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THE
COMMONWEALTH
CONTINGENT,
KOREA
An
excerpt from the book
BEYOND THE DANGER CLOSE
The Korean Experience Revealed
by Hub Gray
The Korean conflict was
nothing like the actions in the Hochwald Forest of North West Europe, or
akin to the intense close combat at Ortona,
Italy
during WWII. Every war is different, each establishing its own conflict
of arms and in 1951 the Chinese infantry, heavily armed with automatic
weapons, attacked en masse on a limited front hoping to conquer their
enemy through suicidal thrusts. They successfully placed demands upon
their troops that western nations would have found repugnant, employing
a doctrine that was based upon the experiences of Mao Tse-tung in
fighting the Japanese and Nationalist China. China
had not developed a fully modern and diversely equipped fighting force
during the Korean
War, although after Korea
they developed a well disciplined and a broadly equipped military.
They learned their lessons in Korea.
Unlike
WWII the cities of
Korea
did not offer the spectrum of amenities for rest and relaxation which
allied troops experienced in war-torn
Europe
. Korea
was essentially a rural economy at the time, and its cities and
infrastructure had been fought over so many times that they were almost
totally flattened. Once a year a soldier was granted five days rest and
recuperation in
Japan, and the rest of the time we had to make the best of what little there
was available in Korea. Conditions were repetitious, and thus we existed one on top of
another both in and out of the line.
The British 27th Brigade arrived in Korea in August 1950; The
3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), formerly
occupation troops in Japan, arrived in late September; the 16th
Field Regiment, Royal New Zealand Artillery (16 RNZA) arrived December
15 and were committed to battle on the 25th of
January, 1951. The Second Patricias arrived December 16th and went into
battle,
February 17, 1951
. In late May our 25th Canadian Brigade took to the field. The
Australians had one battalion in Korea, and much later two; New Zealand
had one artillery regiment; the Indians provided a first class field
ambulance, all integrated within the British Brigades. 2PPCLI fought
along side the Australians, New Zealanders, British and the Indians, in
both the 27th and 28th British Commonwealth
Infantry Brigades. I believe we got along well. I found the New
Zealanders to be warm, friendly and very supportive. The Australians
were proud, slightly rough around the edges but excellent soldiers. The
British, as usual, were steadfast and at all times unflappable.
Fortunately I did not have occasion to require the services of the
Indian Parachute Field Ambulance; however, they had the reputation of
having the lowest loss of casualties of all front line medical services
in Korea.
Captain RKG Porter,
Adjutant of the 16th RNZA, has expressed contradictory
opinions concerning the performance of Canadian troops in Korea. In Ian McGibbon's official history of
New Zealand
in the Korean War, Vol.II, Porter is quoted as saying the Canadians:
"field performance was not greatly admired;" and that
Canadians were, "unpredictable in their behaviour, sloppy in
fieldwork and generally arrogant." 1 During
May of 1951 the Canadian presence expanded rapidly from about 800 troops
to more than 6,000. We went from one understrength infantry
battalion to the reinforced 25th Canadian Infantry Brigade;
three Infantry Battalions and supporting arms and services including an
Armoured Squadron, an Artillery Regiment, engineers and so on.
Canada's Provost Corps (Military Police) administered the Commonwealth Field
Punishment Camp (Military Prison) in Korea, and it was designed to administer harsh punishment, as are all
military prisons.
But this comment of
Porter's seems particularly crass, especially in light of his own
behaviour. Lieut Murray
Edwards, was given a terribly rude reception during a brief meeting with
Porter in January. It was
after the Korean National Police reported that enemy guerrillas were
active in the area around Miryang, and encamped on the top of a
mountain. The Police lead B Company to the base of the mountain and
identified three pathways up. One platoon was assigned to each pathway,
under the commands of Lieuts Murray Edwards, Bud MacLeod and Harold
Ross. Ross's patrol ran into the enemy, killing two of them, the
remainder got away. One
of Edwards' men came across a pathway in the snow revealing a trail of
blood, at the end of which they found a wallet belonging to a New Zealand
Warrant Officer (WO). His driver was dead having been stripped, beaten,
and bayoneted through the throat. The WO wasn't so lucky. The Chinese
secured his arms to his body, but left his legs unhindered. In an act of
barbaric savagery they viciously cut off one hand at the wrist and the
poor man began loosing blood in rhythm with his heartbeat. He headed
through the woods to seek help at a nearby village, but it was deserted.
The cunning barbarans had planned it well, he soon became light
headed and bled to death. Having
retrieved the wallet Edwards went to the 16th HQ,
full of compassion for the man and the entire regiment. He entered
Porter's office, saluted, identified himself, and announced that he was
returning the deceased man's wallet. Porter, did not bother to lift his
head, return the salute or even pause to look up at Edwards, he simply
grunted, "Put it there,” 2 indicating
a table, Edwards, mortified, turned on his heel and departed. Based on
this interview it would appear Porter's investigative techniques for
assessing our participation in Korea
were severely lacking.
British Colonel (retired)
Michael Hickey, who served as a 2nd Lieutenant
with the Royal Army Service Corps in Korea , wrote an impressive book, "The Korean War," 3
detailing the Commonwealth experience. The book is well
researched, containing great historical detail and many personal
interviews, which make his work both comprehensive and historically
interesting. However, it too is thin on the Canadian contribution,
which amounts to about three pages out of 397. Hickey acknowledges the
2 PPCLI stand at Kap'yong in one paragraph. 4 There is no
mention of other impressive Canadian military successes, such as the
R22eR 84-hour defence of Hill 355, November 1951 or the RCR's four-day
battle commencing
October 23rd 1952
. Once again, the author leaves his readers with the impression that Canada's Korean effort was somehow lacking, especially when seen in stark
contrast to the extensive coverage he gives to the experiences of all
other Commonwealth members. He gratuitously chooses to repeat Porter's
"not fitting in" jab and then editorializes that we are
"...being far more American than we (Canadians) realize.” 5
1 don't know what he expected of us, but we Canadians are
neither English nor American! If
one is to dedicate the time to explore our character one would find that
we are uniquely Canadian!
In subsequent correspondence
Michael informed me that while he did offshore research in both
New Zealand
and Australia, he did not have a budget to conduct research in Canada
. I wish he had noted this unavoidable exclusion in his book. In his
letter to me, of
October 28, 1999
, he heaped praise upon Canadian soldiers and their performance in Korea.
The
English author, Max Hastings, in a much earlier book on
Korea
, stated it was a pity the 2PPCLI did not have greater casualties at
Kapyong, for then they would have received the recognition they
deserved.
1.
McGibbon, page 158
2. Interview with Edwards,
Victoria
1999.
3. Hickey, "The Korean War." John Murray Publisher, 1999.
4, Hickey, page 218
5. Hickey, page 283
Hub
Gray served in the 2nd 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
.
Hub
Gray’s book, Beyond the Danger Close
is available from Bunker to Bunker Books, 4520 Crowchild Trail S.W.,
Calgary, AB, T2T 5J4. Tel
(403) 240-0039. $24.95 plus
$6 shipping and handling.
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