Ambush

Heroes Remember

Ambush

Transcript

There was some, even the South Koreans that . . . we didn't know, like . . . it was so hard to tell if you're North Korean, South Korean. There was no difference in the, in them. Some of the South Koreans, what we thought were South Koreans, were soldiers by day, or farmers by day, soldiers by night. But they were North Koreans. Walking up the road, all of a sudden, a guy bend over and "tik". Somebody behind him would pull the trigger, and if you were fortunate enough to be out of the road of that, well, you did ok. But we were under a couple of ambushes, where we had crossed the Incheon River and I just happened to mention, mention to one of the guys, I said, "Wouldn't this be a great place for an ambush?" We come back across the river. The next day, we went across the river again and sure enough, right there where I said, was a cornfield and it just stood up, and these were all Chinese and North Korean. Fear is, is, is something that we all have. We all have fear of something. But the fear of losing your life, or when you know that you're in an ambush, the fear of losing your life gives you more, oh, I don't know what you call it, but whatever it is, it gives you more sense of ability to protect yourself. So, you do what you have to do, and if you get down on the ground and, and you pray to God that, that you're gonna make it through this, yeah. Some of the North Koreans or Chinese, or whatever, they hollered and screamed and what have you, because they knew they were under fire, being, being the same as we were, under fire but our training was that much better, that we kind of didn't let these people know that we were panicking and, where, where they did. They, they felt the same as we did. I, it was them or us, so . . . Well, we had guys that were radio operators, you know, like, signalmen and they'd call in air support or other support, tanks, whatever, to protect us at that certain spot. Now, there was a lot of American air support, which was a great thing. We even called our own artillery to fire right above us, right where we were, because this is something that, you know, that you could depend on, your artillery. There was some shortfalls at times, but you hear of people being killed by friendly fire. Well, it does happen. That's some of your own. It does happen. There's, there's shortfalls, but it's something that, that if it does happen that way, if there is . . . It only happened once, and your signalmen and what have you, they tell you that ,tell them that they're not firing high enough, or whatever, and . . . But with, with support like that, it makes life a whole lot easier for you.

Description

Mr. Gowing recalls what it was like to be ambushed, describing running into North Korean soldiers in disguise, and being ambushed in a cornfield.

Gerald Edward Gowing

Mr. Gowing was born in 1931 in Listowel, Ontario. At the age of nine, Mr. Gowing was taken in by the Stratford division of the Children's Aid Society because his mother had passed away and his father was unable to take care of him. Looking for adventure, and to take part in something with purpose, Mr. Gowing joined the army in October 1950, requesting to serve in Korea. Sent to Calgary, Alberta, for basic training at the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) barracks, he was only there a few weeks before shipping overseas in January 1951 as reinforcement Bren gunner for the 2nd Battalion PPCLI. Mr. Gowing saw heavy action in Korea, including the Battle at Kapyong (Hill 677) for which the entire battalion was later presented with a Presidential Citation medal, the highest award granted by the United States, outside of the US. Reluctant to return to Canada, Mr. Gowing left Korea in May 1952, after his tour had ended. He left the military in November of 1952, but returned in November of 1955, to serve as a signaller for three years before being discharged for good.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 04:34
Person Interviewed:: Gerald Edward Gowing
War, Conflict or Mission:: Korean War
Location/Theatre:: Korea
Branch:: Army
Units/Ship:: 2nd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry
Rank:: Private
Occupation:: Bren Gunner

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Date modified:: 2019-06-20