The Korean War Veteran. An independent Internet publication dedicated to the sacrifice and indomitable spirit of those who served in the Korean War.

Transcription

1 The Korean War Veteran An independent Internet publication dedicated to the sacrifice and indomitable spirit of those who served in the Korean War.

2 Report from the Korean War Veteran Internet publication March 13, 2011 The clock is ticking, help is needed Faithful comrades working hard to get veterans to Korea for services that honour their heroic stand at Kapyong 60 years ago

3 In bygone days (above) they dashed up the hills of Korea, laden with weapons and ammunition, under fire from an unbudging enemy and they made them give way. Now each veteran walks alone in his own heart, unsung by the country that sent him to war. The gathering in Korea in April will pay some of them homage and in August this year it will be the last time in their lives that many of them see each other. In their late 70 s or 80 s or even their 90 s, they will gather in Winnipeg, Manitoba, for their last national reunion ever. They call it, appropriately, the Last Hurrah. Few have known any hurrahs since their service in Korea. Very few of those who fought in the historic battle of Kapyong 60 years ago this April, will be there in Korea in April for the commemoration services. Only seven Kapyong veterans are among the 56 Canadians who are confirmed on the April revisit program that is sponsored by Korea s Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs.

4 But Veterans all over Canada are doing all that they can to get sponsors so that more Kapyong veterans can go to Korea on a self-pay basis, and participate in the services that will be held on the ground they fought on so long ago. The commemoration service will be held in the Canadian Peace Garden overlooking their old battlefield. It holds the Canadian War Monument, the Princess Patricia s Canadian Light Infantry Monument, a large cairn and bronze plaque from Heritage Canada designating the ground as a Canadian historic site and other signs and memorials sited there; more stone and metal and bronze artifacts than there will be veteran soldiers on hand who served there! Veterans are working hard to correct that imbalance. The Kapyong veterans are real, they are alive, their health may be questionable, but their bravery and their chivalry have never waned. Message to all Veterans and friends Veterans all over our Country are contacting news media and corporations, joining in the mission of getting to Korea comrades who fought at Kapyong so that they can participate in the 60th anniversary commemorations of that major battle. In Tanner Hill, Nova Scotia, 93-year old Sergeant Roy Rushton, who served with the 2nd Patricias in Korea through all of its first battles, is beating the doors of news media in his region. Roy is unable to travel because of health problems and he and his wife are no longer able to take winter breaks in Cuba, as they are used to doing.

5 Sergeant Roy Rushton (second from left with binoculars) with comrades in trench taken over from enemy forces. Comrades with him are (left) Private Kludash (Saskatchewan), Rushton (Tanner Hill, Nova Scotia), Corporal Andrews, section leader (Thunderbay, Ontario) and Private Robertson (Ontario). But Roy responded at once to the call and now is doing all he can to get somebody to sponsor more veterans for this historic trip. It will be, without question, the last that those who served at Kapyong 60 years ago this April, will make to the rugged battlefields that have been with them in thought and dream ever since. Roy asked but one thing before he waded into the work from his home in Tanner Hill. How many veterans do you want to send? You get the sponsorships and they will be sent, Sergeant Rushton! They will be sent! We will get them there! In Nanaimo, Alex Sim, now 85, is also doing all he can to knock on news media doors and get the word out. Alex served at Kapyong as sergeant of Constant s Force, the anti-tank platoon of the 2nd Patricias, which operated on foot in Korea as an advanced reconnaissance team. Sergeant Alex Sim (centre of photo) reading letters from home, shortly before Battle of Kapyong that took place in April, 1951.

6 Alex and his wife, Dina, caregivers to each other, are confirmed on the regular revisit program that is sponsored by Korea s Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs. But many other veterans whose hearts were set on going, or who should be there on the basis of their heroic service in 1951, are not on the list. In Manitoba there are only three surviving Kapyong Veterans in the entire province, though more than 20 Manitobans lost their lives in the Korean War. In North Bay, Ontario, veteran Ed Nichols, who was attached to 2 PPCLI from the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps, also is working to get Kapyong veterans sponsored by corporations. Ed has located and asked for sponsorship for Donald "Red" Pennell, who was an extremely popular sergeant at Kapyong, like Roy and like Alex. Don will celebrate his 90th birthday next month, which marks the 60th anniversary of the epic battle at Kapyong. All three of these veterans not only served in Korea but had much service in the European theatres during World War Two. Sergeant Donald Red Pennell at far left, provides security cover as he escorts badly wounded Sergeant Jim McGhee down track during an attack against enemy. Helping McGhee is Captain Andy Foulds. Captain Foulds was later promoted to major. He died in Yet they all left their civilian work in 1950 and raced to the recruiting office, as soon as Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent went on national television and asked for volunteers to man the entirely new 25th Canadian Infantry Brigade. It was being formed as a Special Force unit to serve under United Nations command in the Korean War. Other veterans trying to do what they can to get sponsorship for comrades who served at Kapyong include two others in Nova Scotia, long known for their activism.

