Attention!
Cette vidéo est disponible en anglais seulement.
Description
While working in South Lebanon, Mr. Gallant helped many local people, earning him the nickname of Mr. Big Man.
Fred Gallant
Issu d’une famille acadienne de Mont-Carmel à l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard, M. Gallant s’engage dans l’armée et devient capitaine. Au cours des années soixante-dix et quatre-vingts, il sert deux fois à titre de Capitaine de batterie au sein de la Force des Nations Unies chargée du Maintien de la Paix à Chypre (UNFICYP). Ses méthodes de travail ont aidé plus d’un soldat et sauvé la vie aux siens ainsi qu’à plusieurs Turques et Grecs. Des années plus tard, en tant que major cette fois-ci, il est nommé Observateur militaire des Nations Unies au sein de l’Organisme des Nations Unies chargé de la Surveillance de la Trêve (ONUST) au Moyen-Orient. M. Gallant a des histoires fascinantes à raconter.
Transcription
One of the things that I really am happy with is some of the things that I did over there that I haven’t brought up was when I became on the mobile team in Lebanon, the people’s movements are so restricted that I was able to bring drugs, medical, you know, pharmaceutical drugs to individuals that needed them in villages that were surrounded that they couldn’t move out. I was able to go in and bring the drugs to them. One village had been without electricity for seven months because the transformer at the entrance of the village was damaged. I was able to be able to procure a transformer for them, bring the Swedish maintenance group out with a fork lift, get him to install the new transformer for this village who hadn’t been with electricity for seven months. The name they gave me in South Lebanon was “Mister Big Man” because I was very big compared to most of the individuals and to me that was an honour. That was certainly a feeling of accomplishment when I could do things like that to villages.