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APPENDIX A Weaponry and Wartime Experience
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Experiences ( 8 pages )
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When Canada announces that it is sending military observers to foreign countries, the public rarely grasps the complexity of the problems the observers might encounter. In addition to acclimatizing themselves to conditions that often differ markedly from those at home, they might face extremely challenging obstacles in carrying out their duties. The events that led to the premature death of Lieutenant-Colonel George A 0W Flint, in charge of the Israel-Jordan and Mount Scopus Mixed Armistice Commission (IJMAC) under the UNTSO from January 1956 to May 1958, illustrate the type of problems that are encountered by members of the Canadian military.
Born in Outremont, Quebec, on 27 February 1911, Flint joined the army reserve on 19 February 1941, then the active army. A member of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry as of October 1948, he would serve with its 1st Battalion in Korea. He was named Director of Military Intelligence in November 1952 with the rank of major and, in January 1954, the rank of Brigade Major of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade at Valcartier. Loaned to the department of external affairs in January 1956 to serve in Palestine under the UNTSO, he took over the IJMAC.
Only a few months after arriving in Jerusalem, Flint shared a traumatic experience with another Canadian, Major Marcel Brault, a St Hyacinthe (Quebec) journalist, veteran and militia officer in the St Hyacinthe Regiment, which had become the 4th Battalion of the Royal 22e Régiment. While investigating a conflict in the demilitarized zone, both men were seriously injured by a land-mine from the 1948 war. Fortunately they survived and returned to service. Following a three-month convalescence, Flint resumed his duties, while Brault was transferred to Damascus. The chain of events leading to that incident were, in Flint's view, typical of what was happening around them. Other observers had been killed or seriously injured by mines during that same week.
In May 1957, Israel informed the UNTSO Chief of Staff in a letter, that it would no longer be co-operating with Flint because of his conduct as chairman of the IJMAC and as UNTSO representative in the affairs of Mount Scopus. Insisting that he be recalled to Canada, Israel declared that it would henceforth be dealing directly with UNTSO headquarters. The letter stated that Jordan had already announced its refusal to have any further dealings with Flint; however, an analysis of various recall cases that UNTSO headquarters investigated in 1963 casts serious doubt on this claim.
As he approached the end of his term as head of the IJMAC, Flint chose not to renew his contract, believing that a replacement would be able to turn around the feelings of those concerned and forge better relations. However, the United Nations did not want to lose a man of his integrity. On receiving a special request from the Secretary General, Flint agreed to stay on until July 1959. He insisted, though, that his wife and two daughters, who had followed him to the Middle East at the beginning of his term, return to Canada.
The efforts of Flint and his UNTSO Chief of Staff, Major-General Carl von Horn, to defuse the situation between the Israelis and Arabs of Mount Scopus had thus far been fruitless. On 26 May 1958, three days after von Horn had paid a visit to Golda Meir, the Israeli minister of foreign affairs, in an attempt to ease tensions, some Israeli police officers were shot in the Gardens of Solomon. Two soldiers died on the spot and the ensuing exchange was fierce and prolonged. Waving a white flag, Flint ran to the victims, who were lying on the ground. Amid the confusion of continuing gunfire from the Israelis and Jordanians, two more Israelis were hit. A few moments later, Flint was felled by a sniper's bullet.
The subsequent inquest was nothing but a farce, according to General von Horn. Two eyewitness accounts and the medical evidence, however, indicated that the bullet had come from the Jordanian side and had been deliberately aimed at Flint - a clear attempt on his life. The U.N. was not prepared to let the matter drop. The Secretary General's claims for reparation from Jordan triggered a copious exchange of correspondence that would come to naught: Jordan steadfastly refused to take responsibility for Flint's death and accused Israel of causing the exchange of gunfire and the fatal shot by the sniper.
In one document the Secretary General returned to the original verdict: "One thing is certain: LCol Flint was not killed accidentally or even amid an exchange of fire between the parties... he was killed deliberately by a single bullet coming from the territory controlled by Jordan after a mutual cease-fire agreement."
The body of George Albert Flint lies in the Moascar military cemetery at Ismailiya, Egypt. 92
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