Local Man Receives Honour

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Governor General’s Commander-in-Chief Commendation presented to Rik Clark

Amy Reusch, Pictou Advocate
October 27, 2010

Eighteen years ago, Sergeant Richard (Rik) Clark and his two battalion arrived in Sarajevo under fire. The unit took the airport and secured it so humanitarian aid flights could land.

“It was a start of the 30-day rollercoaster,” said Clark, adding for a month the airport and his unit were constantly under fire from Serbian troops.

For his effort in the mission, Clark received the Governor General’s Commander-in- Chief Commendation this weekend in Truro. In 1994, Clark retired from the army, before the members of his former The Royal Canadian Regiment 1st R22eR Battle Group received their medals for the same mission in 2004.

Clark said he received the call in late August that he would be presented with the award.

“It was a surprise to me,” said Clark. “I feel very privileged.”

Clark said once they secured the airport his unit delivered aid to the villages that surrounded Sarajevo. He spent six and half months in the Balkans during the Bosnian War.

Clark was born in Pictou and joined the army in 1971. When he retired in 1994 he lived in Germany before returning to the county in 2004 with his wife and settling in Westville.

He has worked as the supervisor at the Pictou Fisheries School and now as a commissionaire at Northern Pulp Nova Corporation.

Col. Barry Wark, chairman of the Board of Governors for Commissionaires Nova Scotia, said he was personally humbled to have been asked to make the presentation to Clark.

“The Unit Commendation is awarded for an extraordinary deed or activity of a rare high standard in extremely hazardous circumstances in a theatre of operation,” said Wark.

Clark said he joined the army as a young man to give it a try.

Prior to his experiences in Sarajevo, Oka was one of the most intense military missions Clark participated in.

“I think we were minutes away from attacking the barricades, when it was called off.”

He said he has mixed feelings about getting the award as the mission was very intense.

“Since I’ve retired, the memories are there daily.”

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