Description
Mr Gratto remembers the various checkpoints in the Congo.
James Gratto
James Gratto was born in 1934 in Halifax, Nova Scotia and as a child was raised in Pictou, Nova Scotia. His father worked on the Canadian National Railway. His mother passed away when he was still very young. One day during school he and some of his friends went down to the recruitment truck during lunch time to sign up for the Canadian Forces. After getting the call to serve, Jim decided to quite school and join up. He went to the Royal Canadian School of Signals in Kingston, Ontario where he took ten weeks of basic training. He then completed his trades courses as a radio operator and cryptographer. Mr. Gratto went to the No. I Airborne Signals Squadron in Kingston, Ontario. Upon completion of trades training, Mr. Gratto served with the United Nations in Congo for seven months. Mr. Gratto had a military career of 31 years. While serving in the military, Mr. Gratto married his wife Shirley from Fredericton, NB and together they raised a family who would become very familiar with the military way of life residing in many military bases throughout Canada. After retirement, Mr. Gratto and his family settled in Kingston, Ontario.
Transcript
And you went from point A to point B, you had to go through checkpoints. Checkpoints were nerving too because you had to go through, they had these big white barrels on the road with rocks in them or sand in them and you had to zig zag through and show I.D. and everything and so on. Now anybody that tells you that, don’t worry no one’s going to be bothering you because you’re wearing a blue beret okay or a blue patch which says UN. To some people that didn’t, doesn’t mean a thing. So you have to be careful, you know, basically, that’s the way it is.