We have recently learned of the 2019 publication of the book “Blue Beret” by Captain Bill Montague, CD (Ret’d), covering his experience with the United Nations peacekeeping operations in Croatia in 1995. The book is available through history.heritage@cmea-agmc.ca.
Op HARMONY - United Nations Operations in Croatia in 1995
“Blue Beret” delivers a powerful, engineer’s-eye chronicle of United Nations peacekeeping during Croatia’s violent 1995 campaigns. Captain Bill Montague, the Sector West Engineer, reveals how combat engineers sustained mobility, repaired shattered infrastructure, and protected multinational peacekeepers. This action was conducted under restrictive mandates that often left them observing violence rather than stopping it. His account moves from rocket attacks in Zagreb to the chaos of Operations FLASH and STORM, where engineers shifted overnight from camp maintenance to supporting thousands of fleeing civilians with improvised shelter, water, sanitation, and security.
Blending technical detail, humanitarian urgency, and personal reflection, Bill Montague shows how engineering solutions shaped both military operations and civilian survival. He highlights the restoration of the Zagreb - Belgrade railway, the devastation of towns like Vukovar, and the resilience of Croatians who were determined to rebuild amid destruction.
“Blue Beret” is a compelling, ground-level narrative for readers of military history, humanitarian crises, and UN peacekeeping.
About the Author:
William Montague served a full and varied career as a Combat Engineer and Officer. He joined the Canadian Forces in 1965 as a Sapper and rose to the rank of Master Warrant Officer before being commissioned to Captain in 1991. While posted to 1 Combat Engineer Regiment, he deployed to Croatia in 1995 on Operation HARMONY, where he was the Sector West Engineer. This tour is the basis of his book “Blue Beret.”
After his Croatia tour, Bill returned to Canada to the Canadian Forces School of Military Engineering (CFSME) and became 2 IC Field Engineering Training Squadron. Bill took his release from the Regular Force in 1997 and became the Movement Officer for the move of CFSME to Camp Gagetown. After this assignment, he returned to Reserve status until 2003, when he became a Construction Manager with the Canadian Forces Contractor Program Augmentation Program at Kabul in Afghanistan. Bill then worked for ten years with the RCMP Auxiliary and owned his own business. Following 9/11, he was called back for employment with the CFB Edmonton Construction Engineers and later, the Area Engineer when he was assigned to the Bosnia-Herzegovina operations as a Planning Officer. Bill fully retired from the Canadian Forces in 2003.