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Recollections of Korea
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was given the task of providing security for the engineer work party and
was augmented by a sergeant from No 8 Platoon and nine soldiers from
“A” Company. I also detailed a corporal and nine men from my own
platoon. I
briefed the engineer work party and my men on the procedures to be
followed. I said we would deploy this protective force with two sections
protecting the workers. One section was 25 feet in front. As the work
progressed, I would leap-frog the rear section 25 feet past the forward
one, it becoming the forward section. A small Headquarters Group
consisting of myself, a signaller and a runner would take up a position
between the sections. In this manner, we would cover the engineers until
they had finished their job. When
it became dark we went into the valley. I had not impressed on my troops
the requirement for stealth during this procedure. I guess I had
concluded, in my own mind, that this would be self-evident. Things went
well until it was time to move the first section commanded by the
Sergeant. I
motioned to my runner to move closer to me. Then I ordered him to tell
the sergeant to move his section. He noiselessly disappeared into the
darkness. Shortly, I heard a loud voice shout: “OK, on your feet, come
on, let’s go”. The command was followed by the sound of thundering
feet, then the command “down”. By
this time my runner had returned but he had to make another trip,
telling the Sergeant, “Next time slowly and quietly”. Almost
immediately mortar rounds from the Chinese hills started falling on a
feature some several hundred yards to the right of us. I heard a voice
from my nearest section saying “They’re shelling us; why doesn’t
he move us? He’s leaving us here to die”. Another
trip for the runner to ensure silence. There were no further glitches
and the task was completed, but it was a good lesson for me to ensure
every detail in a briefing was covered and all were well aware of their
responsibilities. After this incident, the Sergeant admitted that this
was the first time he had ever had to do such a job, and I had to admit
that this was my first time also. He proved to be an excellent NCO who
did a first class job for the rest of the tour. One
morning, just after I had retired for the day, Sergeant Stone rushed
into the bunker where I was getting some sleep. He shouted: “Mr.
Hollyer, you have to see this, there is smoke everywhere”. He was right; there was smoke provided by our artillery
in front of the Platoon, on both sides of the Platoon, to the rear of
the platoon and even all over the platoon. It was obvious that the smoke
rounds were being fired by our own guns. I
got onto the phone to report this phenomenon and was told “We know and
it is being corrected.” After,
I learned what had happened. A Canadian patrol, from another battalion,
had become lost during the night and was now making its way back to our
lines. As it was now daylight, the patrol leader had asked for smoke to
cover the return. At
the gun position there are three different firing tables: one for
charges when firing normal high explosives, one for incremental charges
when the normal charges are not right for the job, and one for smoke.
The officer in charge of the four gun troop used the wrong book for the
charges, producing weird results. Seven
Platoon members saw very little of the enemy during this period of
shelling, but every night 8 Platoon reported Chinese patrols in the
vicinity of the barbed wire protecting the approaches to their platoon.
As we had not discovered any such activity it was the opinion of most
members of 7 Platoon that 8 Platoon was just jumpy. It was the deduction
of higher headquarters that the amount of hostile shelling and probing
pointed to an attack in the near future, but we, at the sharp end, did
not know this nor were we told. All
patrols exiting the right flank of the Battalion had to go through our
piece of real estate as we owned the gap in the minefield in front of
“C” Company. The gap consisted of a path, fenced on both sides and
free of mines. It wound from our platoon position down into the valley,
“no-man’s land”. The
path was narrow. It was obvious the enemy knew when our patrols entered
the gap because almost invariably they were shelled. The source of
information became apparent after a few days, as one of my riflemen
sighted two camouflaged Chinese in a lay-up position in the wire just
outside the gap. There
appeared no way we could get through the gap, unobserved, to take the
two Chinese prisoners. I informed my Company Commander of this and
requested permission to fire on them, but was told to wait and he would
get back to me. Later
I was informed that a member of the sniper platoon would be up with a
“sniper-scope”. A sniper-scope was the name given to a rifle used in
the sniper platoon fitted with an infra-red sight that allowed the user
to see objects in the dark. We
kept the area under observation, but by the time the member of the
sniper platoon arrived only one enemy observer could be seen. He was
dispatched with a single round. Later that evening, a message, relayed
from Higher Headquarters, advised that the Chinese might attempt to
recover the body and if they did we were not to fire on the rescue
party. Apparently
a broadcast from the Chinese requesting permission to retrieve the body
had been intercepted. That night we kept a close eye out for a rescue
party, saw and heard nothing, but in the morning the body was gone. The
shelling of exiting patrols through the gap ceased. Enemy patrols, increasingly, were treating “No Man’s
Land” as though it were their property, an impression that all
Commonwealth Commanders resolved to correct by increasing the number of
their own patrols. With the increase in patrols and the continued heavy
shelling additional strain was placed on the Canadian soldier. Because
of the language problem , it was decided by our Company Commander that
Katcoms should not accompany us on patrols. After the following
incident, I decided that Katcoms should never be left alone in their
fire positions or stand sentry duty by themselves. As was my policy, I
toured the position every hour during darkness to ensure work was being
carried out and my soldiers were alert. On my rounds I visited each slit
trench and had a brief discussion with the soldiers on duty. Arriving
at the first section and the first fire position, I encountered two
Katcom soldiers. I greeted them and they returned big smiles. Why I
don’t know, but I said to them “Do you like being with the RCR”? One
