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I Killed a Prisoner

Heroes Remember

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I Killed a Prisoner

Transcript
I was sent back 14 days one time to guard prisoners in the echelon area. The incident there, I don't know if I feel like talking about it, you know. It's a dirty situation. I killed a prisoner. I killed a prisoner there. What happened was we were guarding prisoners and there was barbed wire, barbed wire all around and this is temporary holding unit until the units come and pick them up and take them back or elsewhere. And I told my buddy, I said, “You be careful.” He would give them cigarettes, feeling sorry for them, you see, he would give them cigarettes and stuff like that and I said, “You be careful.” I said, “they'll cut your throat just as fast,” you know. At one point we came across he was facing this way, we were on the board walk, you know, a board walk and prisoners are on both sides. I heard a gurgle and I looked back and there a prisoner had him, you know. I don't know where he got a knife or whatever else he had, whatever he had in his hand but he had him, the other guard like this. Even today I don't know how quick I acted in that situation but I came down with a butt of the rifle in the back of his head, knocked his eyeballs right out of his socket, you know. And it's a dirty thing you know. After, I was sent back on the front lines. There was a group of people, you know, that were investigators, you know. They come and questioned me over and over and over, over that, you know, and I often say that what would you have expected me to do, you know? Let the situation go, turn my back on it? But I knew my responsibility, I thought that was my responsibility to protect my fellow guard.
Description

Mr. Simon describes an incident, while he was on guard duty behind the lines, wherein he killed a North Korean prisoner who was trying to slit another guard’s throat.

Stephen Simon

Stephen Simon, the sixth of ten children, was born in Big Cove, New Brunswick on February 19, 1932. After finishing grade eight on the reserve, he attended school off the reserve where he faced a lot of discrimination. He often fished with his father, who was a police officer at Big Cove. Mr. Simon enlisted at the age of eighteen, took his basic training in Camp Borden, and became a qualified paratrooper on December 22, 1950. After arriving in Korea, he trained as a radio operator, and served in that capacity until the end of his military service. In 1958, Mr. Simon’s skills were highlighted when he served in a top security communications centre.

Meta Data
Medium:
Video
Owner:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:
2:21
Person Interviewed:
Stephen Simon
War, Conflict or Mission:
Korean War
Branch:
Army
Units/Ship:
Royal Canadian Regiment
Rank:
Sergeant

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