To The Hills Near Kapyong
Heroes Remember - Korean War
To The Hills Near Kapyong
Transcript
Early in the evening, it was dark, when the first contact was
made and we sort of, the companies were layed out up the
hill and "A" Company was down here on the Pimple, they called
it, it was a little knob sort of thing and that's where the first
contact was made when they were coming down. They took some,
under fire from the, they were firing on, on troop movements,
and that. There was an American tank company that was down on
the road surface just by there and they come under fire also and,
and some of the Australian lead platoons, and that, and then it
just went on from there.
Interviewer: What company where you with at that time?
"A" Company.
Interviewer You were there on the Pimple then? Yes
Interviewer: The battle developed from that first contact? Yes
Interviewer: How would you describe how the battle developed
that first night?
Well, it was really eerie because they were flying, firing
parachute flares, our people were, to try and give you some
light to see by, and when you looked, they were attacking on
all fronts, I mean, it wasn't just this platoon getting hit or
that, they were hitting the whole hill, and with the parachute
flares and that up, you had some light and really, the hill was
just crawling with Chinese. Just crawling with them. Everywhere
you looked, it was moving and there was Chinese and they just
kept coming and coming and then they'd stop and then more would
come and they'd stop, and it just went on continuously.
Interviewer: Were there moments when you thought you were going
to be overwhelmed by the numbers?
Yeah, kind of thought we were going to get overrun. In fact,
"B" Company, I think it was or "C" Company, did get a bit of
an overrun and the company commander called artillery down
on their positions to clear the, clear the area. Everybody got
down on their trenches and they called down the artillery. We
were being supported by New Zealand artillery, the Kiwis,
at the time.
Description
In April 1951, the PPCLI Battalion moves to the hills near Kapyong. Mr. Nickerson re-constructs the first contact with the enemy there.
Meta Data
- Medium:
- Video
- Owner:
- Veterans Affairs Canada
- Duration:
- 03:13
- Person Interviewed:
- Ray Nickerson
- War, Conflict or Mission:
- Korean War
- Location/Theatre:
- Korea
- Battle/Campaign:
- Kapyong
- Branch:
- Army
- Units/Ship:
- Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI)
- Date modified: