From Suez to Bosnia: Langley's peacekeepers and Cold War veterans

On Canada Day 2007, the Surrey chapter of the Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association added a peacekeeping plaque to the cenotaph in Aldergrove, according to the association’s newsletter. It’s a small addition, and it makes a point the names above it can’t: Langley people kept serving long after 1945.

The Veterans Affairs Canada photos above show the cairn with plaques for the two world wars and Korea; we haven’t confirmed exactly where the peacekeeping plaque sits today. If you’re at the Aldergrove ceremony this year, have a look.

Here are some of the Langley lives of service from the decades since, in order. We’ve only included people whose service and Langley connection both show up in published records, so treat this as a start, not a roll call.

1956–57: Suez, aboard HMCS Magnificent

When the UN sent its first large peacekeeping force, the UN Emergency Force, to Egypt after the Suez crisis, the aircraft carrier HMCS Magnificent carried Canada’s contingent. She sailed on December 29, 1956, and arrived off Port Said on January 12, 1957, with nearly 500 soldiers (mostly signallers, service corps, ordnance and electrical and mechanical engineers), their equipment and four RCAF Otter aircraft.

Kenneth Harry Harris was in the Royal Canadian Navy from 1950 to 1965, and his service included Magnificent during Suez. He retired as a Chief Petty Officer First Class, later made his home in Langley, and died here on May 4, 2016, at 83.

Cyprus and Cold War Germany

Through the Cold War, Canadians served for decades with NATO in West Germany and with the UN in Cyprus, and plenty of them did both.

James Michael “Mickey” Mulroy did four peacekeeping tours of Cyprus and spent seven years in Germany. Back home, he was a long-time volunteer and a life member of the Royal Canadian Legion’s Aldergrove Branch 265, which shares its Fraser Highway address with the cenotaph. He died on March 10, 2005.

Master Warrant Officer Carl Marsh spent more than 25 years as a combat engineer. He was with the UN in Nicosia, Cyprus, in 1972 and posted to Canadian Forces Base Lahr, in West Germany, from 1973 to 1977. After he retired from the forces he worked for the Langley School District, from 1982 to 1989. He died in June 2025, at 85.

1973: a nurse in Egypt

Margo Mayo joined a Canadian medical contingent with the UN Emergency Force in Egypt in 1973, one stop in a twenty-year forces nursing career. We told more of her story in Langley’s women in uniform.

2003: Bosnia by helicopter

Arnel Aliwalas joined the RCAF as a reservist with 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron, out of Edmonton, and went on a peacekeeping tour of Bosnia-Herzegovina with the squadron in 2003. In his own account he describes it as a team effort: “Whether mechanics, flight engineers, pilots, safety systems or logistics, we all worked together and supported each other.” A 2017 scholarship list gives Langley as his hometown.

The gaps

Canadians served in Bosnia and Croatia through the 1990s, on the Golan Heights for three decades and in the Congo in the 1960s, among dozens of other missions. We didn’t find published records good enough to name Langley people on most of them. That doesn’t mean they weren’t there. The records for this era are thin and scattered, and most of these stories live in families.

If someone in yours served after 1950, as a peacekeeper, in Germany, at sea or here at home, we’d be glad to hear about it: [email protected].

Where to pay your respects

• Fort Langley Cemetery, 23105 St. Andrews Avenue: the Fort Langley Remembers organisers include peacekeepers among those honoured at their ceremony.
• Every ceremony, time and parking spot: our Remembrance Day 2026 guide.
• Langley in Afghanistan and Korea: Private Garrett Chidley, A Walk to Remember, and Langley’s ties to Afghanistan and Korea.
• The Legion: our page on Royal Canadian Legion branches in Langley.

Canada marks Peacekeepers’ Day on August 9. We didn’t find a regular local ceremony for it; if there is one, let us know.