Mike Young speaking with CFJC crews on Nov. 6, 2024 (Image Credit: Kent Simmonds / CFJC Today)

By Dylana Kneeshaw

VETERAN FEATURE

Peacekeeping veteran Mike Young’s service to country, and community spans multiple decades, and generations

Nov 6, 2024 | 6:25 PM

KAMLOOPS — Blue berets are distinctive hats worn by members of the military who have served in peacekeeping operations with the United Nations. Mike Young of Kamloops dons one of those blue berets, having served in a peacekeeping mission in Egypt in the late 1970s.

As a third generation member of the armed forces, Mike Young’s military service runs in the family.

“My grandfather was a WWI veteran, my father was a reservist with the Calgary Highlanders for quite a number of years and so I was always exposed to the military in one form or another,” explains Young. His son also spent a few years with the Rocky Mountain Rangers, marking the fourth generation to serve.

Young joined the army when he was 19 years old. After basic training, he became a radio tech — working and training across the country. And in 1979, Young was sent to Egypt for the tail end of the UN EF II mission during the Yom Kippur War.

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“I saw a lot of what war does. I saw a lot of what it does to the people, what it does to the landscape. What it does to the soldiers who are there,” notes Young. “During my tour we lost a soldier. He was a colleague. And he was killed when his Jeep hit a landmine in the desert. And it really brought home a lot of the dangers, especially for me, because I did a lot of driving.”

Young was among the last of the Canadian peacekeepers to leave.

“We got into Ottawa and they ushered us over to a hangar where the press conference was going to be, and nobody showed up for the press conference,” recalls Young. “Nobody cared enough to talk to the soldiers who had been there.”

In turn, Young feels there should be more education around Canada’s peacekeeping history as a whole.

“One-hundred-thirty soldiers lost their lives on peacekeeping missions, but we tend to forget that,” he notes, “so we’ve always sort of thought of ourselves as the ‘forgotten soldiers.'”

Over the years, his involvement with the military has taken different forms. Young was heavily involved with the Rocky Mountain Rangers, training others, serving as Commanding Officer (1994 – 1999), then serving as an infantry officer, a platoon commander with the rifle company, a transport and signals officer, and eventually as President of the Rocky Mountain Rangers Regimental Association (2010 – 2023). He’s still a director with the Rocky Mountain Rangers Museum and also dedicates time to the local Legion Branch as Vice President, among other roles.

“One of my jobs with the Legion and the branch is as a Service Officer,” he explains, “so I work a lot with veterans who need help with claims with Veterans Affairs Canada. I’ve worked with those who are homeless and we get them off the street and into a stable situation.”

On Remembrance Day, Young says he thinks of family — specifically his grandfather and father who served and the young soldier who lost his life during their peacekeeping mission in 1979. At the same time, Young describes a feeling of appreciation for the camaraderie between fellow veterans who spend time together every Remembrance Day, sharing both meaningful and humourous stories.

He also looks forward to seeing the Kamloops residents who make their gratitude known.

“When we march the colours in and I see the thousands and thousands of people at Riverside Park, it’s just amazing. And then when we march through the streets and there’s people lining the streets and applauding, it almost brings me to tears,” he adds. “It’s amazing.”