CENTRE WELLINGTON – The Croatian War of Independence was a four-year conflict that may slip the mind of the average person.
But many Canadian, including Fergus veteran Dave Goetz, do not have the luxury of forgetting.
This is the story of a United Nations (UN) Peacekeeper who, for six months, put his life on the line in Croatia.
“I started off in the army reserves in Windsor, Ontario with a unit called Essex and Kent Scottish,” Goetz told the Advertiser.
He joined in his early 20s after being an army cadet in his youth.
“It’s something that’s been a part of me and my family for a long time,” Goetz said. “The call to service was just always there.”
After serving in the army for almost four years, he earned the title of master corporal in the Canadian Armed Forces.
Asked why he wanted to be a peacekeeper, Goetz said, “It was getting to a point where I wasn’t sure what my career in the military would be.”
His opportunity arose when the Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR), out of Petawawa, was tasked with the next peacekeeping rotation in Croatia, formerly part of Yugoslavia.
Around 1,800 Ontarian reservists were called up by the RCR.
“They only took 300 or 400 of us to fill their ranks so that all the jobs were full,” he added.
The selection process narrowed down the possible peacekeepers and “I got selected along with 11 other guys from Windsor in 1994,” Goetz said.
In October 1994 the 12 soldiers were sent overseas.
“I was in the administrative company and what helped my position was I had an electronics background from college,” he said.
During his six-month rotation Goetz maintained TVs, radios, VCRs, performed his guard duty, re-built schools and “the biggest job I had was I drove for the padre; the Roman Catholic priest,” he said.
If the padre had to perform a welfare check or conduct a service, it was Goetz’s job to provide him security.
The job of a peacekeeper may seem tame and peaceful to the uneducated, but for 30 years Goetz has been carrying the trauma of his time in Croatia.
“I’ve recently been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder … and what prompted me to finally get help was my wife and kids asking me why I was always so angry,” he said.
“Normally peacekeeping is when two parties have decided the only way they’re going to settle their difference is to sit back, exhale and the UN would go in and keep the two sides apart,” Goetz explained.
Peace was not established upon Goetz’s arrival – “There was actual, active combat,” he said.
He noted seeing dirt “splashes” from enemy bullets around the base and having to prepare for incoming raids.
“There’s that threat all the time … and it’s just the constant imageries of the hate that was happening there,” Goetz said.
Schools were shot up with hints of executions, churches were destroyed and cemeteries were defiled.
“Seeing little kids playing in the street with nothing … it’s just a lot of hardships that way,” he added. “You see that every day for six months and you really get numb to it.”
Although no one from his unit died, many were injured.
A white jeep with approximately 104 bullet holes sits at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa depicting the evidence of an attack on Canadian peacekeepers in Croatia on New Year’s Eve in 1994.
The incident occurred during Goetz’s rotation.
“The passenger was hit six times and the driver four. They both lived,” he said.
According to Goetz, wounded twice himself, Private Philip Badani is credited with saving the life of Master Corporal John Tescione who was shot in the head and arms.
The ambush was a result of a confrontation that occurred days earlier “when one of our officers confronted one of the combatant officers and it was a bit of a back and fourth,” Goetz said.
“I’ll remember you,” were the three words the combatant officer said before leaving the argument.
“It turns out the Jeep that was shot is the same Jeep … that officer normally would have been in,” said Goetz.
He returned home in April 1995 and was released from the army in 2011. He then moved to Fergus with his wife and daughter.
“I’m glad I went. I think I represented myself, my unit and Canada very well on the global stage,” he said.
Goetz hopes more people will understand the sacrifice thousands of people made during this period of time.
“Everybody talks about World War I, World War II, they mention Korea and then they skip to Afghanistan,” he said.
“From 1956 when Korea ended until Afghanistan … there was a lot of peacekeeping going on.”
