After being held captive by the Taliban in Kabul for 77 days, Canadian veteran Dave Lavery is back on Canadian soil.
“It’s lovely to see all my friends and families,” said Lavery. “You could feel the love and you can feel the genuine care. I felt that even when I was in my cell.”
Known as “Canadian Dave” for his work rescuing more than 100 families in Kabul with Canadian ties, Lavery was kidnapped and thrown in jail by the Taliban who thought he was a government spy.
“Coming back and just experiencing normal, normal environments, normal life, the cold, driving, being able to go to a restaurant, seeing people when I want, (and) laying in bed with my wife.” Lavery said.
Lavery’s wife Junping Zhang-Lavery was a key part in his release. She says she’s happy to have her husband home again.
“We are strong, we are family,” said Zhang-Lavery. “I’m proud of my husband, he goes through this really tough situation, I’m really proud of him.”
With help from his wife and the Canadian and Qatari governments, Lavery was freed from Kabul on Jan. 26. From there, they went to their current home in Dubai before travelling to Turkey to visit his son, to his hometown in Winnipeg and then Vancouver.
Now Lavery is back in Perth where he spent 30 years with the armed forces, greeting friends at his Legion (244), and retelling stories of his time in captivity.
“Physically to be able to see them, sit down and thank them, I felt so bad putting everybody in this situation, I really did, even though I didn’t do anything wrong,” Lavery said.
Lavery adds his time in Kabul is over, but says he is not done helping those in need.
“We still have operations and support in Ukraine, but I’m going to slow down a little bit and take a little more of a break here and do a little more, delegate because I was doing a lot of stuff on my own,” he said.
Lavery and his wife are planning to travel back to Turkey for the birth of his son’s child.
