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The Korean War Veteran An independent Internet publication dedicated to the sacrifice and indomitable spirit of those who served in the Korean War. January 3, 2011 2011 – Veterans will have many books, videos to choose from that cover history of Korean War By Vince Courtenay The first three chapters of Love and Duty have been sent out on the Internet. I hope they haven’t been embarrassing for anyone – especially the writer. More chapters will follow in intervals of a few days. I wish to note that the year 2010 has been a busy one for many writers and producers. Dan Bjarnason, who recently retired from the CBC TV where he wrote and produced many features about Canadian servicemen, has a book coming this March entitled Triumph at Kapyong, Canada’s Pivotal Battle in Korea . I think it is based on interviews with veterans, possibly including myself and should make good reading. There is no conflict in the two works. Love and Duty is a documentary novel with a broad, historical approach. I believe that Dan has taken an interview approach that compiles the recollections of several veterans. Dan has an Internet site for his new book (click below on link): http://kapyongkorea.wordpress.com/ On the site Dan has exposition from a Canadian who teaches English in Korea. The teacher sometimes explores battlefields. He reports that he has gone onto some of the old positions at Kapyong and recovered .303 brass as well as .30 Springfield that was used in M1 rifles. It is amazing that the old brass exists as it deteriorates quite rapidly and has been subjected to nearly 60 freeze-ups and thaws. We could locate none on Hill 355 in 2000, although shrapnel and spent bullets were plentiful. The Canadian teacher suggests that the Chinese Army used M1s at Kapyong that they had captured from American troops, hence the find of Springfield pattern .30 calibre rimless cartridges. While it is true that once in awhile an enemy soldier did carry an American or British weapon, including Bren light machineguns, this was very unusual. However, a proper history will reveal that there were thousands of American issued M1 rifles at Kapyong. But they were in the hands of American soldiers. The U.S. Army had a very sizeable force deployed at Kapyong, larger even than the 27th Commonwealth Brigade. The 5th US Cavalry Regimental Combat Team had one battalion positioned southeast of the 3rd Royal Australian Regiment and one southwest of the Princess Patricias. On April 25 two battalions of the 5th Cav RCT launched a series of daylight attacks against enemy troops. The enemy was on the hard fought positions the 3rd RAR had to give up after suffering extremely heavy casualties on the night of November 24-25 and exhausting most of their ammunition. The CO of the 5th Cav RCT studied and directed the artillery shoots and planned the attack from the Patricias B Company position. The next day, April 26, one more battalion of his troops relieved all of the Patricias units and deployed more than 100 soldiers equipped with M1 rifles on each of the four Patricia rifle company positions. Later, the Kagnew Battalion from Ethiopia was stationed at Kapyong, also armed with M-1 rifles, as were all soldiers of the ROK Army, and virtually all units that were not from Commonwealth nations. The UN Force, but for Commonwealth troops, all were equipped with American weapons. Not a criticism, certainly. But the battle, like all others, was a multi-national operation. Many book authors tend to skew their accounts of the action nationalistically and focus only on troops from their own country. They often omit, downplay or in some instances even denigrate participation by some of the involved military units from other nations. This is very hurtful to the effected soldiers who were there. Book 2 from Andrew Salmon In Korea, my very good friend Andrew Salmon has completed another excellent manuscript for a book entitled Scorched Earth, Black Snow; The Commonwealth vs Communism, Korea, 1950 . I say excellent because one veteran who proof read it for impression sent me a message saying he could barely complete the reading because it brought up the horrors he had faced on the line. In other words, very realistic. Here is a promotional item from his publisher: The first year of the Korean War was a tumultuous series of epic battles, ending in a legendary and harrowing retreat. In the summer of 1950, British and Australian troops were dispatched to fight with UN forces in the savage struggle against communism in Korea. After both triumph and tragedy while breaking out of the Pusan Perimeter, 27th Brigade - the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and the Middlesex battalions, soon joined by the Royal Australians - spearheaded the UN drive north. After a spectacular series of battles, victory beckoned. 