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[Lt.-Col. Kenn W. Doerksen was a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot who served as the Economics and Humanitarian Officer for the Nicosia District, with the Canadian Contingent of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus. The letter was written to his wife Susan in Edmonton, Alberta. Doerksen was deployed to Cyprus with the Canadian Airbourne Regiment, who he worked with as Regimental Emplaning Officer. In his letter Doerksen writes about the death of the Canadian soldier Private Claude Joseph Berger on September 10, 1974.]

Dearest Susan,

I’m having a tough time deciding how to start this letter. It seems that the past two days have held only bad news, so I’d best get it over with.

Last night, as you probably know by now, we had another young soldier shot. They were on the outskirts of Nicosia in a ¾ ton truck and took a wrong branch at a traffic circle. They were approaching a Greek road block which has never been a problem. But before reaching the block, they realized they were going the wrong way, turned around and as they  drove away, 7 shots were fired at them, one going into the cab. It is a stupid episode, completely inexplicable as we approach (and normally go through) both Turk and Greek roadblocks. I guess it would be easy to say that I’m in no danger, but careful though I might be, I doubt that anyone could have expected a thing like this. Believe me, darling, I am extremely cautious, informing everyone where I am going and when.

Also, today we were informed by Ottawa that our rotation date had been moved back to 1 December. Even Col. Lessard is livid and Col Beattie is leaving on Saturday to tell Ottawa what we feel. The 1 CDO guys are demoralized after working 7 days a week since July, through two rounds of fighting and then to be told they must stay 8-9 months instead of 6. One has to wonder about the sanity of our leaders, sometimes (always??)

And finally, there are many indications that the fighting may break out again, this week. We will just pull back into our bunkers and let them go at it – we have no mandate to do anything else, even though the Canadians and British are the only ones who have total respect of both sides. We have stood up to both sides countless times and usually win out. TIME (Sep 2) is a bit melodramatic but it is quite accurate.

In any case, I plod along with a never ending series of problems. I am told that my reports are the highlight of the UN General’s briefing each morning, as my field seems to be the most significant in terms of useful UN Prescence. It’s rewarding, once one gets over the frustrations involved. . . .

All my love,
Kenn