Quick Response By R.C.N.

Heroes Remember

Quick Response By R.C.N.

Transcript

Interviewer: What were the names of the Destroyers that went? There was Cayuga, Athabaskan and Sioux. I was in Sioux. Interviewer: Were you, do you recall what was told to you men, what your duties were going to be in Korean waters? Well we really didn't have much idea what it was. We got to, we sailed for Hawaii and we did some anti-submarine training there. And we really didn't get much instruction until we came under American control in, in Korea. Interviewer: What, what happened when you did come into Korean waters and came under American control? Well we went, first, well we arrived in Sasebo, Sasebo was our operating base, and the first day we were there we were given overnight, or ten o'clock leave I guess anyway. We were stand-by ship so the, we, there was another guy from Nanaimo, who lived in Nanaimo, was on the same ship with me, his name was Bud Booth. He lives in Port Alberni now. But we went ashore and headed for downtown, it was, Japan was still occupied at the time, by the Americans and they, we got into a couple of places where they served booze and then we were walking up the street and well we were told when we left the ship that if we got, were going to sail, there would be, they would shine the twenty-one inch search light into the air and we were to return to the ship immediately. But we had just been at sea for thirty days so we weren't too interested in going to, back to sea so we said, "Well we won't go." And the, we were walking up the street and a British Military Police stopped us, "I say, are you fellows off the civics?" And we said, "Yeah, we are off the Sioux." He said, "Well you got a recall." "Yeah, we're heading right back." Then we walked about another block and a great big guy and a coloured fella in a jeep, an MP, he said, "You all off the Sioux?" And we said "Yep." He says, I said, "We're heading right back." He said, "You sure are. Get in the jeep." And he drove us right to the jetty and we sailed that night with a convoy to Pusan, as an escort.

Description

North Korea invaded South Korea in June 1950. Within a week of that invasion, three destroyers of the Royal Canadian Navy sailed from the West Coast for Korean waters.

William White

Mr. White was born Feb. 12, 1930. His father, a coal miner by profession, fought in both the First and the Second World Wars. The family moved to Nanaimo when Mr. White was about 1 year old. From a very young age Mr. White had wanted to join the Navy. He realized that dream when he enlisted on March 1, 1948. He set sail from the West Coast on the HMCS Sioux for Korea, in June of 1950. On the way to Korea they stopped in Hawaii to receive some anti-submarine training. Bt he says they never really received much training until they came under American control in Korea.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 02:21
Person Interviewed:: William White
War, Conflict or Mission:: Korean War
Location/Theatre:: Waters off Korea
Battle/Campaign:: Korea
Branch:: Navy
Units/Ship:: HMCS Sioux
Occupation:: Storekeeper

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Quick Response By R.C.N.

Heroes Remember