Description
Colonel Ethell talks about how the Canadians and the Irish were respected by both the Israelis and the Syrians
Donald Stewart Ethell
Donald Stewart Ethell was born in July 1937 and was raised in Victoria, BC. His father was a Veteran of both the First and Second World Wars. His mother was a nurse. He and his sister attended boarding school because of his parents' jobs and he was only home at Christmas and during the summer. His mother passed away when Mr. Ethell was 10 years old. <br><br> When he enlisted, Mr. Ethell joined the Queen's Own Rifles in Calgary. After several years of serving as an infantryman he was recommended for the officer training. Mr. Ethell graduated from the program and rose to the rank of Colonel. He went on to command Canadian, and United Nations, forces in various missions all over the world. In the mid 1990s, Col. Ethell retired with over thirty-five years of distinguished service.
Transcript
There's two groups of people that are really looked at by locals as truly professional with all due respect to the others. It's the Irish and the Canadians. Native English speakers, professionally trained and in the case of the Irish, they come from a neutral country. Very highly thought of, and very professional. Canadians likewise, but remember this force is divided, a balance between Warsaw Pact and NATO countries and in our case, we were the offset to the Poles, as it was, we all got on like a house on fire really, never mind the politics.