I need to write a paper on an example of how the military hurt itself/it’s reputation by attempting a cover up. Being Canadian I would prefer a Canadian example, but will consider anything.
It can’t be too complicated, I only have 500 words to discuss.
Any suggestions…?
Google “Canadian Airborne Regiment” and Somalia.
No Canadians, unfortunately (or fortunately, if you were a Canadian soldier at the time), but the ill-fated Exercise Tiger of 1944 could be worth a mention. It was a practice run for the Normandy landings that ended up with 749 US soldiers killed when German torpedo boats intercepted the convoy. The government kept it quiet at the time and little has been written about it to this day.
During the Vietnam War, the US Army under-reported the number of deaths in combat to a Congressional Sub-Committee. The very next day, the Red Cross did it’s duty, by exposing the lie (the RC is responsible for informing the families of dead soldiers under its charter).
Great damage to the Army’s prestege, & criminal charges were at least threatened.
To be complete and fair, wouldn’t it be reasonable to point out that the military often helps itself through deceptions and cover-ups?
WWII is replete with examples of military failures that were covered up in order to either make the enemy think we were doing better than we were, or to hide weaknesses, or to keep the war effort at home going.
It’s not always an easy decision to make. Take for example Abu Ghraib prison - If the military discovered all that bad stuff that had happened, you can see why someone might have wanted to cover it up - by releasing the info, you make it harder to win the war. That results in more deaths on both sides. It’s not always black-and-white.
Another cover-up (although one that I can totally understand) was the tragic case of the Lancastria. In fact, there may well have been a cover-up at the time of exactly how many BEF troops were still fighting in France weeks after the Dunkirk evacuation.
I had thought of that one, but I kind of figured most would come up with it, I guess I am looking for something a little more obscure…
Two words: My Lai. Definitely not the Army’s finest moment.
I’ll try to think of a good cover-up example for Canada… so far I’ve come up with a good name: OPERATION NORTHERN LIGHTS.