7 Don Landry, who was with the 1st and 3rd Patricias in Korea and Don Allan, a veteran of The Royal Canadian Regiment, are launching a vigorous fund raising campaign in Halifax. Don is a survivor of the devastating enemy attack against Hill 187 on May 3, He is the president of Unit 54 of the Korea Veterans Association of Canada. In Windsor, Ontario, Kapyong veterans Bernie Cote and Henry Martinak are trying to stir sponsorship support for comrades. Both of them served at Kapyong. Coordination the responses to these effort is Peter Seiersen, who went to Korea with the unit that relieved the 2nd Patricias. He served there for more than one year along the Jamestown line at Hill 355 and other famous positions. Peter Seiresen (right) salutes after placing floral tribute at Monument to Canadian Fallen in the United Nations Memorial Cemetery. To Peter s left is Leo DeMay, the cemetery s director of international operations. Leo s father, Andre Regimbald fell in Korea serving with the Royal 22e Regiment and is buried in the UN Cemetery. Leo accepted the directorship to be near his father and to do what he can to help honour all servicemen who fell and are buried there. A long-time volunteer for veterans commemoration programs, Peter is one of only two Canadians to hold the Republic of Korea s Korean Service Medal, which is issued by the Ministry of National Defence. He has been to Korea many times at his own expense and will go there again in April to assist the Canadian veterans revisit group. Though he did not serve at Kapyong, Peter is of the age group of those who did. He has just turned 80, but stays very active. Peter additionally is coordinating fund raising for scholarships for students at the Kapyong Buk Middle School. They will be given out by Canadian veterans during

8 ceremonies in the Canadian Peace Gardens, adjacent to the historic Kapyong battlefields. The appeal to corporation and others asks only $3,000 per sponsored veteran. The amount would cover air fare, lodging and meals in Korea for a six-day period. Contributions can be made directly to Peter, or through local veterans working on the campaign. So now we watch anxiously, to see how Canadian news media and Canadian businesses respond to this call to show these great veterans the honour and the tribute that should have been afforded them six decades ago. The response will show the true heart of this nation whether it cares for those now aging, chivalrous men who went off in their youth under Canada s Flag to help a people they never knew, in a land virtually none of them had ever heard of before. Yet they went, and they met the cruelest, harshest terrain soldiers have ever had to endure and fight upon. And they met an enemy in battle that would be more than a match for any soldiers, no matter their years of training and experience. They met them and they fought for Canada and for the people of the Republic of Korea and the United Nations using weapons that were almost identical to those used in World War One, nearly four decades earlier. They put ammunition that had been manufactured years earlier into their slow firing bolt action Enfield rifles, and they suffered on the icy ground of winter and in the thawing muck of early spring without waterproof ground sheets. They slogged their way courageously, every exhausting step until they were on the hills that today overlook what is now North Korea. They all toted excruciatingly heavy burdens on their backs. Like the late Wayne Mitchell, shot up at age 19 at Kapyong would later attest, he weighed 130 pounds and carried with him ammunition, weapon and gear weighing more than 60. Wayne, gone now, was awarded the second highest British Commonwealth medal for bravery, the Distinguished Conduct Medal. Only the Victoria Cross has precedence. Thrice wounded when the enemy attacked his platoon, Wayne stayed when his comrades, totally out of ammunition, were forced to pull back. Wayne had magazines for his weapon, stayed and held back the enemy with decisive fire. When comrades found him the next morning he could no longer stand because of severe loss of blood. Others suffered no less.

