Daniel Gunther

Who was Daniel Gunther?

Cpl Daniel Gunther was a Canadian serving with the Royal 22ᵉ Régiment in Bosnia, attached to the UN Protection Force. He was the third Canadian fatality in that UN peacekeeping mission and the accuracy of the military's reporting of his death caused some controversy and he was the only Canadian soldier killed by hostile fire between 1993 and 2004.

Gunther was decapitated by Muslim militiamen on in Buci, a village about 20 kilometres northwest of Sarajevo on June 18, 1993, 40 minutes after a ceasefire was supposed to start.

Reports about his death varied, eventually causing controversy. U.N. officials said it was unclear who was responsible, but the Bosnian army said he was killed by a Serb mortar round. The Canadian Forces' Significant Incident report described it as a "deliberate attack", however the army originally indicated by press release that the death was accidental, i.e. he had been hit by a mortar while exiting his M113.

The official military account wasn't publicly challenged until December 1993, when the Ottawa military magazine Esprit de Corps got two anonymous calls from soldiers with a different view of events.