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Kapyong, A Monument Beyond Juno Beach To Be Remembered
By
Bob Orrick
The 59th anniversary of D-Day and the too-long-coming memorial to recognise and commemorate Canadians' landing at Normandy's Juno Beach on June 6, 1944 brings to mind that another war-related anniversary of great importance to Canadians is just over the historical horizon.
On July 27, 2003, veterans of twenty-one United Nations countries, including Canada, will stop and recall that it was fifty years ago that the combatants in the Korean War [1950-53] signed a cease-fire and the conflict ground to a halt. Although a cease-fire had been signed, an armistice had not; the fighting stopped to be replaced by an unsteady 'peace' that threatened to break out into war again several times over the intervening years. Despite that, the 38th Parallel demarcation line held.
Back in the early moments of 1950 when much of the world was cleaning up from the devastation left after World War Two had ended just five years earlier, not many paid much attention to the agitation between Communist North Korea and quasi-democratic South Korea.
[In 1946, when the United Nations was unsuccessful in holding a general election throughout the entire Korean peninsula, Syngman Rhee, the pro-anti communist who had fled his homeland during the Japanese occupation of Korea, returned and melded a government that danced to his tune. The 1946 election was a hybrid: half of the legislature was elected while the other half was appointed by U.S. Lt. General John R. Hodge, commander of the U.S. Army's 24th Corps, the military unit designated to occupy Korea.]
The agitation erupted into a full-blown war on 25 June 1950 when 90,000 heavily armed North Korean troops supported by heavy artillery and tanks swept across the lightly-defended 38th Parallel and into South Korea. Within days, the South's capital of Seoul fell to the invading Communists.
At the United Nations, South Korea [Republic of Korea] sought assistance; the United States put forward a resolution that demanded that North Korea cease its invasion and withdraw north of the 38th Parallel. The resolution carried primarily because the Soviet representative was absent; he had walked out when the UN denied a seat to Communist China. The Soviet ambassador's snit removed his veto - as most surely the Soviets would have vetoed the resolution - and the United Nations sought and received assistance from twenty-one countries of which Canada was one of the sixteen combatants. The remaining five countries provided medical, hospital and the like support services.
During the thirty-seven months that the war raged up and down the Korean Peninsula, Canadian navy, army and air force personnel played an important and prominent role in stemming the spread of communism in the Far East. The Royal Canadian Navy was the first of Canada's armed forces to see action in Korea. Within days of the UN resolution being passed, three destroyers, HMCS Cayuga, HMCS Athabaskan and HMCS Sioux sailed from Esquimalt. Later, a fourth Esquimalt-based destroyer, HMCS Crusader, served in Korea, as did four Halifax-based destroyers: HMCS Haida, HMCS Huron, HMCS Nootka, and HMCS Iroquois. Throughout the war, the RCN maintained three destroyers on station at all time.
From beginning to end, Canada's destroyers fired more than 130,000 rounds of main armament ammunition at the communists. Additionally, thousands upon thousands of 40mm Bofor rounds and small arms ammunition were expended. HMCS Athabaskan - second trip - received the Republic of Korea Citation for "exceptionally meritorious service and heroism." The Citation was signed by President Syngman Rhee, ROK and dated November 1, 1951.
Out of a total force of 10,000 personnel, 3,627 Canadian Navy members served; some made more than one trip and when they are factored in the total number of Canada's sailors that saw action in Korea rises to 4,267. One RCN pilot flew with the USN's 7th Fleet against communist North Korea.
All destroyers made more than one trip with some doing three tours. No tour was fewer than six months and the longest was 14 months. [HMCS Athabaskan, third trip] When the cease-fire was signed, Canada continued to station at least one destroyer on duty to preserve the shaky cease-fire. HMCS Sioux departed the theatre on September 7, 1955 and returned to Esquimalt on 24 September 1955. She was the last Canadian unit to leave the theatre other than for a handful of army personnel who remained for a short time to clean up last minute administrative chores.
