Description
Mr. Himes recalls his impression of the Chinese enemy, particularly his shock at the numbers of bodies sacrificed.
Kenneth Albert Himes
Mr Himes was born February 6, 1932, in Fort William, Ontario. He left school while in Grade 6, and worked at various jobs. After joining the Militia in an attempt to make money, he was posted to Churchill in the medical corp. While there he met men from the Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR) on training - he was so impressed with their skill and level of training, that he decided to join the RCR, and no other unit, as soon as he came of age. Canada was already looking for volunteers for Korea at the time Mr Himes became eligible to join, and thus was sent to Winnipeg the same day he signed on. After basic training in Petawawa, special training in Wainwright, and mountain training in Jasper, Mr Himes was notified Christmas Day 1952 that the RCR would be shipped to Korea - they arrived in Seoul in late April. Within two weeks of arriving in Korea, Mr Himes found himself in the middle of the Battle at Hill 187 - it would prove to be the worst action he participated in during his tour. After the peace accord was signed, Mr Himes remained in Korea with the RCR for an additional 8 months, patrolling the demilitarized zone. Having 3 years served under his belt, Mr Himes left the military soon after returning to Canada, but joined the RCR again when he found himself out of work. He remained with the RCR until he retired from active service in 1962.
Transcript
Interviewer: What was your impression of the enemy that you faced in Korea?
I think they've got to be stupid the way they throw their bodies away. But that's what they're using, is mass, mass, mass force. When they attack, they attack.... the ones in front could either have rice mats or whatnot and their bodies stayed over the wire, and then the other ones come behind with burp guns or hand grenades, and then people come along after that with ammo and just pick up the burp guns, because they haven't got any, so it's...
Interviewer: But it'd be a terrifying thing for a person from the West to see this.
Yeah.