A Legionnaire’s link to the Nobel Peace Prize
In St. James, N.C., Gary Crowden is known as a veteran, community leader and commander of American Legion Post 543.
Crowden also has another distinction: Nobel Peace Prize recipient.
In the late 1970s, he was assigned to the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) headquartered in Jerusalem. The organization consisted of nearly 300 officers from 17 nations and were supported by field service officers from several other countries. On Dec. 10, 1988, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the Peace Prize was awarded to individuals assigned to the organization. (This week in Oslo, Norway, the Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded to Juan Manuel Santos or his efforts to end Columbia’s 50-year-long civil war.)
The American Legion interviewed Crowden about his military history, the Nobel Peace Prize and his views on the Mideast.
American Legion: Start off by telling us about your military background.
Crowden: My father entered the Army during World War II and rose in rank from private to full colonel during his 28 years of service. He fought in World War II in Italy as an infantry company commander and in Korea. When the buildup for Vietnam started, he looked at me and said, 'This one is your war.' I joined the Army in 1969 and after my basic course, airborne and ranger school, I was sent to Germany in December of that year. I went to Vietnam in the spring of 1971. I stayed there until January 1972, came back and then I traveled from there to Fort Hood, Texas, for three years where I was a Secretary to the General Staff to a three-star general. From there I moved to command a company and then I was given orders to go to Fort Benning, Ga., where I attended the advanced course for the Infantry. In 1975, I graduated from that and then went up to recruiting command in Tacoma, Wash., and stayed there for two years. I was later assigned to the United Nations in Jerusalem. Later in 1979, I went to Fort Bragg as an adjutant for a brigade. Afterward, I moved to Washington where I was a member of the Military Personnel Center where I was in charge of the Operation Center for the outfit. It was also the time when we invaded Panama. So that was quite a lot of activity going on. After about three years there, in 1985, I moved up to being on the Army Staff in the Pentagon, where I served for three years, in various classified programs. From there I moved up to the office of the Secretary of Defense, and I retired from the Army in late 1990.
American Legion: What roles did you serve in for the U.N.?
Crowden: I reported to the UNTSO headquarters in Jerusalem in June 1977. My first mission was to proceed to Lebanon to patrol southern Lebanon and report any violations of the United Nations Peace Accords. Our normal rotation was to spend one week in Lebanon, one week off, one week patrolling and manning checkpoints in the Sinai desert and then pull administrative duties in and around Jerusalem. After six months, I was elevated to be the liaison officer to both the Ghanaian and Swedish battalions who were physically located in the Sinai buffer zone. This was a zone established after the 1973 Middle East War to separate Egypt and Israel. After almost one year, I was placed on temporary duty to the headquarters in Jerusalem where my duties included personnel management responsibilities for the 298 officers assigned to UNTSO. Upon completion of that task I returned to OCS-J to become operations officer. Immediately after the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon in March 1978, my unit moved up into southern Lebanon to establish yet another buffer zone between Israel and Lebanon. I was responsible for the placement of Swedish, Norwegian, Iranian and Fijian units of the United Nations forces in the western sector of the buffer zone. Afterward, I went back to Jerusalem to plan for the extraction of United Nations forces from the Sinai which would lead to the return of Egyptian Forces and removal of the Israeli Defense Force from the Sinai.
American Legion: What made the experience in Beirut unique?
Crowden: Unique is a very good descriptor of my experience in Jerusalem. Very few United States officers are afforded the opportunity to have an assignment such as the one I had in the Middle East. We had 298 officers, including myself, from 17 different countries that were assigned to the unit. We had elements in Cairo. We had elements in Damascus. We had elements in Tiberius. We had elements in Jordan and also elements in Beirut. Now, you must understand that in the ’78-‘79 timeframe, Beirut was a very hot area. In Vietnam, where I was an infantry platoon leader, you had a weapon to respond to the bad guys but as a peacekeeper the only weapon you had was the ability to negotiate your way out of trouble. Quite an experience to say the least. Aside from the professional aspects of the job, you had the opportunity to visit countless historical sites. As you can well imagine the number of these sites within the region was countless. As U.N. soldiers, we had diplomatic immunity and could cross borders freely without having a passport. All I needed was my U.N. identification card. I saw the pyramids of Giza, Petra, Valley of the Kings in Egypt and many other fascinating locations in the area. So, yes, unique is a good word to use about the assignment.