On 20 July 1950, the Royal Canadian Air Force's 426 Thunderbird transport squadron [initially six North Star transport aircraft] was moved from Eastern Canada to McChord Air Field in Washington state and assigned to the U.S. Military Air Transport Service [MATS]. From McChord, the 426 flew 600 round trips over the Pacific Ocean, carried more than 13,000 passengers and ferried 3,000,000 kilograms of freight and mail, without a loss. Several RCAF pilots on exchange duty with the USAF saw action in Korea. They served their country well with high success in the air.
When it became apparent to Ottawa that the initial action in Korea was more than just another border incursion, the Canadian parliament authorised the recruitment of the Canadian Army Special Force [CASF]. That was on August 7, 1950. In addition to the soldiers, the army's nurse corps was fully engaged in the War.
Inasmuch as the Canadian Army served well and did Canada proud, perhaps its most outstanding moment came when the 2nd PPCLI, cut off and alone atop a 700-metre high hill, withstood the full onslaught of a determined Communist force counter-offensive. This became known as the Kapyong Fight.
On the night of April 22/23, 1951, Chinese and North Korean forces attacked in the western and west-central sectors of 38th Parallel. Two units of the U.S. Army, the 1st and 9th Corps were ordered to withdraw. In the 9th sector, the full fury of the Communists fell on the ROK 6th Division. The ROKs were overwhelmed and forced to withdraw before they were cut off and destroyed. [Valour Remembered, Canadians in Korea, Veterans Affairs Canada, 1990]
The 27th British Commonwealth Brigade, of which Canada's 2nd PPCLI was part, were ideally located along an escape route that the South Koreans could use to withdraw. The area lay in the valley of the Kapyong River near its junction with the Pukhan River. The valley at this point was about 3,000 metres wide. North, the area narrowed and curved and was dominated by surrounding hills. Control of the exits and entrances to the area could be controlled from the hills. The 3rd Royal Australian Regiment established a defensive position at Hill 504 while the 2nd PPCLI dug in on Hill 677 and the British 1st Middlesex Regiment was south of the PPCLI. [ibid.]
The Communist Chinese struck with a heavy engagement during the night of 23/24 April. The next day the Chinese infiltration intensified; this forced the Australians to withdraw. The withdrawal left the 2nd PPCLI's position open to enemy attack. [ibid.]
Throughout the night, the Communists pressed their attack but initially were pushed back by artillery fire. Eventually, they broke through and stormed the Canadians' position. The action was furious with close-in, hand-to-hand combat. When daylight returned, the enemy attack subsided and the 2nd PPCLI soldiers still stood, bloodied but unbowed. They had stood their ground and had stopped the Communist's planned counter-offensive. The 2nd PPCLI lost 10 killed and 23 wounded - relatively light casualties considering the intense fighting that took place. It has been written that had the Canadians not stood fast, the outcome of the Korean War might well have been different. For their heroism the 2nd PPCLI and the 3rd Royal Australian Regiment received the United States Presidential Citation; the only UN Force units other than American to receive so high an award. Kapyong should be as well known to Canadians as are Vimy Ridge of WWI and Juno Beach of WWII. Sadly, it is not.
Was it worth it? Was the United Nations justified in assembling a combatant force of 16 nations to stem the spread of Communism in the Far East? Was the loss of 516 Canadians, 33,629 Americans and 935 British personnel too high a price to pay? Did they die in vain? And what of the 147,000 ROK Army combat casualties, or the 245,000 non-military civilians who died and the 30,000 others who were listed as missing? What of the 130,000 Koreans who were killed in Communist atrocities? What of the 16,000 ROK police who died because of the Korean War? What about the 520,000 North Koreans and the 900,000 Chinese Communist casualties? And what of the Korean Peninsula itself, an area no larger than the U.S. state of Idaho. More than 47 per cent of the Korean Peninsula was destroyed during the intense fighting that covered the entire region from the Yalu River in the north to the port of Pusan in the south.
The Korean War, the war that prevented World War Three.
UN member countries that took part in the Korean War: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Ethiopia, France, Greece, India, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, and the Republic of Korea
Bob Orrick is a private tutor of English grammar, literature, poetry and Canadian history to off-shore youngsters. His pupils hail from such places as Taiwan, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and Venezuela. He was previously in international marketing, was a ministerial assistant to a provincial cabinet minister, spent a few years as a reporter then editor of a community newspaper and enjoyed a career in the Royal Canadian Navy.
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