Battle Conditions

Heroes Remember

Battle Conditions

Transcript

Interviewer: Seeing, being at the war itself, is it what you had imagined when you were training, when you were here, before you actually went? Well, what I had envisioned in my mind was somewhat close to that because the atmosphere, the weather conditions in Korea were about the same as they are here. Geographically, they had high mountains and they had a lot of rice paddies and things like that. Although we don't have rice paddies here, we have some mountainous areas. It was quite nice to see that kind of geography, but on the other hand you knew that you were threatened all the time that there was a possibility that some kind of a... something could happen. You know, you could be shot or you could be shelled or you could be, you know ambushed or whatever. So that always was with you and stayed with you so you had to be alert. Your best friend at that time, you know, was your rifle and we took great care of our rifle.

Description

Mr. Knockwood talks about the battlefield conditions he faced in Korea

Noel Knockwood

Mr. Knockwood was born in the Indian Brook First Nations in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, July 17, 1932. He received his early education at the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School. He joined the Canadian Army in 1951 and at the suggestion of his older brother, a Second World War Veteran, signed up for the artillery. He spent six years in the service serving in Canada, the United States, Japan and Korea. He received his basic training in Shilo, Manitoba. During this training he received courses on atomic, biological and chemical warfare. He was just 18 years old when he went overseas to fight in Korea and was there for 413 days. After returning from Korea, Mr. Knockwood taught small arms artillery and became a drill Sergeant. After leaving the military, Mr. Knockwood furthered his education graduating with a major in Sociology from St. Mary’s University. He went on to teach at Dalhousie University and St. Mary’s University and was a guest lecturer at several other universities in the Maritimes. He received the National Aboriginal Achievement Reward for Heritage and Spirituality in 2002. At the time of this interview Mr. Knockwood was the Sergeant at Arms for the province of Nova Scotia.

Meta Data