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The Road to Korea

Heroes Remember

Transcript
And I told the boss I was quitting. And October 1950, that’s when I went down and signed up again. It’s just that somebody had to go over there and you know, keep the, well we were told by I used to remember my father talk, I was only, well I was in my 20's then for the Korea. I was about 28, and one of the old guys they called me. And they told me again, they say, you saw we can hear him talking, they said, “It’s better to have the war over there then coming over here.” So that got into my mind and there we were again. And I just went down and signed up in Toronto and that was it. When I went in during the war you must remember the war was on and this Korea business was just starting. And, the only thing I remember really well about it’s just the guys again. And where we stayed on the exhibition grounds in Toronto, we stayed in the stalls in the horse palace there. I mean they were cleaned up and that’s where we stayed until we were ready to go. I was already experienced from the Second World War. I didn’t have to take any basic training. They shipped me right over to the school at the artillery and continued my trade as a radio man again working wireless sets. Then they shipped us down to Fort Lewis, Washington, and we were there for a while then we shipped out from there and went to Korea. Awful dirty country. I’ve never seen anything like it. I mean what else could you do. I mean they were all bombed out and everything else. They couldn’t do anything but live in dirt, and stuff like that. That’s what I remember the most about it, was just the dirt and the filth.
Description

Mr. Taylor describes why he enlisted for Korean duty and discusses basic training, his trip over and his first impression of Korea.

Edward P. Taylor

Edward P. Taylor, the twelfth of fifteen children, was born in Sturgeon Falls, Ontario on September 9, 1923. His father managed a paper mill and was therefore unable to enlist. However Edward, very aware of the situation in Europe, enlisted in the Army in Toronto at age nineteen, two years after being rejected by the Navy because of his age. Mr. Taylor served as radio operator with the Royal 22nd Regiment in Italy and he later redeployed to Northern Europe, where he spent time with the Army of Occupation. He served as a radio operator once more during the Korean War. Choosing to remain in the armed forces, Mr. Taylor also completed two tours of duty with NATO in Germany.

Meta Data
Medium:
Video
Owner:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:
1:50
Person Interviewed:
Edward P. Taylor
War, Conflict or Mission:
Korean War
Location/Theatre:
Korea
Battle/Campaign:
Korea
Branch:
Army
Units/Ship:
Royal Canadian Artillery
Occupation:
Signaller

Copyright / Permission to Reproduce

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