chap replied, “Yes”. Finally
I asked a question that required a different kind of answer but was
again given a big smile and the now familiar, “Yes” This
was an early indication of the language problems we were to encounter with
our Korean soldiers. Because of language, the number of men available
for duty was reduced and a greater responsibility was placed on
our Canadian soldiers. They resented this and began to question why we
had the Korean soldiers with us. We
had another problem with Korean soldiers. It was obvious that they were
not happy and they started slacking off in their tasks. The Platoon
Sergeant complained to me about their efforts and advised that he could
not understand why they were being so uncooperative. I discussed this
with my Company Commander and he decided to get an interpreter from the
rear to interview them. The
Korean interpreter, a really first class person who, it was obvious,
really wanted to help, assembled my Katcoms in a bunker and listened to
their complaints. He received the usual ones, too much work, not enough
rest, wanted leave to go home to their families. The
main complaint was food, which they described as being “chop chop
number ten”. The Koreans, with us foreigners, put a number on just
about everything they were describing, number one being the best and
number ten the worst. I knew the “combat rations” we were receiving
didn’t compare with the finest restaurants, but they certainly were
not number ten. “Chop chop” was their word for food. The
interpreter volunteered that perhaps it was the way the food was being
prepared. I told him I would look into this matter and thanked him for
his help. He said that he would be glad to return any time if he could
be of help. Soon
after arriving at the position, I had arranged for my Koreans to eat
together in one of the bunkers. I thought this would be better for them
than dining with their Canadian buddies with whom they spent so much of
their time, because of the employment restrictions I had placed on them.
I told Sergeant Stone to attend their next meal and let me know what was
going on. He reported back to me, laughingly saying “You won’t
believe this, but they are distributing the “C” Rations by the
packets.” Each
carton of the “C” Ration contained a number of packages, one for
cans making up the main portion of the menu, another the dessert,
another such things as hydrated potatoes, powdered milk, sugar, etc.
Another consisted of amenities such as candies “Charms”, cigarettes
and toilet paper. Imagine the consternation felt by the person receiving
the package containing no food, but a good supply of toilet paper. I
assigned a Canadian soldier to teach them about the contents of the
ration pack and how to prepare and cook the food. It wasn’t long
before we, once again, had a happy contingent of Korean soldiers who
willingly were carrying out their assigned duties. Because
we were always short of junior NCOs, I instructed Sgt Stone to keep an
eye out for prospective candidates. During the intensive training
period, while we were still in reserve, I became greatly impressed by
one of our soldiers. He was a veteran from WW II who had been in the
artillery; he performed well and displayed good organizational
capabilities. About
two weeks after I had had my talk with my Sergeant, he told me that he
had been giving this soldier certain responsibilities and he was sure
that he would be a good Section Commander. This confirmed my
observations and this soldier was promoted to Acting Corporal. He
took over his section and performed very well. After entering the line
he was the first NCO to have his section organized complete with range
cards and designated arcs of fire for all his section. I was indeed
impressed. Range
cards were made out for each fire position. These indicated certain
distinguishing points on the ground with the ranges to them which would
be an aid in setting the range on your weapon. The arc of fire gave the
area of responsibility for each weapon with each side of the arc
crossing over the sides of the arcs of the person to left and right.
This produced what was known as “interlocking fire”. Soon
after the daily shelling started I was informed by another NCO that this
Corporal would not leave his bunker and his section was without a
commander. I checked his bunker and found my protégé slumped in a
corner. I ordered him to go out to his section, but he broke down and
said, “I can’t”. I informed my Company Commander who told me to
have him escorted back to Battalion Headquarters. Later the Medical
Officer informed me that during WW II this NCO had been exposed to heavy
shelling for a prolonged period and apparently had been evacuated then. I
handed over command of his section to a soldier and told him if he did a
good job he would be made a Lance Corporal. This soldier later
distinguished himself and was awarded the Military Medal. Our
water supply came from the stream that flowed into the valley between
“C” and “B” Company. It was collected in five gallon cans called
Jerry Cans and placed on a shelf cut out of the hill immediately outside
my Command Post. Here it was treated
with tablets and arranged so that the purified water was at the left end
of six Jerry Cans. As each can was emptied it would be replaced with a
can placed at the right end of the row and treated. As all were familiar
with the process, it was a simple system that worked. Empty cans were
refilled every evening after dark. One
of the dread diseases in Shortly
after occupying the position, we were visited by the Company 2 i/c. He
is usually the next senior officer to the Company Commander and he works
in the rear area unless he is required to take over from the Company
Commander. Out of the line, he performs the function of supply and
administrative officer for the Company. We
were having a cup of coffee and he was telling me that he had brought me
two cans of the liquid for treating the platoon clothing. Suddenly, a
soldier burst in saying that three of the platoon were violently ill. We
went outside and discovered that the 2 i/c had placed the two cans at
the end of the line of our drinking water and the soldiers had drank
some of it. They were evacuated, but returned a few hours later. It
seemed that we were experiencing casualties every day and I became quite
adept with the morphine ampoules. When a person was given morphine in
the field the person administering it dipped his finger in the blood and
marked an “M” on the wounded man’s forehead. That told the medical
personnel that morphine had been administered.
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