Description
Mr. Drapeau tells of his experiences during service time and the feelings of helplessness that occurred.
Daniel Drapeau
Mr. Daniel Drapeau was born September 11, 1957 in Charny, Quebec. After attending high school in Quebec, Mr. Drapeau made the decision to join the Canadian Forces. He held rank of private and became a tank driver with the Armoured Corp. After obtaining his training in Val Cartier, in 1974 Mr. Drapeau accepted deployments to Cyprus and the Middle East. After a year of service, Mr. Drapeau was medically discharged from the Canadian Forces. With the assistance of a service dog, Kenya, Mr. Drapeau maintains a good quality of life finding time to volunteer his service. Mr. Drapeau now resides in Ottawa with his family.
Transcript
I got out in September ’94 and for the time I served, I liked what I did and without hesitation if I would be twenty years, I would join again. Before I joined the forces I was in Val Cartier at six-week cadet camps. On 30th July, 1974 a grenade exploded in the cadet camp. Six of my friends died. Right after it blow, I walk in with the first aid. You got people coming out bleeding and you have me walking in with a first aid and there’s buddy over the ground, all over the ground, body parts, stuff like that. That day I thought, you know, I am never going to see worse than that. In my head that was the worst thing I could ever see in my life. I was wrong but, you know, after that going to other countries seeing people dying on the street and stuff like that, it make you open your eyes and there’s nothing you can do.