27th Brigade was halted to allow the Americans the glory of reaching the Chinese border. But across the rugged border, in a shock counter- offensive, China stormed south. In a desperate action, 27th Brigade fought its way out of the trap, to join the UN Command on a harrowing, 200-mile 'bug out. And across the peninsula, surrounded by eight enemy divisions in terrain higher than Cassino and temperatures colder than Stalingrad, 41 Commando fought alongside US Marines at Chosin Reservoir - 'Hellfire Valley', the most nightmarish battle fought by American or British troops in living memory - and escaped annihilation by a hair's breadth. Andrew’s first Korean War book, To The Last Round, The Epic British Stand On The Imjin River, Korea, 1951 , was not just good, but great! It brings to the printed page some of the electric excitement of those times, a bit of the horror, much of the desperation, a lot of the bravery and unflagging service of those who served in the battle. It also is historically accurate, the author having gone to great pains to review official intelligence reports, war diaries, visit all of the field positions, study documents at the British War Museum, as well as interview many of the soldiers who fought there. Andrew has a site for To The Last Round, at (click on) http://tothelastround.wordpress.com Hub Gray’s Beyond the Danger Close Another book published in Canada, now in its eighth year is Beyond the Danger Close, The Korean Experience Revealed , written by Hub Gray. He served in the Battle of Kapyong as a platoon commander with Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, in charge of battalion mortars, and later a rifle platoon. Information can be found at the website (you will have to type it in) : http://hubgray.com/ Still available is John Bishop’s The King’s Bishop , first published in 2001, the 50th anniversary of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry going into action in Korea. John was a corporal at Kapyong but on returning to Canada graduated from Officer Candidate School and rose rapidly in rank to Lieutenant Colonel. He returned to Korea in that rank as the Canadian Defence Attache and met often with North Korean military representatives at PanMunJom to discuss infractions of the Military Armistice Agreement. John now is the national president of the Korea Veterans Association of Canada. The King’s Bishop , ISBN 0-9687825-0-7, was published by Mossy Knoll Enterprises, 3310 Melrose Crescent, Cobble Hill, B.C. V0R 1L0 Fax (250) 743– 3802, [email protected]. There is at least one TV documentary being produced in Australia about the Kapyong battle and several Canadian veterans were interviewed by its producer. We have heard that a Canadian enterprise also is planning a documentary drama about the Battle of Kapyong. If so, we hope that they do their homework and pry out the history. A hint for them: Don't portray Canada's front line troops in parade square dress. While the Princess Patricia's were fighting in Korea they wore a scratch collection of clothing - whatever worked best for them. This often included American combat boots, wind pants, parkas with fur trimmed hoods that were never raised to cover the soldier's ears, often a handkerchief tied round the neck and balaclava wool caps. None of them wore helmets, despite a high number of those who fell being wounded in the head. A couple of the Patricias and their support troops were known to have cussed from time to time, but all were tough gentlemen. They were often tired to the point of exhaustion. They did clean up when they went out of the lines and lived in tents. They even blacked their boots. They were proud of their uniform and their regiment and of Canada. So, there is no shortage of books about the Korean War, particularly those that focus on the April 22-26 Battle of Kapyong. The dates are often given as April 22- 25, but the Patricias and American troops were still on the line on the night of April 25-26. Two of the American battalions had launched daylight attacks on April 25 against the enemy forces that had occupied the four rifle company positions the Royal Australian Regiment had to vacate on the night of April 24-25. The Australians had withdrawn in contact with the enemy only after suffering very high casualties and being virtually out of ammunition, medical supplies and food. The American units remained engaged on April 26 against enemy rear guard troops. Love and Duty attempts to be literary. The writer hopes that it does not bomb. We have received a computer generated admonition from a British government website, advising that our transmission of the first three chapters contained cuss words and that we needed to delete them and resend it.

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