Korea's No Man's Land
Heroes Remember - Korean War
Korea's No Man's Land
Transcript
There was no-man’s-land, and it was called the Chamason Valley
( sp). And they had a creek that run through it, you see. And
what we would do at nighttime is go on patrols, to go out there
and see what the enemy was doing and what they were coming around
see what they could do to us. So, that way, we have an idea who
was out there, and what they were doing. It wasn’t easy, because
you had to walk through a swamp. You went out there when it was
dark, and you came in just when it was turning light, and that’s
a long time. And you had running shoes on. Your
feet were wet all night and all that. And when you walked, you
could hear ‘swish, swish, swish’. Water in the running
shoes, you know. And there was nothing stupid about
those North Koreans. We said, if you turned around, they’d put
one of them mortars in your back pocket. They could, you know.
But we used to go out in no-man’s-land, and we’d go
across that area on their territory, and go up the hills to
see how far we could get up and see what was up there. And
that’s where we used to come under the fire all the time. And
they used to do the same thing to us. And we were always nervous
There’s no good, a guy telling me he wasn’t nervous.
I was nervous there at nighttime because you hear a little tingle
down there, you’re looking around wondering if somebody’s down
there. But when you got back, you felt a little bit relieved,
and said, “Well, I’m safe now.” And sometimes you had to go, if
they didn’t have enough men, you got, maybe, stuck the next night
or the third night, to go back out again. Which nobody liked,
because it’s like, pushing your luck, you know, going out
there.
Description
Mr. Niles describes patrolling in No-Man’s Land, the skill of the North Korean foe, and tempting fate.
Meta Data
- Medium:
- Video
- Owner:
- Veterans Affairs Canada
- Duration:
- 2:12
- Person Interviewed:
- Joseph Allan Niles
- War, Conflict or Mission:
- Korean War
- Location/Theatre:
- Korea
- Battle/Campaign:
- Korea
- Branch:
- Army
- Units/Ship:
- Royal Canadian Regiment
- Rank:
- Infantry
- Date modified: