Baptism Under Fire - Hill 532 continued from page three... 

It was deemed impossible by Turnbull to recover the bodies of the men killed in the final attack. The stretcher‑bearers worked until midnight evacuating the wounded men of D company. Hill 532 is taken on March 8^th, by B Company and later joined by A Company; only two Chinese oppose them; 25 Chinese dead are found in the blood stained snow in the trenches and another 22 bodies on the ridge. Who knows how many dead or wounded they carried off. D Company's dead are recovered the next day, the Chinese as usual had stripped their bodies; they are devoid of boots, socks, winter clothing, weapons and ammuni­tion. Corporal John Bishop, A Company, "A numbing sight greeted us when we arrived atop 532. The Chinese had captured the position from the Americans a few days before, and they'd left the corpses of the GI's strewn about like animal carcasses.” ⁵  Rushton remembers; "Stone addressed us the next day giving a pep talk, which we needed because of the men we lost, in part he said, " When you are dealing out death, you have to expect death in return.” ⁶

Captain Bob Swinton, Military Cross WWII, is promoted to Major, to command D Company. On his first inspection he made a short speech to the troops and told them they were good men, but advised they would have to improve a great deal to satisfy him. ³

With the advantage of insight 50 years on, the action on Hill 532 appears to have served as a "learning curve" for 2^nd Patricia's in Korea, a baptism under fire.

Consider Stone's assessment of the action at D Company: Turnbull is removed from a combat command; the aggressive actions of Middleton and Larson stand out. Turnbull appears to have tried to direct his company from the rear, rather than in the midst of his fighting forma­tion, or at the very least having a view of their battle to formulate his assessment. He delegates his evaluation to Rushton. Larson, an experi­enced soldier sensing an opportunity acted boldly, defying Rushton's judgment and Turnbull's inaction, ordering the company forward to reinforce Middleton. To this day Rushton believes his order to go to ground was correct. Middleton did successfully advance into the enemy's trenches against light opposition ‑ had his platoon been advancing alongside of him, they may have taken the objective, for the main body of the Chinese were seen to be pulling out. But who knows?  Levy is of the view that the attack was a cock‑up right from the start.  The frontal attacks up a steep hill provided the enemy with a command­ing view of the Patricias' movements. For years rumours abound at veteran's gatherings that it was a folly to make the frontal attack that a flanking attack would have provided better cover. At Hill 532, D Company suffered the highest numbers of casualties of all their engagements in Korea . Turnbull’s advising Stone that Levy under performed­ during the attack ‑ a scapegoat? Shuler, a Med A, states that Levy was disoriented, and evacuated him. The next morning Levy met with Stone and asked to be returned to command 10 Platoon, Stone complied. Did Turnbull's negative report create lingering doubt concerning Stone's assessment of Levy?

REFERENCE NOTES

1. The War Diary lists 6 killed 28 wounded. 
The 2PPCLI Roll of Honour of those killed in Korea , lists 7 on the 7th of March 1951 :    

                                                                                                                                                                                                      
2. Mel Canfield: A Pte, clerk, in the Intelligence Section at Kapyong, is sta­tioned in the midst of Stone's Tactical Headquarters, taking notes of wireless communications to be written up in the Radio Logs of the battalion. He quotes Turnbull's comment made to Stone at a meeting, concerning Levy's performance after the battle.  A notarized statement is in the author's possession.  

3. 2PPCLI War Diary.
                                                                                                                                                                                                  4. 4. Middleton: personal notes.                                                                                                                  

5. Bishop: "The King's Bishop," Mossy Knoll Enterprises, by John Bishop with GW Stephen Brodsky 2000.                                              

6. Rushton: Emails and phone calls with the author, March and April 2002. Also an audio interview tape concerning 532, conducted November 22,1999 , PPCLI Archives.

7. Canadian Press article, by Bill Boss, War Correspondent , Korea , March 1951, authors files.  

8. Phone conversation with Levy.

Hub Gray served in the 2^nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry from October 1950 - May 1953.  He joined Richardson Securities of Canada in 1953, served in Partner Research, Partner Europe and Middle East and Partner Alberta , 1975.  He became an independent business consultant in 1978 and retired in 1995.  He and his wife, Pamela Joy live in Calgary , Alberta .

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