Retired general served country with gallantry
When I was introduced to retired Gen. Ian Douglas, at a party recently, I did not know what to expect. He was after all, the first general I have ever met. He was a towering gentleman who looked like he could bench press my car, shining a smile bigger and brighter than the sun. We sat down to chat, and the first thing he said was, “Life is good.”
I asked him why he said that. His answer bespoke the gallant integrity of the man: “I have seen so much suffering around the world, and cruelty and lack of food. During a UN mission to Africa, we were burying 200 people a day, finding them along the road. You see that sort of stuff and you come back to Canada and realize that this is the best country in the world.”
Douglas was born in Scotland and moved to Montreal when he was 10. His family was poor when they arrived:
“My mother wanted me to become a doctor, but I got into cadets at age 11 and they really influenced my life’s goal. I saw structure; that sort of thing grabbed me. The following summer my parents couldn’t afford to send me to summer camp so I went to cadet camp. I met a lot of fellows my age who felt the same way as I did. And the discipline was there; we made our own beds, not like at home. I saw the military in the context of NATO. I saw the ability to contribute. I saw the army as a positive instrument of our democracy.”
At 14, Douglas joined the downtown Grenadier Guards as a militiaman; this he did in a not too uncommon fashion: He lied about his age. At 18, he atoned for his youthful exuberance, confessing to the army commission upon joining as a regular soldier. His decorated career would add up to 40 years in the service of Canada: “My mother said, ‘You can’t join the army. It’s for criminals and orphans!’ ” (Laughing.)
His wife Joan was born in Montreal. They married in 1962, in Germany, during one of his many reassignments.
In 1974, Douglas did a tour with the United Nations peacekeeping force in Cyprus. In 1988, he was the UN deputy commander of the peace keeping force in five Central American countries, based in Honduras: “I had offices in each country, Over the next year, we disarmed 23,000 fighters of the Contra army. We gave them clothes and food, and transported them home. The war had been going on for 10 years with over 100,000 people killed. It was the first disarming operation in Central America, and the most successful, with no casualties.”
Douglas was also a lieutenant colonel of a battalion in Germany, and a brigadier-general of the Special Service Force. He completed his career as the military attaché to the United States.
Upon retiring in 1993, he went to work for the United Nations: “In Honduras, I worked for Kofi Annan, who later became secretary general of the UN. A week out of the army, I was asked to work for him in West Africa, same as in Central America. I spent four years in West and Central Africa. But the five African factions weren’t ready for peace, and we were unsuccessful in creating peace.”
Upon returning home, Douglas was asked to go back following the events in Rwanda, a mission involving his good friend Gen. Romeo Dallaire: “I had been planning the Liberian mission in the same room as he was preparing to go to Rwanda,” said Douglas. “He came over and said, ‘Ian, I feel sorry for you. Your mission is so complicated. I have only two factions involved.’ That was in May 1994, the rest (Rwandan genocide) was history, as they say.”
In 1996, Douglas joined the Pearson Peacekeeping Institute, instituting programs on how to demobilize.
He is very proud of how Canada has new-found respect for their military: “Look at the crowds at Remembrance Days. The Afghanistan war really brought the people back to the ceremony.”
He is also very modest: “A general is just someone who has been promoted a lot. I am a junior general, one star.” (Granted, there were only 50 equivalent Canadian officers when he retired.)
“I love soldiers because they are prepared to put it all on the line wherever they are sent. You are there to serve. You are called a serviceman. You serve your country. And an officer has to lead by example.”