The Ben Mulroney Show - Advocating for the Victoria Cross. A soldier's story.

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

- Bruce Moncur/Veteran's advocate Petition Link: https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-6661&fbclid=IwY2xjawMH_oJleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF4M093Ujd3b3JqZEFKS25OAR7iKIciuWQabETj6J66lfokV2lwxkLW59216nHcozI9obJog-edaYklircWCA_aem_JVZg3eEcJOGfCpvWu1MItg   If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/bms⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Also, on youtube -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BenMulroneyShow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Insta: ⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠ Twitter: ⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠ TikTok: ⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠ Enjoy   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com slash Mulruni. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show. And I want to thank you for joining us on all fronts. You've got us on YouTube and you've got us on a podcast platform. You might be listening on the radio or on a streaming app or you might have found us on social media at Ben Mulroney show. Wherever you found us, however you choose to enjoy the Ben

Mulroney show, we say thank you. The show's been on for less than a year. We hope it's on for a very long time and we can't do it without you. So if you're a regular listener or viewer, if you're on YouTube, of the Ben Mulroney show, then you know that I've got a, I've got a be in my bonnet as it relates to how we treat our military, how we treat our veterans, anyone who has put their life on the line in service and in defense of this country and its values. And I find sometimes the behavior of the powers that be even more shameful because they're the ones who control the purse strings. And they also, to a large extent, control the narrative. What do people think about our military? Where does our military

history begin? What do we know about our military history? All of that, so much of it, is influenced by the narrative that comes out of Ottawa. And if I told you that the highest military honor that this country can bestow has not been given out to a single soldier since World War II, what would you think? Would you think that our troops aren't brave enough, have not gone the extra mile, have not proven their valor on the battlefield?

It would seem so because why wouldn't you give the highest honor to those who sacrifice at the highest level? Well, we're joined right now by Bruce Moncour. He's a veteran advocate and also a former soldier. And he is a man on a mission. He's a man on a mission to have the Canada's highest military honor bestowed on what I feel is probably one of the most deserving soldiers. And once you hear his story, you will agree, I think.

Bruce, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. And thank you for your service. Thank you so much for your service. How are you? I know that your time in the military was difficult, as it is for so many soldiers. So how are you doing today? I'm doing great.

I've transitioned well into civilian life. I'm actually currently a fifth grade teacher at Wapenoch Community School in Thompson, Manitoba. Well, thank you for your service on both fronts. Yeah, I'm really happy that I've been able to transition well. That's great. Good for you. How are the kids? The kids are great. They're going to be eight on Halloween, and they were very excited when I told them I was going to be on a radio show today. Oh, that's great. That's great. So tell me and tell our listeners about the story of private Jess La Rochelle. So Jess La Rochelle on October 14, 2006, was manning an observation post. And when they got to the position, they were, yes, sir.

When they got to the position, they were told that there was an imminent attack, and they didn't want to put anybody in the observation post by ordering them. They wanted a volunteer. And so Jess volunteered to go and man that post, and within 15 minutes, he was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, which broke his back, broke his neck, detached his retina, and made him deaf in one year. It sent him flying, right? He went flying.

This is a grenade that exploded and exploded his body. Anybody else, I mean, I can only speak for myself, that would be it. I'm cooked. I'm done. Right? Not Jess. Well, yes. I mean, if you were in a car accident, you'd be put on a backboard and listed in critical condition.

And you'd be told, don't move. Whatever you do, do not move or risk even greater injury. When he came to, two of his section had been killed and three seriously injured. And so he went to the machine gun. and started repelling 40 Taliban fighters that were about to overrun the position. So it's him versus 40. Yes.

And he's got the machine gun and he's also got some rockets, right? So he's got single shot rocket launchers, which essentially is once he runs out a machine gun ammunition, he starts pulling these rocket launches apart. They're called M72 rocket launchers. And there's rubber stoppers.

You have to take the rubber stoppers off and you have to extend the tube. But the important thing is you also have to fire it with nothing behind you because there's a back blast. So you have to expose yourself through the enemy. Yeah, so they can see, yeah, they can see, after that first shot, they can see you coming. And what you just described, that pulling a part of the tube, that requires flexion in your, in your shoulders.

One of the shoulders is shot, his back is broken as well. Back and neck. And neck. And also the force of that probably did some with firing the rocket. So he's firing these. It's him versus 40, and he was successful at fending them off. What would have happened had he stayed in that ditch? The Canadian position would have been overrun, the very, very real risk of Canadians being

captured, and being captured by the Taliban meant you were probably going to be publicly beheaded. Yeah. So that was what was at stake. I'm sure Jess wasn't thinking that. He was, I mean, he's in his own words, he said, I did it not because I was superhuman, not because I wasn't scared, but because that's what we do. We stand between evil and the innocent, no matter the cost. I mean, I believe that that was in his heart.