American Legion: Tell me a little bit about the mind set of that change. Going from infantry in a jungle war zone to weaponless and trying to fulfill the task of moving people from A to B - that must have been quite different.
Crowden: I will tell you that one of the really good things about the United States Army, whether you’re enlisted, NCO, or officer or a general officer, is that you’re groomed to be flexible. And that was the case with all of our officers that served in the United Nations Troops Supervision Organization. Although all of us had combat experience in Vietnam, we were ready to adapt and did adapt to the peacetime role that we had - although it was not really all that peaceful. The PLO was very instrumental in trying to disrupt the Israeli regime. Israel would counter attack and as a result, bullets would fly. It was our job to try to maintain the peace and get the people separated apart and to negotiate. During my two-year tenure, there were several instances where I would be stopped by one or more of these outfits and had to negotiate my way out of a situation. Our guidance from headquarters was that if you felt there was a threat to your life you were to comply with the demands of the belligerent force even if that meant giving up your vehicle. If this were to occur, you would walk to the nearest U.N. observation post and report the incident. Quite a change from our mission in Vietnam, which was to close with the enemy by fire and maneuver and destroy them.
American Legion: The Nobel Prize committee must have seen the mission as worthwhile and successful in bestowing the award to you and others. Would you consider the mission a success?
Crowden: Interesting question. If you look at it from a macro perspective, I would say I do not think the mission was successful. The Israelis invaded southern Lebanon while I was there because the PLO continued to subject Israeli citizens to terrorist activities and Israel in retaliation would send airstrikes to hit PLO targets or initiate artillery strikes against known PLO positions. Our job as observers was to send reports to the United Nations giving them the truth about what was occurring and to try and reduce the tensions as much as possible. And from that perspective I think we accomplished our mission. From a micro perspective, as observers we were able to successfully negotiate temporary cease-fires in Lebanon between the warring factions. Again, from that perspective I think we accomplished our mission. But the Middle East is a very complicated place. Arabs are made up of different tribes each having their own ideas on how they should deal with the state of Israel. Israel is united by their single objective the survival of Israel. They are tenacious in fulfilling their obligation. Arabs on the other hand are united in their cause of destroying Israel but have mixed feelings as to how they want to do it. All you need to do is look at the way the 1973 war was conducted and you will understand what I mean. Had Egypt and Syria execute a coordinated attack on Israel, the outcome of that war may have been entirely different.
American Legion: What did you get out of the mission?
Crowden: Well, it’s nice to get awards and recognized externally, but the real reward comes when you see, because at these various outposts, we were also responsible for medical, although none of us were trained professionally as medical people. I can vividly remember one little girl that came in with her mother and she had taken a barbed wire and stuck it in her mouth and the blisters were all over her face. We had a small first aid kit that we were able to administer some first aid to that little girl. Her mother was very appreciative. She came back with some food for us. We were certainly appreciative of that because on those outposts you usually ate the C-rations. It’s that type of thing was more rewarding to me than getting the Noble Peace Prize and in fact, it was kind of a shock to me when I received word that I did receive the Noble Peace Prize because - let me make it clear - this was a group award. Not an individual award. I happened to belong to the unit that got the award. People often ask me where’s the money? And I say, there was no money. There was a medal, but no money.
American Legion: When you first heard that you were among those honored, what did you think?
Crowden: I was astounded! In fact, I was told by my Australian friend, who I had befriended while assigned to the unit. I had read something in his biography that he received the Noble Peace Prize. And I called him to congratulate him on such an achievement and he said, ‘Well, wait a minute. You got it too.’ So, it was nothing that was formally given to us through the chain, a letter or anything else. It was something that was given, stated as a Noble Peace Prize. It was and is one of the highlights of my military career second only to the fact that all my infantry platoon soldiers returned home to their loved ones, although three were wounded.
