I have informed Tom through the Assn that those who paid the supreme
sacrifice on Cyprus are not forgotten.When UN Force Commander 1989=1992 I
laid a wreath at the Cemetry in Dhekalia and as a Dragoon on Tpr "Fess"
Campbells grave each Nov 11.I left instructions at UNFICYP HQ that the
graves were to be visited periodically and every Nov11.I willsee that this
practice will continue . Clive Milner
----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas L. Skelding" <mtd.dragoon(a)rogers.com>
To: <RCD-ASSOCIATION-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2003 12:42 PM
Subject: [RCD-ASSOC] "Fess" Campbell
The following article appeared in today's The Cyprus Weekly of
Tom
Johnson's
visit to Cyprus and "Fess" Campbell's grave.
http://www.cyprusweekly.com.cy/local.htm
Tom's reunion with dead comrade after 39 years
By Menelaos Hadjicostis
It was a soldiers' reunion of a different sort. Tears where shed, but only
one of the two comrades wept.
Tom Johnson tried to hold back the tears for the sake of appearances, but
the emotion of the moment overwhelmed him.
The sight of the grave of a friend he helped bury at Dhekelia British
Military Cemetery 39 years ago unlocked a torrent of memories that no
degree
of willpower could resist.
"I was a pall bearer at Joe's funeral," said the 65-year-old Sackville,
New
Brunswick, native.
"He was a short but stocky, a great hockey player. I remember the coffin
was
too small for him," he added.
For the retired Royal Canadian Dragoon, the cemetery visit nearly four
decades after serving a seven-month peacekeeping stint in Cyprus was no
mere
trip down memory lane.
Pilgrimage
It was a pilgrimage to the grave of a friend and comrade he was duty-bound
to fulfil.
Like Johnson, 29-year-old Trooper Joseph H. Campbell, or "Fess" to his
friends, was among the first batch of United Nations troops dispatched to
the island in the spring of 1964 to keep the peace between warring Greek
and
Turkish Cypriots.
The Canadians were assigned to patrol a rectangular-shaped, 500 sq km
swathe
of rugged mountain terrain and dusty fields stretching north of their
base
camp in Nicosia.
Although plenty of time would be spent trying to alleviate boredom, or
staying cool in the scorching, 40 degree-plus summer heat, serving was not
all fun and games.
"Once we were caught right under a mortar barrage as one side was hitting
the other's positions. We could see the arc of the mortar shells being
lobbed from our left, go over our heads and land in the enemy camp on our
right," said Johnson.
And patrols through the sheer cliffs of the Pentadactylos mountain range
were definitely no Sunday drive.
Dodging
Dodging bullets from armed militias as the Canadians made their way
through
the twisty, gravel mountain roads in their legendary, British-made
Ferret
armoured cars was not a rare occurrence.
"I didn't even hear the bullet that pierced a gas can inside my Ferret on
one patrol," said Johnson.
That's why the Dragoons were under strict orders to stay above a speed of
30
km/h at all times, even when negotiating tight mountain tracks that
were
then little more than glorified footpaths.
It was on such a mountain road on July 31, 1964 that Trooper Campbell from
Waterford, Nova Scotia, lost his life when his Ferret plunged down a
gorge.
Rounding a blind turn at speed, the armoured car swerved to avoid a
Turkish
Cypriot girl shepherding her sheep across the road.
Campbell, who was sitting in the turret as acting car commander that day,
died instantly after being flung from the vehicle. The driver survived,
but
took months to recuperate from multiple bone fractures and
lacerations.
Manicured
Campbell was buried with full military honours on August 4, 1964 at the
British Military Cemetery in Dhekelia Garrison.
Distance prevented his family from attending the no-frills military
funeral.
Campbell was probably the first of 28 Canadian soldiers who died on
the
island through 29 years of uninterrupted peacekeeping missions.
He is buried at Dhekelia along with eight other Canadians killed between
December, 1964 and February, 1970.
And that's where Tom Johnson wanted to be.
To honour the memory of an old friend.
But it took him several rounds of the cemetery 's studiously manicured
lawns
to pick out the row of Canadian headstones from among the dozens of
others
belonging to British servicemen and infants, some as young as a few days
old.
The only distinguishing marks that identified the Canadians were the maple
leaves on the headstones.
Johnson resolved to do something about that. To set Canadians apart, not
as
a snub towards others resting in the cemetery, but to affirm that
these
men
who paid the ultimate sacrifice on a patch of earth in the eastern
Mediterranean aren't forgotten.
The thought to repatriate the men's remains did cross Johnson's mind. But
according to Veterans' Affairs Canada spokesperson Janice Summerby, that
would be impossible.
She explained that when the Canadians were buried at Dhekelia, Ottawa's
policy was to inter Canadian war dead in the country where they fell. That
changed in 1970 when the policy was reversed to bring all war dead back
home.
However, the policy shift had no retroactive effect, meaning that the
remains of those who were buried abroad prior to 1970 cannot be
repatriated.
"There are 100,000 Canadians buried all over the world and you
can't pick
and choose who to bring back. There would be issues of fairness to deal
with," said Summerby.
But for Johnson, even a small flag planted beside each headstone would
suffice, just as is done for Canadians buried in Vimy or Paschendaele.
Major Brian Mellor said that in the six years he's been in charge of
Dhekelia cemetery's upkeep, no one has paid any official tribute to the
Canadians.
That's about to change.
With the blessing of the British Ministry of Defence, which raised no
objections to the planting flags next to the headstones, Johnson is
rustling
up some flags and some 10-inch Royal Canadian Legion crosses to ship
off
to
Cyprus.
Maybe they'll be planted next to the headstones just in time for
Remembrance
Day.
TL Skelding
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