100%. And so he actually still manned that position. After the attack was repelled, he volunteered to man that position for an additional 12 hours because he didn't want to put anyone else through that. And then when he went back to the Kandahar Air Base to do the ramp ceremony. Yeah, so the ramp ceremony is what?

The ramp ceremony is the next morning. And so that's when we take the Canadian flag-draped coffins of the fallen. and put them on Hercules aircraft to be flown back to Canada and go on the highway of heroes. So he should have been in the hospital by now? By now, yes. But instead, he wanted to be there for the ramp ceremony. And carried Private Blake Williamson's casket onto the plane. With a broken back, with a broken neck, with a broken shoulder, with a detached retina, with deafness in his ear,

and having just repelled an attack of 40 Taliban soldiers, fighters, this. is what he chose to do. Yes, that's correct. And only then that he put his hand up and say, I think I'm hurt. Okay, so, okay, so the story gets told, and he gets a medal, but he gets Canada's second highest medal.

The Star of Military Valor, correct. And that's a worthy medal. Of course, yeah. But the question is, what did he need to do to get the top men? What does anybody, if what, if what we just described doesn't describe giving more for your country than your country dare ask for, and the net result is saving of lives, defending a position, behaving with honor, being there for your fellow soldiers alive or when they're passed away, this is everything a Canadian soldier should want to be. be. Why do you get second place? So, and some people have said even the CDS at the time General Rick Hillier said, I goofed. I think I messed up. I should have pushed harder for the VC. It was new

into the conflict or when we upped our level of commitment. There was a lot of people that hadn't, that were in the decision-making seats that hadn't been in combat. So there's maybe a lot of elements but a historian David O'Keefe Dr. David O'Keefe told kind of put it like this. It's like the Hockey Hall of Fame waiting for someone to be better than

Gretzky. Yeah, yeah, you don't get in unless you're better than Gretzky. That's right. I mean, so we're going to talk about it after the break, but like, I don't know what is a more egregious

or speaks to a bigger problem. The fact that that Jess did not get this medal or that nobody has gotten this medal since World War II because by that standard, no one has risen to the level of being honored at the highest level in Canada. And I find that to be, I think it speaks to a larger problem. I think it speaks to a great disservice that those in charge have been perpetrating on the men and women who have served our country. So we'll discuss it after the

break, but we're also going to talk about the positives because there is a petition. You're not just here to share the story and put pressure on that way. There's an actual petition that we're going to talk about. So don't go anywhere. When we come back, the story of Jess La Rochelle, the heroism that he displayed, the valor that he displayed, the effort, the journey to get him the reward and award that he so richly deserves. That's coming up next on the Ben Mulroney show. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show. We've been talking about private Jess La Rochelle, who acquitted himself in battle in Afghanistan,

in a way that should be honored with Canada's highest military honor. And he, I guess, fell short. He got the second best honor. And then we find out. that Canada has not awarded our highest military honor since the Second World War. Why? Let's put that question to our guest, Bruce Monkhor, who's a veterans advocate, Bruce. So the Victoria Cross has been given out mostly by Britain, and Australia took over their medal in 91,

and we in Canada took over in 1993, in fact, under your father's government in February. and it was unanimously passed by all parties. So it was a bipartisan issue and passed completely by everyone. Yeah. And so we've had the ability to do that since 1993 because I guess prior to that, it would have had to have been the crown,

the queen to hand that out. So this was us taking control over this highest honor. But we take control over it only to stick it in a drawer and do nothing with it. And it's frustrating because your father gave Canada the tools to honor its, military heroes and we have failed to use them.

There's part of me based on my worldview and my experience telling these stories that there is a certain type of person and a lot of them go into politics who feel that to give an award like this for behavior on the battlefield over and above what anyone should expect from a soldier is somehow to glorify war. Do you think I'm off-paced? No, no, I don't. And I also think that Afghanistan towards the end became very unpopular and some might want to not glorify it or recognize some of the incredible acts of bravery that were

done by many. The soldier doesn't pick the battle. The country picks the battle. The soldier then has to fight the fight. So the government gets you into it. The soldier fights to get us out of it. It's, to me, it's a pretty easy bifurcation. And the Americans are really good at understanding that while the war might not be popular,

you respect the men and women who are willing to lay their lives down for the orders that they got from their flag. And I don't understand how when the work is done and the bullets stop flying and you can see after the dust settles and you can see the stories of bravery and heroism that should be inspiring to a country. They should be inspiring to the next generation. They should inform our national pride. They should be part of that tapestry that binds us together. We have a problem in this country of social cohesion. Stories like Jess' story should be one that we all rally around and it should be something, a uniting cultural keystone.

