MOOSE JAW — Veteran Bernie Dudka was a military policeman guarding the Canadian embassy in Moscow in the late 1980s, which was a dangerous assignment since the country was collapsing as the Cold War was ending.
Dudka and his wife were watching TV in their apartment one evening when they heard gunshots on Kutuzovsky Street — one of Moscow’s iconic roads — below them. The KGB and the mafia were engaged in a shootout, one of many regular fights they were having.
“And all of a sudden, a dump truck pulled up. All these bodies were thrown in the dump truck, and then a street cleaner came by and cleaned the street up and everything,” he recalled.
The next day, he reported the shootout to the Canadian ambassador since it occurred near the diplomatic compound. However, the head of the KGB told Dudka and others that the agency was allegedly filming a gangster flick and there was nothing to worry about.
“They made it all up and everything, but it was real-life stuff,” the retired military policeman said.
On another occasion, Dudka was visiting an open-air food market with his wife and two daughters while a KGB agent trailed them. During that occasion, the agent, Igor, told Dudka three times that he needed to leave the market immediately.
The Canadian told him that they were shopping and would leave soon. However, Igor said that if they didn’t leave, the KGB would forcefully move them.
“So I got mad and said, ‘Good enough, Igor.’ And about 10 minutes after we left, there was a shootout at the exact place we were going to, between the KGB and Russian mafia,” Dudka said. “If we had been there, we would have been shot.
“I listened to my KGB agent after that,” he chuckled. “(It was just) another day in Russia.”
Dudka also served as an MP in Afghanistan in the late 2000s and early 2010s, where he was assigned to guard dignitaries who visited the Canadian soldiers — people like hockey greats Don Cherry, Bob Probert, Lanny McDonald and Guy LaFleur and musicians Jim Cuddy and George Canyon.
“Anytime there’s rockets coming in, you have to protect these people. It’s interesting to look after these people,” said Dudka, who noted that two or three bombs hit the camp daily. “Their eyes really open up when they see what’s going on over there.”
The retired MP recalled looking after Canyon, who visited on Canada Day in 2008. Canyon was on stage tuning his guitar and had his earpieces in, oblivious to everything happening around him — including the shrill of the rocket alarm.
Dudka recalled furiously waving at Canyon to lie down because the rule was to hit the ground for two minutes and then find shelter. Yet, the musician kept on tuning his instrument, so the MP raced on stage and tackled him.
“He goes, ‘Holy Heck!’ He (also) said other words,” Dudka chuckled.
Canyon never forgot Dudka’s lifesaving actions because when he came to Moose Jaw in 2019, he told the crowd the story of how a 240-pound military policeman tackled him in Afghanistan. He then called out Dudka, who was in attendance.
“So, they put the light on and I waved at him. Afterwards, I got to meet him again. That was pretty good,” the veteran beamed.
Born in Glasgow, N.S., Dudka was 23 when he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1979 as a military policeman.
He was actually working with the Royal Bank of Canada and was set to become a manager. However, he had always wanted to be a cop, but back then, candidates needed perfect vision to join the RCMP. After that rejection, he applied to the military in July and, by October, had received the MP position.
Serving in the military — and as police — runs in the Dudka family, as his uncle and father served in the Provost Corps in the Second World War while his brothers were municipal cops. Dudka, 67, noted that he was thrilled to have joined the military and wouldn’t change how that situation played out.
Dudka worked at several locations throughout Canada and across the world — including in Cario, Egypt and Cyprus — during his career. After 33 years, he retired in 2017 for medical reasons and moved to Moose Jaw, where he made friends with other retired military police officers.
