John Heymans
Current Location: Arnprior, ON, Canada
I was a Peacekeeper, completing two rewarding tours in Cyprus and one in Egypt.
My first Cyprus tour was as a Lieutenant Troop Leader of a Reconnaissance Troop of five Ferret Scout Cars during the Summer of 1966. We had three operational missions: First was to escort convoys of Greek Cypriot civilians through the Turkish Cypriot enclave between Nicosia, the capital, and Kyrenia on the Northern Coast. We made two trips a day, morning and afternoon, seven days a week. Second was long range patrols into the area Northwest of Nicosia and to meet with the Village Headman in several Turkish villages among the Greek population. Our task was to determine if there were any problems between the villages and their neighbours. Third was a standby task. Our Squadron was the Force Reserve which meant that we could be called upon to go anywhere on the island to assist other UN units. We had to be prepared to move out of our camp within an hour of notification, 24 hours a day for a week.
My second Cyprus tour was as a Major, an Infantry Company Commander during the Winter of 1974–75. My Company was in Nicosia International Airport, and I was responsible for protection of the airport and surrounding area, and protection of the UN Protected Area which comprised the UN Force Headquarters and support units. My Company was the Battalion Support Company and in addition to manning roadblocks and observation posts in my area, we were equipped with anti-tank weapons and mortars which could be used in the event of an operation. Every month we traveled to ranges in Dhekelia, Southeast of Nicosia, to fire the weapons as part of our ongoing training.
My third tour of UN duty was as a Major in the Headquarters of the Canadian Contingent of UNEF2, the UN Force established in 1973 after Arab Israeli War. I was the Contingent Operations Officer, and my tour was from August 1978 to March 1979. We were in Ismailia, an hour south of Port Said. I was the Staff Officer responsible for Operational Planning within the Canadian Contingent, and for security of our immediate compound using Military Police and a platoon of soldiers who worked with the Military Police. I also maintained a liaison contact with the local Egyptian Army authorities for coordination of local civil law enforcement. We had a fenced compound enclosing vehicle spare parts and other attractive items. My security team would regularly apprehend local civilians who had broken into the fenced area and turn them over to the local police. We worked closely with the local authorities to ensure that they didn’t return.
Biography
I was commissioned into the 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise’s), an armoured regiment, in 1962, and posted to Camp Petawawa, ON. My early years were spent training on tanks and reconnaissance vehicles as a junior officer. We spent the summers of 1963 and 1964 in Gagetown, NB training with other units from Petawawa and Gagetown. My early years involved learning my job as an Armour officer through attending training courses at schools, or during periods of collective training in the field with my soldiers. As a young Reconnaissance Troop Leader, I spent six months in Cyprus from April to October of 1966. It was my first operational deployment, and I enjoyed the opportunity to put into use the skills I had learned the previous years. In 1967 I was posted to the Combat Arms School in Base Borden.
My middle years, as a Captain, were spent initially as an instructor and a Training Development Officer while in Borden. In 1970 I was returned to my Regiment and was Operations Officer and Adjutant. I also attended schools including a year at the U.S. Army Armor School in Fort Knox, Kentucky, where I was a student on their Advanced Armor Officers’ Course from 1972–1973. I was fortunate to have my family with me and we had a busy, but fun filled year.
On return from Kentucky, I spent a year as a student at the Canadian Forces Staff College in Toronto and was promoted to Major while on course. Following Staff College, I returned to my Regiment in Petawawa as a Squadron Commander. Shortly after returning I was attached to 1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment, along with most of my B Squadron soldiers, and spent a second six months in Cyprus. This was a great tour and one of the highlights of my career. Back to Petawawa from Cyprus, I was assigned command of our unit’s Headquarters Squadron. We were responsible for all aspects of logistics support for the Regiment. During the Summer of 1976, we were deployed to Montréal to support the Olympics. We were billeted in a high school in Montréal and, as my last job at the Regiment, I became a hotel manager for the summer.
Subsequent jobs included headquarters staff appointments and instructor duties again, but the highlight of that time was three years from 1981 to 1984 as the Canadian Forces Liaison Officer at the U.S. Army Armor Center in Fort Knox. On return to Canada, I was posted to National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa where I retired in 1995. I currently reside in Arnprior, ON having spent 25 years as a Snowbird traveling to a Florida home in Inverness, an hour North of Tampa.
Official photo, Cyprus 1974.
Ismailia, Egypt, 11 Nov 1978.