"He Who Loves Not His Country, Can Love Nothing." - - Byron


Mark Isfeld . . Memorial Page. . . A Tribute

   Mcpl Mark Robert Isfeld
Born 14 Aug 1962
killed removing landmines
21 Jun 1994


PEACEKEEPING
in Croatia with 1 COMBAT ENGINEER REGIMENT Canadian Military Engineers
and a tribute to ALL peacekeepers, - of ALL nations, - in ALL the world.


DEAR FRIENDS AND VISITORS:
ON BEHALF OF MY FAMILY I WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU FOR VISITING THIS WEBSITE THAT MY PARENTS SET UP TO HONOUR MY BROTHER MASTER CORPORAL MARK ISFELD WHO WAS KILLED WHILE SERVING IN CROATIA ON JUNE 21 1994.

WHEN MARK WAS SERVING ON PEACEKEEPING MISSIONS HE SAW THAT THE CHILDREN OF THE COUNTRIES HAD NO TOYS. PERSONAL POSSESSIONS ARE OFTEN LOST DURING WARS. MY MOM, CAROL ISFELD, CROCHETED HIM A LITTLE WOOLEN DOLL THAT HE COULD GIVE AWAY TO THE KIDS HE MET. THE DOLLS HAD A BLUE BERET AND THE CANADIAN FORCES ENGINEERS CALLED THEM IZZY DOLLS. MY DAD, BRIAN ISFELD, SET UP THIS WEBSITE TO HONOUR MARK AND ALSO TO SHARE THE PATTERN OF THE IZZY DOLLS.

WHEN MY MOM PASSED AWAY, MRS. SHIRLEY O'CONNELL AGREED TO COORDINATE THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE DOLLS. BILLY WILLBOND DEVELOPED A SIMILAR DOLL WITH MY MOM'S BLESSING, CALLED AFRICAN COMFORT DOLLS. THEY ARE DISTRIBUTED THROUGH HIS ORGANIZATION ICROSS. AFTER MY DAD
PASSED AWAY SCOTT FAIRWEATHER OF THE CANADIAN LANDMINE FOUNDATION
OFFERED TO UPDATE THIS WEBSITE. I WANT TO THANK THEM ALL.
LEIGH ISFELD
FEBRUARY 2009



"CHIMO"

EVEN THOUGH you may not read anything else, the following two links set the tone, and explain the situation rather well. One of Mark's letters, written to Andrew Holota, a personal friend of Mark's and Editor of the Surrey Leader, is particularly appropriate in describing Mark's view of what he was witnessing in Yugoslavia.
En Francais

Andrew's Account of Mark's death says it all.

The Canadian Military Engineers built a Bridge in the
Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area (CVWMA)
near Creston BC. on 18/19 Sep 1999.
44 Field Engineers Home Page


The Pattern for the "Izzy Doll" can be had by clicking HERE

The Mcpl Mark Isfeld chapter of CAVUNP can be accessed by clicking HERE

The Mark R Isfeld Secondary School in Courtenay, British Columbia was officially Named on 22 OCT 2001. Some Preview Pictures of the ceremony are available here.
1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 9 , 8 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20

The music playing is "My Son - - - Our Sons", a poem written by Mark's mother Carol in 1992, before he left for his first Yugoslavian tour. The poem was put to music by Jan Randall of Edmonton, who provided this midi file, and composed the music for the NFB documentary "The Price of Duty", mentioned below.

Words to the song


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ON 21 Jun 1994, our son Mcpl MARK ROBERT ISFELD was killed while removing

land mines near Kakma, Croatia carrying out UN peacekeeping duties with the
CANADIAN MILITARY ENGINEERS on his third peacekeeping tour within a
two and one half year period.

YOU CAN view the armoured personnel CARRIER at the site where Mark was killed, a BERM
alongside a dike in an area of tall grass, and see the area directly in FRONT of the carrier
where the grass is burned and blasted away.

THROUGH THE magic of the electronic web, you can download some of MARK'S LETTERS written to
family and friends from his various tours and edited by his father BRIAN.
They reside on a server at George Mason University, Fairfax Virginia, USA,
courtesy of Dave Davis, who teaches a course on peacekeeping and moderates
the Program on Peacekeeping Policy, (POPP)

MARK WAS married December 20, 1991 to KELLY, of Everson, Washington USA,
shortly after Mark came HOME from his first UN tour in Kuwait. Mark is shown
here with his BROTHERS Leigh and Glenn during Mark's wedding.
THIS is a picture of Mark's nephew, Leigh's son "Little Brian."

MARK IS buried in Little Mountain Royal Canadian Legion Cemetery, Chilliwack, BC Canada,
where his permanent HEADSTONE rests. When a Canadian soldier is killed, the people of Canada give to the
wife and mother of the fallen a medal, The MEMORIAL CROSS.


MARK'S ANCESTRAL heritage recalls the VIKINGS ; Mark was a Canadian of Icelandic extraction,
and on 25 Jun his fellow soldiers, knowing of this heritage and in a situation demanding they do something to remember and honour Mark, then continue removing the myriad ANTI-PERSONNEL and ANTI-TANK MINES in their area, came up with the following solution:

In an area of their compound they built a REPLICA of a VIKING SHIP, complete with sail, oars, and figurehead. Then in a symbolic gesture, they TORCHED this ship, a distinction reserved for only the most honourable of all Viking warriors, SENDING Mark's spirit to "Odin's Table", his final resting place among his peers in "Valhalla".

AN ACCOUNT from Padre Organ, the Chaplain who attended Mark The day of the accident poignantly tells the story.

MARK'S PATERNAL grandfather was an educator and naturalist who wrote much during his lifetime, and some of these writings, written many years before Mark's death, are chillingly linked to the event.

WHILE ON his United Nations peacekeeping tours, two in Europe and one in Kuwait, Mark took a great
interest in the CHILDREN of the area, and Mark's mother CAROL knitted little "DOLLS" from scrap wool
for Mark to GIVE to the children.

The troops of 1CER named them "IZZY DOLLS" after Mark was killed, and
Carol continues to knit them for the members of the regiment to give out in
Mark's memory. Here is "ANOTHER" one.

MARK's ELECTRONIC MEMORIAL rests in England at Newcastle on Tyne,

compliments of Dr. LINDSAY MARSHALL.

The Students (9 to 11 years old)
of Murray Scholtz's class at Princeton School
in Edmonton, Alberta sent us some nice letters for Remembrance Day.
1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ,

Carol was the Royal Canadian Legion's Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother, placing a wreath on behalf of the Mothers of Canada at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, Ontario at the national Remembrance Day ceremony on Nov 11th 2000. Here is a Remembrance Day article about the event.

A DOCUMENTARY film dedicated to, and about, Mark
and the Canadian Military Engineers carrying out their dangerous duties
in the Balkans called "THE PRICE of DUTY", was made by the

NATIONAL FILM BOARD of CANADA , 1-800-267-7710
and broadcast by The CBC Newsworld's ROUGHCUTS.
 
 

WHILE ATTENDING the Premier viewing of the film in Calgary on 16 Jun 95, The composer
of the music for the videos, JAN RANDALL of Edmonton approached us and the end result was THIS,
PAGE ONE and PAGE TWO. How it transpired is briefly described Here.


PETER and DOMINIQUE GUNTHER,
whose son DANIEL GUNTHER was murdered
in an Anti Tank Rocket attack in 1993 have set up a
MEMORIAL SITE
with much revealing and pertinent info about the incident.

Safelane - The Government of Canada's Site. Get all the info on the landmine ban.

For a really in - depth view of PEACEKEEPING LINKS, check this one out!