Pride of Service

Heroes Remember

Pride of Service

Transcript

Interviewer: Your tour of duty came to an end? Yes, my last night in there, Corporal Black, he got killed. He was coming out with me. And even to this day, I think of him and our Regimental Sergeant Major. He got killed. He was the first one killed and when I was there and Corporal Black he was the last one. In between, it seems to be a blank for who got killed in there. I go down, like we have the Wall of Remembrance in Brampton now. I go down there several times since we put the wall up and I'm trying to concentrate. I'm looking at the dates, but I don't know, it's just, can't put nothing together. You go down to the MO's next day after battle there and the wounded and the dead are stretched out there. I know there's one there and I'm looking. There was one friend of mine and he called for me and I worked my way down through the hills and I got down to the aid station and they said he died and they moved his body out and when I went on leave, anybody went on leave would head for the hospital in Japan, Yokohama where all your buddies may be. What a great surprise. There he was sitting up. He'd got shot in the shoulder and between the legs, pretty bad. I guess when they'd shipped him out he was in an Indian hospital from India and I guess the doctor there picked up a faint beat, cut him open and massaged the heart and brought him around again. And what a surprise when I went there and seen him sitting up bed there. I'd seen him a few times after that but he was shipped home and then I'd seen him once or twice when I got home. Where, what happened to him, I don't know. I moved around quite a bit when I got home. I did, I did check out in Winnipeg. He was suppose to have be there. Someone said they'd seen him there, but his hand was paralysed eh. They took the nerves out and he had, well he had to get electric shock to try and bring the nerves back around, but everybody knew him by that clamp on his hand he wore for a long time. Interviewer: How long was it before you went back to Canada? I, oh, I spent my tour of duty there. I got home Christmas of ‘51 just before Christmas and I was the only one. I think it was 88 on the draft coming out and I was chosen cause I was one of the first there, so they got me out. I was kinda tempted to stay, but when the choice came, okay I'll go. And I was, we flew into Washington - Seattle, Washington I guess and then Canadian DC3's picked us up. We flew to Winnipeg, but boy what a rough ride over those mountains in those DC3s. Frost on there, cold. I know I had a pair of longjohns stuck in my kit somewhere. I dug them out to get them on. A few guys, on the DC3 the heater's at the back of the plane. There's no, you sit along the sides eh. Too many at the back there. The co-pilot had to come out, “Hey, spread out. Captain can't keep the plane in control.” We landed in Winnipeg and they gave us some heavy great coats, loaded up, got to Toronto and then we were all taken down to the, who lived in Toronto disappeared. The ones were North Bay and going to different places at the station, well you know, Toronto station, the main one in Toronto. I can't think of the name right now. I stayed, we all stayed together for a while. Nobody wanted to part with one another. We had a bit of money on us so we just got into some booze. I know I missed my train getting into Hamilton so I had enough money to catch a bus and I know when I got off the bus in Hamilton I was a sight to see I guess. Everybody looking at me. I'm fully packed. I got my knapsack, my back's full and everything else. You'd think I was going off to war again. A lot of strange looks were given to me. A few sneers. “Get a job you bum.” Oh, that went on for quite a while. I was glad to take the uniform off. A lot of the people didn't appreciate you going to Korea. “Oh you're spending our taxpayer's money.” I always remember that. It kinda hurts, but that was their feelings. Interviewer: What was the reaction when you saw your mother and father? Oh that was a good reaction alright. I was a little late getting home because they'd got word that I'd be in, but I just felt funny leaving my buddies eh. But when I did get home there, they had a party for me and that was great to see them. Of course they were happy I got back alive so, my brothers were all there, a few uncles, they were ex-army men. They were there. “Now you know what it's all about, eh?” Yes, I hope I never have to see it again. Interviewer: What impact did that experience have on you in later life? Well, it's still there. You still live with it eh. Sometimes you dream of it and if you're out partying with some, you get bad memories come back. I feel more comfortable around ex-veterans. I figure we'd all done something the same and we all talk the same. I found when I talk to somebody that's never been in the service, they don't understand. There's no impact on them. You know, it's just it's, all in your head. Yeah it's in my head alright. It will always be there. You don't shake it. Anytime you meet somebody you talk eh and they're all the same way. It's an experience that, I don't know how to say, you'll live with it the rest of your life. I know I will and I know all my buddies I see when I go to, on parades with them, you go down to the wall we put up and they're, they're all the same as I am. Once you been under fire, you know what it's all about. Then you're happy to be alive. Interviewer: The Korean conflict was the first test of the United Nations Security Council and an all volunteer army was to be assembled and enforce the peace, active peacekeeping. When you look back on your involvement as a member of that force, are you proud of the service that you and your comrades gave? Yes I am, because I, the way I look at it, that first conflict to me that was the start of the fall of the communist world. If they hadn't been stopped there, where would they have gone. I think when all the other countries sent troops in there and were willing to fight them, they knew they were in trouble. Then there was actually no trouble after that, never had to assemble a force like that again. So to me I always think, I always will, that was the start of the fall of the communist world. Even though we do have problems here and there and peacekeepers are going out I doubt you will ever see anything like that again. I hope not anyway. Interviewer: When you hear Canadians now saying what was the purpose in going to Korea? When you hear people saying that they don't know what happened in Korea, what's your reaction? That they're free people. I think if that wasn't stopped in Korea there, they'd been over here. They're lucky they got their freedom, for people who volunteered to go and all these other volunteers. A lot of them weren't volunteers in other countries. They were conscripted, but at least I'm proud to say all Canadians were volunteers. It was their choice and to me that's why Canada's free and the other countries because we stopped the aggressing right there. If it'd got any further, who knows, eh. Japan could have been taken, Singapore all those countries could have been taken over and I think that's when they found out the rest of the world wasn't going to take it from them So it makes me proud to say I was there. I, I don't hide the fact. I've nothing to be ashamed of. Interviewer: Over 500 Canadians died there. It was 516, but I think there was one missing. I believe. Interviewer: Was the sacrifice by those 516 Canadians worth it? Yes. That's a few amount to give, to give peace to the rest of the world . That's the way I look at it anyway. Wounded now, I forget how many. Couple of thousand, but for 516, they sacrificed their lives, they volunteered to go and I think they knew what they were doing and I think their families were and are still proud of them.

Description

Mr. Chrysler remembers his last night of combat before returning to Canada. He speaks of his pride of service and the contribution of Canadian service men and women to stop the spread of communism in the Far East and the rest of the world.

William Chrysler

William Chrysler was born on May 4, 1930 in Hamilton, Ontario. He vividly remembers the news reports of the events of the Second World War. As a teenager, he enlisted in the Canadian Militia with the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry. At the age of 20 years, he enlisted in the Canadian Army and was with the first group of volunteers sent to Korea in 1950.

Meta Data