American Legion: You have a real insider’s look at the Mideast. Of course we know what’s happened since you were there - we’ve gotten close to peace on several occasions, and now it’s certainly in turmoil. What are the prospects of having lasting peace in that part of the world?
Crowden: It will never happen. Never happen. Our cultures are too diverse, too different. The Israelis and the Arabs have fought for millennia and for us to think that we will ever be able to turn that around, it just won’t happen. No matter how hard we try, the hate is embedded through generations. It’s unfortunate because you can bring an Israeli child and you can bring a Palestinian child over to the United States or any other neutral place and have them play together and they play wonderfully. You take them back to their home environment, and you’ll find that there comes the animosity and the hatred back into it again. Our cultures are different and to think that we can go into a country and change their cultures that have been around longer than we have, is a mistake.
American Legion: When you were serving with the 300 or so other officers, were some from the Soviet Union?
Crowden: Yes, there were about 36. They were restricted from being in Israel with the only exception of they could come into Israel in order to check in. And they were stationed primarily, well, exclusively in Cairo and in Damascus. This was before the end of the Cold War. So, these officers would come in, and they would have to have an American adviser assigned to them and he would escort five Soviet officers at a time. One of the things I asked them was, ‘Where is it that you’d like to see in Jerusalem?’ And all of them said that we want to go see the Russian Orthodox Church. To me, that was just phenomenal that these Soviet officers who have been communist from day one, now they want to see a Russian Orthodox Church. I asked them why? They said, ‘Well, our grandparents were Christians in the background because they were afraid that that would be a problem. They would talk about Christianity, so we are curious as to what this is all about.’ So, I took them to the Russian Orthodox Church, and dropped them off for four hours. They came out and they were really enriched with what they heard about what had happened, what they could gleam from that conversation.
American Legion: This was during the Cold War. What was it like interacting with the Soviet officers on daily/weekly basis?
Crowden: We knew that they had KGB units, or people there. It was kind of a game, really. We knew it and they knew we had some intelligence officers on our side. Every Thursday they would have a meeting in Cairo to discuss what they were able to find out from the Americans. Of course, we would use all kinds of deceptive things to confuse them … but if you get them one on one, you find out that their wants, needs and desires are the same as anybody. They want to take care of their family, provide for their family, and they just want to be able to be in peace. They’re the same as anybody else. It’s just unfortunate the political regimes are the ones that are causing us to go to battle against each other.
American Legion: In more recent years, the U.N. has run into some issues in Somalia, Rwanda and some other places. Is there still a place for U.N. peacekeepers in today’s world?
Crowden: In my response to this question let me ask you a question: What is the alternative? Yes, I certainly believe there is a need for U.N. peacekeepers but for them to be effective you have to give them the authority to act and the appropriate resources to carry out the mission. In so many cases one or the other of these prerequisites for success has been lacking which leads to a disastrous outcome from both the U.N. perspective and the people they are trying to help.
American Legion: As you think back about your U.N. experience, what comes to mind?
Crowden: The biggest benefit I received from this assignment was knowledge. The first seven years of my military service the Army had sent me to Europe, Asia and then to the Middle East. My interaction with the population and German and Vietnam soldiers was limited. However, with UNTSO I learned so much from the officers who I served with and the men who represented the various warring factions of the Middle East. I was also able to gain a different perspective on the cultures of the diverse groups and use this in later assignments. When I left the assignment, my family and I were invited to spend time on our return home with several families we had befriended during our stay. Jerusalem is a beautiful city and if you are a Christian you owe it to yourself to visit. In my opinion, Jerusalem does not belong to the Israeli, it belongs to the world. I do not believe there is any place on this earth where you can find such a mix of religions, cultures or ethnic backgrounds as you will find in this city.