First Contact With The Battle Front

Heroes Remember

First Contact With The Battle Front

We got off the train at our, at our, at this headquarters area and we were there for a short while. We were within earshot of battle activities that were taking place. 355 as a matter of fact, was a hill that was taken by the Chinese and they were driven off and the Americans took it back and they were driven off. The Canadians eventually, the Royal 22nd Regiment and the RCRs took that hill again and held it and they were in the process of doing that, that December. We moved from that headquarters area to Able company that was on known as The Hook position. That was a hot area, hot, I mean there was a lot of activity. And the North Koreans or the Chinese at the time decided that they should welcome us and they started throwing mortar rounds into the, into the area. And I'll never forget this, the thought came back to me, the thought that we were trained to kill. Sergeant-Major DeCoste informed me of that and I also, I remembered at that time, I remembered that at that time, and it also occurred to me that the people on the other side of that valley were trained to kill too.

Mr. Ferguson describes travelling to the front by train, and arriving as Hill 355 was being consolidated by Canadian troops. He then describes proceeding to The Hook, where he comes to realize that the enemy are trained killers too.

Luther Ferguson

Luther Ferguson was born in Mayview, Saskatchewan on October 23, 1933. He describes himself as being “unworldly, poorly educated and having low self-esteem.” Mr. Ferguson felt that the Army offered him the best opportunity to both further his education and improve his life. He enlisted in 1951, and soon found himself a combatant in the Korean War, where he served in the infantry. Mr. Ferguson’s accounts lean heavily on the psychological impacts of training and warfare, and the devastation experienced by the civilian population during the Korean conflict.