Going Through Checkpoints

Heroes Remember

Going Through Checkpoints

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.

Description

Mr Gratto remembers the various checkpoints in the Congo.

James Gratto

James Gratto was born in 1934 in Halifax,Nova Scotia. His father worked on the Canadian National Railway and his mother passed away when he was young. One day during school he and some of his friends went down to the recruitment truck during lunch time to sign up. After getting the call he quit school and went to basic training for eight to ten weeks before serving in the Congo for seven months where he worked in 1962 with the Royal Canadian Signals Corp with UN Peacekeeping. Later on Mr. Gratto became a member of the Air Borne Signals Squadron. He had a military career of 32 years.

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