Casualties on Hill 355

Heroes Remember

Casualties on Hill 355

Transcript

Mostly, if you were five men in a crew, you know them five men

Picture of a 5 man tank crew in Korea.

and you might know the next tank over. But you don't know anybody in different crews, different, different troops. See, in the, the armoured corps we only had one squadron in Korea, which is twenty tanks, and maybe four more was, was headquarters. So, we had five men to a tank, and we didn't have the whole regiment. We just had one squadron, so we were less than any of other people there in Korea. But we fought like hell. On 355, I was there in October 22nd, 23rd, and . . . 21st, 22nd, and 23rd, and we got her for three days straight. We got one guy killed. Gordie Waldner got killed. We had one fellow won the Military Medal, Roy Stevenson(sp.), yeah. And we got her for three or four days straight, and there was 18 RCRs killed and about four or five, I think, taken prisoner, and lots, lots wounded. We had . . . My loader was wounded and the code guy was

Camera paning across the picture of the 5 man tank crew.

wounded, and I just got scared. Everything scared me Interviewer: Were you afraid? Well, I had three weeks to go home, and that's when you usually get it. I didn't want to get it three weeks. And I got out of there in three weeks safely. All except for this.

Description

Mr. MacBride speaks of capturing and holding Hill 355 for three days. He also speaks about the casualties they had during those 3 days.

Albert Hugh MacBride

Mr. MacBride was born July 25, 1932, in New Westminster, British Columbia, in St. Mary's Hospital. He lived the early part of his life in White Rock and moved to New Westminister during the Second World War. When he was 18 he joined the Canadian Army enlisting with the Armoured Corps and the Lord Strathcona's Horse Regiment. Mr. MacBride did his basic training at Camp Borden in Ontario and later in Meaford, Ontario, with his tank regiment. He served as a driver/gunner with the Armoured Corps assigned to a tank. On his way to Korea, Mr. MacBride flew to Japan and after a short stay was transported to a troop ship on it's way to Pusan. In Korea, Mr. MacBride made his way to Hill 355 and served as a part of a five man tank team. In 1953 he returned home to Vancouver via Seattle, Washington, and was greeted by his father upon arrival. Mr. MacBride left the army and joined the Canadian Air Force and transferred to a career as a crash rescue firefighter for 20 years. He was married in 1954 and stationed all over bases in the Canadian Air Force from Summerside, P.E.I., to Germany. After leaving the air force he was the Provincial Fire Inspector and later the Fire Marshal for the Federal Government with Parks Canada Historical Sites and Indian Affairs for 14 years.

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