90-year-old Chatham veteran asks Ukrainian Consulate to give his NATO medal to Zelenskyy

A 90-year-old Canadian air force veteran who earned a medal for service to NATO brought his medal to the Consulate General of Ukraine last week and asked staff to give it to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Cecil Snow of Chatham served under the NATO flag for nearly four years in Schwebren, Germany, between 1957 and 1960, defending Europe from the Soviet Union, he explained.

Now, he said, he feels it's Zelenskyy who is fighting for NATO. 

"I believe that President Zelenskyy did more in one hour in the White House than I did in the four years I served," Snow said in a letter to the consulate that he delivered with the medal.

Snow was referring to the Oval Office confrontation between Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance on Feb. 28 during which Trump accused Zelenskyy of "gambling with World War Three" and Vance complained that Zelenskky hadn't said "Thank you" enough for American support in defending Ukraine against Russian aggression.

Snow said Zelenskyy "showed great courage and fortitude" during the encounter, which happened just days after Ukraine marked the third anniversary of Russia's invasion.

"He was in direct conflict with Trump, who was more like Putin at that time," Snow told CBC.

Not a hard decision

"So it was the west against the east again. … like Trump had switched sides."

Snow says he was "absolutely disgusted by Trump's bunch," saying they were "big bullies picking on the little guy."

Snow said giving the medal to Zelenskyy was not a hard decision.

"I was just doing my normal duties," he said about his years in the air force.

"Keeping our airplane ready to react to any Soviet invasion …  It was just a normal day at the office."

Snow hopes that giving the medal to Zelenskyy will deepen the connection between NATO and Ukraine.

Staff at the Ukrainian consulate at first had trouble understanding what Snow was trying to do, but then someone read his letter out loud. 

When Snow turned to leave, the 20 or so people in the room applauded. 

NATO will defend Canada

"I was kind of taken back by that," he said.

"They approved of what I was doing."

Snow said he thinks Canada should keep fighting against Trump, who has been imposing tariffs and threatening to annex the country. 

"I'm quite proud to say I'm a Canadian, and I approve of what our government is doing," he said.

"And I might remind Mr. Trump that it's not easy to take Canada because we're part of NATO, and NATO would have to come to our aid."