Larry of The Sahara

‘This could have all been solved by just speaking to each other’

By Evelyn Currie

Larry Rafferty, or better known as “Larry of the Sahara,” is a 92-year-old war veteran living at Caressant Care in Lindsay who served as a combat medic in the Korean War, from 1951-53.

The Korean War was a conflict that the Cold War directly influenced, between North Korea and South Korea. Canada was part of the allied forces of South Korea and had sent over 26,000 soldiers to war. After the first year, about 170 of those soldiers had died.

During the 1950s, North Korea was a strong supporter of the Arabic Republic of Egypt’s future president, Gamal Abdel Nasser. That fact would impact the career of Rafferty, who would soon find himself fighting in the Sahara Desert, yet still involved in the Korean War.

Rafferty had only just graduated high school a week earlier when he first started his medic training in North England. He trained hard for six months before being shipped to the Sahara Desert. After training, they sent six medics, including Rafferty, out on a boat between Dec. 28, 1950 and Jan. 5, 1951, to meet his commanding officer, Colonel J.A. Miller, who was well known for being a Second World War hero.

Living in the Sahara Desert during a war meant there were many threats around Rafferty’s unit. It was rare for them to see enemy soldiers most nights, but that wasn’t what they were most nervous about. “At night we’d sleep in foxholes with blankets not just so enemies couldn’t see us, but also so scorpions wouldn’t get us in the night. We’d also have to shove our spats in our boots to make sure none crawled in,” Rafferty said, referring to material that covered the instep and the ankle.

During the war, Rafferty saw a lot of action as a medic and most of the time the enemies were supposed to put their weapons down so medics could do their jobs – but sometimes they didn’t. “We were in a battle against Arabic soldiers when I was called to retrieve an injured soldier and help him. But I guess the enemies didn’t care about the big red cross on my arm that was telling them not to shoot and one of them shot me in the chest,” an ordeal he obviously survived.

More than three million lives were lost in only three years, one of the bloodiest wars in history. Rafferty has since shared his unique stories on the radio, spoken at schools, and has done interviews on TV.

“You know, looking back on it all now, I realize this wasn’t all worth it. I spent two years in war where I was bombed, shelled, shot at, and survived sandstorms.”

“And after all that” he says, “people across the world are still at war, when this could have all been solved by just speaking to each other.”

– Evelyn Currie is a Grade 10 student. She works part-time at Caressant Care in Lindsay.