Assisting at the Hospital

Heroes Remember

Assisting at the Hospital

Transcript
The eye opener one day was myself and my platoon commander, went to the hospital which was right across the road from where we were staying in a bombed out building, and we were living no different what they were. No different, no lights, nothing so, you know, no toiletry, nothing. So we, I felt we were just as bad as what they were. We were getting nothing and I seen pails of water and I seen, I went in and seen the hospital and see how people were doing and if we can help in anyway, give them fresh water. What I saw there I didn’t like. There was people having their limbs amputated. No medication whatsoever, nothing. So I watched one nurse. She had a pail of water and she was hosing down sheets outside and I said, “Well what is she doing?” I had the translator, and he said, “Well she’s just washing the blood of the sheets.” And the sheets was like dye coming off, it was just water, blood water running down the parking lot right onto the main street and that’s how they were cleaning their sheets. They’d ring them out. They’d dry them. They’d bring them back up for the next operation, or whoever got killed in the front line. And the Muslim front line wasn’t very far from the town, you know. So they were getting wounded soldiers in and it was just, I was saying, “Holy jumpin, this is not happening. This is not true. This can’t be true.”
Description

Mr. Wiseman describes the sights witnessed within the hospital and the horrific conditions of the wounded.

Robert Wiseman

Mr. Robert Wiseman was born October 9, 1953 in Bathurst, New Brunswick. With his father being a Veteran, and his five other brothers joining up, Mr. Wiseman made this the reason for joining the service. In 1974, fresh out of high school, Mr. Wiseman travelled to CFB Cornwallis Recruitment Camp receiving 11 weeks of training then to CFB Gagetown for advanced training as a combat soldier. Mr. Wiseman joined the army experiencing one tour to Cyprus and later in his career travelled to Bosnia holding the rank of Warrant Officer. His service in Bosnia provided humanitarian support to the Bosnian people after the Srebrenica massacre where many people were killed. After discharging from the army, Mr. Wiseman returned to Fredericton.

Meta Data
Medium:
Video
Owner:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:
1:20
Person Interviewed:
Robert Wiseman
War, Conflict or Mission:
Canadian Armed Forces
Location/Theatre:
Bosnia
Branch:
Army
Rank:
Warrant Officer

Copyright / Permission to Reproduce

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