9 DSO DCM MC MM Of those who were awarded medals for bravery at Kapyong, all but one are now gone. Lieutenant Colonel Jim Stone was awarded an immediate Distinguished Service Order (DSO) his third. Captain Wally Mills was awarded a Military Cross (MC) for commanding his company under heavy enemy attack and asking for shells to be called onto his own position when the enemy had over-run one of the platoons and was making gains against the others. Private Kenneth Barwise, who charged into the enemy, fighting hand to hand, had been awarded a Military Medal (MM) for bravery in the field. One veteran who will be at Kapyong this April is Smiley Douglas, then a young corporal. He was also awarded a Military Medal. He is the surviving soldier who was awarded a decoration for bravery at Kapyong. Canadian soldiers had wandered into a booby trapped area and had grenades that had been trip wired. One man was killed and others wounded by the first blast. Smiley raced to them, saw another grenade smoking on the ground near them. Instead of yelling to get down and going to ground, Smiley charged the smoking bomb.

10 Smiley Douglas writes letter home from the front before being severely wounded during Battle of Kapyong. He picked it up and hurled it with all his might. It exploded inches from his hand. He lost his hand in the field at the mobile surgical hospital known as the 60th Indian Parachute Field Ambulance, where skilled surgeons brought him through. Gallant Smiley Douglas, now 84, will be there with his wife, Rose. It will not be an easy trip for him and though in his heart he wanted go, he had to be talked into it. He and all of them are the brave men called Canada! They should be the pride of this nation. All who won medals, and all whose service was not individually noted but who were just as valiant and served no less courageously.

11 All were awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation by the President of the United States, requiring acts of courage by every soldier present that would have qualified for the American Silver Star decoration. Yes, Canada! Canada! That is what those who saw them in action said of them in their minds. That is what the Korean people said of them, and what their Australian, New Zealand, British and American comrades said of them. They were Canada! The essence of Canada! The essence of chivalry and of bravery, fighting for a people they did not even know, and treating them with the kindness they would accord to their own brothers and sisters and children. Facing a huge enemy, not backing down an inch, they stood courageous and unyielding, though their lives might end quick as an eye blink. They still are Canada, but aging now and though they are loath to say it virtually on their last brave legs. We will see if their Canada is as brave and as chivalrous as they were then, and as each one of them still is this day. They face with silence the setting of the sun upon their days and their magnificent deeds, uttering not a word of protest for their hardships and their suffering and not a murmur that what they achieved so long ago in the Republic of Korea, has gone unsung. Let us see how corporations in Canada answer the call, when these treasured veterans are in need. Proud men like them will never ask for the assistance, or show a tear or a frown because they are deprived of places beside their comrades at the ceremonies in Korea. But without question, with all balance of morality, when on Sunday, April 24, kind words are said of them at the Kapyong battlefield site in Korea, that is where they should be to hear them! They should not be obscure within their own land where they have been unrecognized and unknown since those perilous days.

12 This brave young soldier, Private Elliott Gordon MacKay did not live to fight in the Battle of Kapyong. He lost his life in one of the earliest attacks made by Canadians on February 23, Only 17, too young for overseas service, he had joined the Canadian Special Force and served with false identity as J. M. MacKay. Both names are on his grave marker and on the base of the Monument to Canadian Fallen in the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Busan. Both names are also on the matching monument that is sited in Ottawa. His sea bag is stencilled with his Special Force regimental number. Private Eliott Gordon MacKay would have had his 18th birthday on April 23, 1951, the day that the Canadians were ordered forward to defend the Kapyong river valley and the start of the Battle of Kapyong.

13 Corporations wishing to sponsor a veteran, or anyone wishing to help in this cause, should contact Peter Seiersen in Courtenay, B.C. at pseiersen@shaw.ca or the publisher of the Korean War Veteran at koreavetnews@aol.com. Veteran Frederick MacDonald shares a mutual drink with the spirit of his brother, Private Bruce Merlin MacDonald, who died at his Vickers machinegun at Kapyong on the night of April 24/25 when large forces attacked his platoon in D Company. Private Bruce

14 MacDonald, age 20, kept firing right to the end, alongside his partner, Private Maurice Carr, who was also killed by the attacking enemy. Holding at Kapyong - This famous painting by Canadian artist Ted Zuber, shows troops from D Company on the "knob" position on Hill 677 the morning after the heavy enemy attack. The painting hangs in the Korean War Room of the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. Ted Zuber served in Korea as a sniper with The Royal Canadian Regiment. He also was Canada's official war artist with the rank of captain during the Gulf War. End of Special Report