Darkness

 Continuing where I left off yesterday. The UN mission led by Canadian general Romeo Dallaire in Rwanda did what it could to protect lives during the darkest days of that country's civil war.

Dallaire himself was forever marked by his experiences, with PTSD affecting him to this day. He wrote a powerful memoir, Shake Hands With The Devil, detailing the events of that period. The world looked away until it was too late, while the peacekeepers saw the full horrors straight on.

Another dark chapter of this period, and again, Canadians were peacekeepers. When the Warsaw Pact collapsed, some of its countries made the transition to capital economies and democratic systems smoothly. The former Yugoslavia quickly fell apart into a nightmare of ethnic warfare, and Canadians were called in to keep the peace. But there was no peace to keep, and those serving there found themselves caught up in the conflict between all sides.

Canadian general Lewis Mackenzie was the first UN commander based out of Sarajevo.

This was his flak jacket. What he and other Canadians and multinational forces saw was a nightmarish civil war on multiple fronts.

This UN transport was shot up by Serb militia in Croatia. The soldiers inside survived and got away.

Master Corporal Mark "Izzy" Isfeld spent his time defusing landmines, and was killed on duty in Croatia.

His mother started a tradition of Izzy dolls, which he gave to children, and the tradition has carried on long after his death.

The standard uniform of a Canadian fighter pilot during the Yugoslav mission.

A fragment of one of the planes that hit the World Trade Centre towers on September 11th, 2001. This would lead to Canadians heading overseas to fight in the Afghan War.