Intermission Stories (3)

Bill Campbell

A KOREAN VETERAN LOOK BACK

Bill Campbell, 3rd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment

Bill Campbell was born in Glace Bay, N.S. on Breton Island, the son of a coal miner who passed away at 35 years of age, leaving his wife with 5 kids in the middle of the Great Depression.  Times were tough, but Mrs. Campbell raised them all on meager means.

In 1950, when the call went out for volunteers, the response was remarkable, as over 27,000 joined the Armed Forces of Canada to fight in a country they had never heard of.  Some would not return.  Bill joined up in Toronto and after training in Camp Petawawa, he was sent to Seattle to ship out for Japan and Korea.  “We left Seattle on a liberty ship…Most of the soldiers were really excited to travel to distant lands.  There were 2500 troops aboard, most of whom were American draftees.  They could not believe we were volunteers.   We laughed at them.  We were so gung-ho!  This would all change when we reached the front lines.”

“When we approached Korea, just as dawn was appearing over the horizon, a band awaited us at the dock of Pusan, playing, “If I Knew You Were Coming, I’d A Baked A Cake,” a song which was popular at  that time.  We were now in Korea, the “Land of the Morning Calm”.   The smell of the rice paddies (Fertilized with night soil) permeated the air, but dissipated as we journeyed North to the front lines by train.   One of the saddest moments on this trip was the incredible sight of orphans, many missing limbs begging for food and other hand-outs.  These memories never left us.  There were atrocities on both sides, but the Korean people somehow prevailed and overcame that difficult time.

Canadian Korean War veterans

The landscape in Korea was a delight to behold.  Beautiful mountains dominated the panorama.  The summer weather was hot; wet when the monsoons came with a furor.  In winter, the severe cold winds swept down from Siberia and Manchuria, causing temperatures to plummet to -25 Fahrenheit.  I still remember vividly the peaceful scenery of the Yonchon (Hill 187) area where white cranes came to alight on tree branches like snowflakes, when heavy bombardment reposed momentarily.

I ask my fellow vets whether they ever regret the decision to serve in Korea and they respond, unanimously that they would do it all over again.  They were proud with what they had achieved.

This story found at – KVACanada.com with a link HERE.

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Ronnie, the “Bren Gun Girl”

Fellow blogger, Atomis Scout has an outstanding post on a WWII Canadian female icon, “Ronnie, The Bren Gun Girl” found HERE.

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Vince “Cyclone” McGlone

Vince “Cyclone McGlone

Auckland’s Vince “Cyclone” McGlone, a gunner aboard one of the 3 Royal Navy Ships to pursue the German battleship, Graf Spee to its doom in December 1939, died at age 97.  One of the last survivors in the Battle of the River Plate, from either side, became better known for his gruff but strong reciting of the national anthem.  HMS Achilles was part of the Royal Navy’s New Zealand Division.

“Achilles” emblem

Rear Admiral Jack Steer said, “Vince was a great character who loved to visit Devonport Naval Base and yarn with today’s generation of sailors.”  McGlone enlisted as a boy sailor just shy of his 16th birthday; 2 years later, he was promoted to seaman and posted to the Diomede as a gunner; soon after he was promoted to able seaman and boarded the HMS Achilles.

They were patrolling South American waters when it opened fir on the Graf Spee, a battleship far superior in its fighting capabilities, on 13 December 1939.  In 82 minutes, the gunners fired in excess of 220 broadsides at the enemy ship, forcing her to retreat to Montevideo where she was scuttled 4 days later.  “The Spee should have blown us out of the water.  We were laid down to go 32 knots and in the battle we got up to 35.  They weren’t expecting that speed and so we put them off their aim.”  McGlone said the ship burned for 3 days and they celebrated aboard the Achilles, “Unfortunately there was no open bar on the ship.”

McGlone wore 6 medals, including: the Atlantic Star, the Pacific Star, the British War Medal, the New Zeland War Medal, the New Zealand Occupational Medal and the Japanese Occupational Medal.

This information was brought to my attention by our fellow blogger, Haley from Tall Tales. me found HERE. 

stamp honoring the “Achilles”

Click on photos to enlarge.

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Farewell Salutes – 

“The Kissing Sailor”

Peter W. Baron – England & Canada; Royal Navy, WWII

David Colflesh – Kansas, Long Island & W.Palm Beach, FL; US Army, WWII, Colonel (Ret.)

Clifford Corbier – Glendale, AZ; US Army, MSgt., Korea

Dana “Dutch” Fisher – San Diego, CA; US Navy, WWII, USS Torrance

James Kealey – Hinsdale, IL; US Army, WWII

Harold Lichtenstein – Washington, DC; US Army, WWIIRoland V. Rakow – Miami, FL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, No. Africa, 83rd Squadron, POW – escaped

Glen McDuffie – Dallas, TX; US Navy, WWII, (the famous “Kissing Sailor” photo)

Harvey Perritt, Jr. – Tabb, VA; US Army, Colonel, (Ret.), Vietnam, 2 Silver Stars, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, 8 Air Medals

Harold B. Nelson – Rotorua, NZ # 437324, 14th Fighter Squadron

William Vaugham – Silver Spring, MD; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO

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