Veteran David Morrison as a young soldier posted to Cyprus on a peacekeeping mission in 1971.
By Kathryn Stocks
David Morrison is a veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces who served from 1968 to 1981, which was during the Cold War. He joined the Canadian Army Reserve in Prince George, BC when he was 17 and went into the regular army at the age of 18. “I always wanted to be a soldier,” David said. “My family served Canada since the Boer War.”
He started his basic infantry training in Cornwallis, NS, and at Camp Borden here in Ontario. David’s first posting came in June 1970 when he was sent to Victoria, B.C., to join the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.
From October 1970 to April 1971, he was deployed to Cyprus on a UN peacekeeping mission. He said it was relatively quiet between the Turkish and Greek Cypriots at that point, “but there were some tense times. It wasn’t all a piece of cake.” The island was an awakening for him. “I never saw poverty like I saw there.”
At the same time, the FLQ Crisis was happening back in Canada. David got the Vancouver Sun sent to him, but when he received it, all the FLQ news had been cut out so the local Turks and Cypriots couldn’t use it for propaganda.
After that, David returned to Canada and was in Esquimalt until 1974. During those years he trained in Canada’s Arctic twice, first on Southampton Island in 1972 and then on Ellesmere Island in 1973, and both times he went in March. “I’ll never forget it,” he said.
David became a corporal and in 1974 was posted to an armoured defence platoon in Germany. Both Army bases in northern West Germany were closed at that time, and the Canadian Army moved south to Baden-Sollingen and Lahr (RCAF bases), where they worked with the British Army and came under the influence of the American Army.
David did an explosives course, a French commando course, and a 5B course in the Black Forest, which was really tough. They started out with 55 people and ended up with 24 graduates. “We went 4 ½ days with no sleep and no food.” David graduated fourth in the class. He came from a background of military that ate the pain and didn’t show weakness. “If you showed weakness, it could harm your career and at that time I was looking at being a career soldier,” David said. He then did the 5B Section Commanders Course and went straight into the 6A Senior NCO course.
“We did a lot of amazing things that surprised the Americans, the Germans, the Brits and the French.” he said. “As a battalion we would be given difficult tasks and we would always outperform anybody else doing it.”
He was in Germany for 5 ½ years, then came back to Canada in 1979. This time he was in a rifle platoon in Calgary, where he was promoted to Master Corporal. Soon after that, he met the woman who would become his wife. “We just clicked,” he said, and they married in 1980. David left the Armed Forces in 1981 and they moved to Scarborough where he joined the Toronto Scottish Regiment and retired as a Warrant Officer.
Today, David stays active by being the First Vice-President and Poppy Chairman of Legion Branch 258 in Highland Creek where he has been a member for more than 28 years, and he’s part of a new executive that wants to go beyond “your grandfather’s Legion.” Their doors are open to everyone and they are encouraging the community to visit and enjoy all their social events. A membership is no longer necessary, so consider dropping in this fall.