And instead, we quietly just sort of want to go away and move on. Yeah, I mean, we were the only country that didn't give a Victoria Cross. Britain, Australia, New Zealand did. And the Americans gave 18 medals of honor during the war as well. Like the stories of those war heroes in the United States, people know those stories. And they rally around those stories. they tell those stories. This is a story we should be telling. So you have in your mind an ending to this story that you want to have, you want to see. So we would like an independent body review

essentially to go over a lot of Jess, starting with Jess and other soldiers that might fit this criteria. We've identified 36 other soldiers dating back to World War I. And so what we are saying is review Jess, do this review. Australia has done review. Britain, is in the middle of doing a review with Patty Main from the SAS Rogue Heroes show and America has done two reviews. So we are again kind of late to the party. Well, we've been late to the party on a lot of fronts.

We've been late to the party on paying our troops adequately, on funding our troops adequately, on making sure they have everything that they need to be the fighting force that we as a nation require. But it does seem that Mark Carney is going to find that money to get us back to a place where we, where soldiers can be proud, of the outfit in which they serve, and we can be proud of what we have done to provide them

the tools that they need. Perhaps this can be part of that as well. I agree with you 100%. The other thing is that morale has been so low lately that the Canadian Armed Forces says it's going to be 2032 before we are able to get back to a fighting force. And in the meantime, this might be something that can help get the troops morale up. It's also, we need help bringing people into the forces as well, right? We've got recruiting as an issue and then maintaining people in the Canadian Armed Forces is an issue as well. This could be one of those things that helps. So tell me about the petition. So petition E6661. We started it on actually right after we had our second annual ride for Jess on the 19th of July. And we're running this until November 20th.

We're trying to get 100,000 signatures by that time. So I'd like to challenge all of your listeners to find the petition and sign it. Ourcommon's.ca. Yes, sir. And the Veterans Affairs petition, how many signatures do you have so far? So far we're at 5,000. 5,000, 100,000. And the member of parliament that is bringing this forward is a liberal member of parliament.

Yes, Pauline Rochford. her riding is actually would have been Jess's riding had he lived tell us how his life ended so he never recovered from his injuries and he had serious health issues for the remaining 16 years

he was 40 when he passed how old was he when he was in battle 22 he was 22 yes sir I mean when I was 22 I can promise you I did not have bravery in my I don't know if I have bravery in my heart today

but I most certainly would not have been able to do what he did That is, wow. He's a hero. And unfortunately, it was massive organ failure that eventually took him. So we want this to happen. It does feel like you are going to have a receptive ear at Veterans Affairs in the prime minister's office because he wants to be seen to be doing right by our military.

I mean, just last week, what did you think of, was it earlier this week where the prime minister announced? No, it was last week? the 20% pay bump across the board, retroactive, so a few months ago. Much needed. I mean, I know guys that are couch surfing. I know that the barracks have mold and vermin problems. So there is a lot that needs to be fixed across the board. I know guys that go an entire year without firing a bullet.

And so we need to be able to train our soldiers. There's, you know, I think I can fairly accuse the previous government of really enjoying the performance of the handing over the big check and the cutting of the ribbon, not really doing much beyond that. This government, especially on this file, seems different. It does seem different, and it does seem like this is, we're seeing a wave of Canadian nationalism that the public seems to be more receptive to this.

And EPSOS poll recently had this at a 76% approval rating for a review like this. This would be good press for the government. This is a win-win. And I'd like to mention, too, that Maurice Sinclair, one of the last correspondents that he had, was with me, and he gave me the advice to look at the Truth and Reconciliation Report's recommendations number 68 and 69, and he had this in there as well. Really, that's in there as well, huh? Yes, sir. And I'm sure that in the review, I bet you there are some Aboriginal soldiers who acquitted themselves with tremendous honor as well.

These, again, stories that I think every Canadian should know. This one thing could solve in its own way a lot of the issues that we have in terms of building a Canadian society that works for everybody because we don't have the buy-in to what it means to be Canadian that we used to. We don't have an idea of what it means to share an identity with somebody else, a national identity anymore. It's been hollowed out from within. and stories like this of Jess's story of heroism, where we can all take pride in it. We can all be dumbfounded by the courage that this 22-year-old found half a world away with his body and disrepair and a sense of duty to defend and protect, as he said, against evil.

That is something that should be taught in schools. And it would be so wonderful if the end result were a successful, the success of handing him the first Victoria Cross that we've handed out since World War II. We've got to leave it there, but I want to thank you so much for being here. Good luck and keep us posted. Yes, sir. Thank you. Stack TV is now 50% off. We got work to do.

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