| When we were told about the proposed raid
we were to take part in, "C" coy was located on hill 187. The
plan was for 7 platoon, Lt., Bauld, to lead the assault and drive the
defenders underground, then eight platoon, Sgt., Mazeral, was to follow
up and the section leaders job was to toss phosphorous grenades down the
holes and bring the enemy up at our place and then the section would take
them prisoner if possible. We were to have postal mail bags to put over
the prisoner’s heads and tie around their waists to make it easier to
control them. Nine platoon under Lt., Ritchie, was to follow up and
relieve us of any prisoners or wounded. I remember that one of nine
platoons Corporals was to have a reel of white tape on his back to lay
from the bottom to the top of the hill in order to mark the route out.
The Pioneers were to build a temporary sandbag bridge across the stream
out in front of the forward platoon so we wouldn’t make a noise splashing
through the water. The Bofors were to be brought up from the bridges to
fire us up to the top of the hill and then the moonlighters would turn
on their lights so we could see what we were doing. We were also told
that all the section leaders would be debriefed. An engineer officer
Lt., Johnston was also to come along to study the enemy trench system; it’s funny I don’t remember being told which hill we were going to
attack but I always thought it was 166. Years later I found out it was
110 or was it 113?
The company went back to an area a few miles behind us a day or so
before the raid to rehearse our roles (Les Peate of Esprit de Corps
Magazine recalls seeing us; he was in the British Army at the time).
Would you
believe that nine platoon got lost in broad daylight and went up the
wrong hill, not a good omen.
The rehearsal was a precursor of the real thing because everything
that went wrong on the rehearsal went wrong on the raid and then some;
also somebody got the brainy idea that we would leave a sign in Chinese
at the top of the hill after we were finished. The Pioneers made up a
nice sign with a background of Regimental colours and Chinese characters
that said "YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET’. It would have been nice had
it worked. We started out just after dusk to meet a group of Pioneers at
a sandbag crossing they had built for us at a small creek but we missed
each other. Proceeding across the valley we came to a village that we
started through. I can remember this noise every once in a while and
thought we may as well have brought the Bugle Band with us. Finally I
came across the cause of the noise; it was a drawer from a chest of
drawers laying across the path and it was being tripped over every so
often. My first thought was to move it but then I thought maybe it’s
booby trapped and what the hell they have heard us by now and a little
more noise isn’t going to make any difference. Seven platoon was
leading with eight to pass through once they established a hold on the
top. In the first exchange of fire between seven platoon and the enemy
one man was killed, a young fellow named Gautier, from St. Catharines
area of Ontario. In rapid succession all the section leaders were hit,
it is a good thing there were some good Lance Jacks there or it might
have been a worse fiasco. While all this was going on at the top of the
hill the "O" group was hit by a 25 pdr that dropped short
causing some wounded including CSM Doran. The FOO with us immediately
had the 25 pdrs stop firing and this just left the Bofors firing us in
with tracer for the final assault, after which the moonshiners were
supposed to turn on their lights to assist us. I can tell you there was
a bit of sweating going on as Maj. Holmes radioed to keep them from
being turned on. If he had not been successful it would have been like
shooting ducks in a barrel for the Chinese. Amid all this confusion we
were looking for nine platoon to take the wounded off our hands but just
like in the rehearsal they went up the wrong hill. Seven platoon
withdrew through eight with Lt. Bauld being the last man down and then
we withdrew to the bottom of the hill where Maj Holmes was directing
traffic out to a rendezvous in the middle of the valley. I got my
section together and we picked up a chap named Black from seven platoon,
he had a slight wound on his head and could walk without any problem.
When we arrived at the rendezvous I got my section down behind a low
dike and faced up the valley towards 355. Maj. Holmes arrived and
started organizing things He asked for any NCOs from each platoon and I
sang out for eight platoon. Just then we came under machine gun fire
from the valley floor and at least three more were hit, one of the
signalers was hit in both arms, McAleery his name was, he came from
Newfoundland, two others including Cpl. Norm Lambert got stitched across
the guts. I immediately returned fire with my Sten and the firing
stopped; now I thought they will mortar the dickens out of us. Once
again Maj. Holmes quickly got things organized and we moved out of
there. I went over to McAleery to help him, he couldn’t get up on his
feet .I told him "Look, I’ll hold you around the waist and you
crawl." We started, I took one step and tromped on one of his
dangling arms, I won't repeat exactly what he said but the gist of it was
just stand me up you idiot and I’ll walk ,so I did and he went with
someone else. I looked around for anyone else and seeing no one followed
after. When I reached the next rendezvous it was in a gully or a dried
creek bed, the mortars had just started coming in at our old spot so I
dived for cover and who do you think I landed on? Why good old McAleery
of course. I wasn’t one of his favorite people before that night and
things sure didn’t improve between us when I landed on him. I then
disentangled myself and peered over the rim of the gully and heard
someone calling for assistance to help bring in more wounded, so I went
out and ran into Doug Fulton and Lt. Johnston of the engineers, along
with the FOO’s signaler. They were carrying one of the eight platoon
chaps who had been stitched across the guts. Lt. Johnston had both the
wounded man's legs over his shoulders and Fulton and the signaler, who
was much shorter than Fulton, were on either side of his shoulders. I
took the signaler’s place and gave him my Sten so he could escort us.
That was the last I saw of either of them. When we were about a hundred
yards out from the gate and tiring fast when we saw this white form come
boiling out from the hill towards us; it turned out to be CSM Tracz clad
in a white tee-shirt with his KSC porters and some stretchers. I had
hoped at that point we would have been relieved but no such luck, but it
was easier with a stretcher and four people carrying. Before reaching
the gate we again ran into the ubiquitous Maj. Holmes directing traffic
and shortly after that were relieved of our load when more KSC porters
arrived on the scene. After going through the gate I was checked off the
list and stopped to have a chat with the chap doing the checking. We
were talking when one of the cooks came by, Beer was his name, he
said he was going out to give a hand with the wounded, about five
minutes later he limped back in with a piece of shrapnel in his leg, he
had become one of the wounded.
Arthur Johnson was born in Toronto, 1929
and lives in Scarborough, Ontario. He is married with two children and
nine grandchildren. Art served with The Royal Canadian Regiment, 1st and
2nd Battalions, C Company. He was severely wounded 12 August 1952 on Hill
355. He is a member of KVA Unit #57.
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