The Korean War has often been known as “The Forgotten War,” but for students and staff at Our Lady of Lourdes High School, Nov. 5 was a day to remember those who served and gave their lives in the conflict.
The school invited six veterans to talk about their experiences in the war.
The Canadian government officially recognized the war this year, marking the 60th anniversary of the end of the conflict and declaring July 27 as Korean War Veterans Day.
Officially the war was a United Nations conflict involving 20 nations defending the then Republic of Korea against the Chinese-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. It would eventually lead to the creation of North Korea and South Korea, divided today by a demilitarized zone that splits the two countries.
At the school function were veterans Ed Barlow, Colonel Frank Bayne, Joe Steffler, Wes Henry, Steve Piotto and Michael Bladon.
Bayne addressed the lack of official recognition the conflict has received since hostilities ceased in the war that lasted from 1950 to 1953. At the time, he said, it was known as a “police action” and never as a war, which changed when the federal government recognized it this year.
“It took a long time,” the colonel acknowledged of the official recognition. “It’s like everything in life, if you try hard enough and lobby long enough it will happen.”
In reality it was war, several veterans agreed in their stories.
Henry recalled one evening when the shelling became fierce.
“I was in an observation post and we were getting shelled heavily,” he said of the experience. “One (shell) came in and hit the bunker and I got buried and the guys dug me out.”
Henry went to get treated at a medical post and while there “two of my buddies got killed.”
With combat experience near the end of WWII, Bayne joined in the Korean conflict. He recalled during training camp for the enlisted, two soldiers were involved in a barroom brawl and were facing charges. The judge asked Bayne whether “he was taking the two to Korea.” When he said he was, the judge let them loose and they would eventually get killed in the conflict.
It was fate that directed whether soldiers would survive or not, he said.
For many of the young men who enlisted, fighting in a country largely unknown to most Canadians and oceans away, “sounded like an adventure,” Bayne said.
“You got up to the front line and you were put in a bunker with a rifle with five rounds,” he said of the reality many soldiers faced.
Chinese attacks took place after dark because the allied planes secured the airspace.
“You only fight at night. You go out, you hear firing and you know your patrol is in trouble,” Bayne told the students. “The Chinese are coming in twos and threes and they’re trying to kill you or take prisoners. I want you to imagine the terror that goes on with those ordinary soldiers. You’re there and you’re totally shook up.”
It all ends at dawn when the Chinese soldiers gathered up their dead and retreated, he added.
Barlow recalled pushing bodies in to shore for recovery when he arrived on a troop ship.
When the war ended the country was devastated, the colonel recalled. “People were living in boxes.”
Bayne has made a couple of trips back to South Korea and is astounded by how modern the country has become, despite having few natural resources for manufacturing. He credits the advances to a population steeped in a willingness to learn and be educated.
Bayne also urged students to work hard on their education. “My advice is to be involved. Don’t be a bystander. Be involved in your nation and study what’s going on,” he said of what students can learn from their South Korean counterparts.
He also acknowledged the gratefulness of South Koreans to the efforts of the allied forces and Canadian soldiers. “Was it all worth it, yes it was,” he said.
