A retired veteran who is collecting memories from members who served in Canada’s peacekeeping mission in Sarajevo held a gathering Saturday afternoon at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.
Roger Chabot, a veteran who turned into a military artist, interviewed members who served during the Sarajevo airport opening in 1992, including retired Maj.-Gen. Lewis MacKenzie, to create a painting commemorating the efforts of the Canadian Armed Forces.
MacKenzie is an Order of Canada recipient known for establishing and commanding Sector Sarajevo as part of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) in former Yugoslavia in 1992.
“We delivered food and medicine, sometimes up to 500 tonnes a day flew into the airport a few days. I had to close the airport but we’d open as quickly as possible. It worked for those 30 days,” said MacKenzie.
“I have fond memories, at least once a day, something comes back to me, or at night in a dream. They’re good memories and some of them are stressful.”
Thousands of Canadian Armed Forces members would take part in UNPROFOR efforts. Almost every Canadian infantry battalion and armoured regiment spent time in the Balkans, according to the Government of Canada.
Patrick Hanneberry, a retired Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry member, joined MacKenzie in Sarajevo in 1992. He flew into Ottawa on Sunday from Edmonton to surprise him after not having seen for nearly 30 years.
“I worked under him in Sarajevo, although not, directly,” said Hanneberry. “He was at my house in Toronto while I was away. My dad and him served together in the 60’s and 70’s. I had so much faith and trust in General MacKenzie.”
Chabot was commissioned by The Royal 22nd Regiment to produce a painting depicting the events that occurred in July 1992.
“I think it’s important to remember our history, to learn it, to remember it and to teach it to the future generations,” Chabot said
“Today there are people that are away from their family that won’t be with their family at Christmas so we can be with our family.”
Chabot interviewed most of the 25 veterans he invited to the War Museum to help get a better understanding of what he calls “one of the forgotten wars.”
“I cannot reproduce a piece of art, commemorative art, if I don’t understand what I’m doing,” he said.
“That’s the reason I’m doing this today, because by getting the stories of the veterans, they will inspire me to represent the painting exactly how it should be.”
The painting will be unveiled at the Citadelle of Quebec in Quebec City early next year.