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sojusucks
Joined: 31 May 2008
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 Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:37 pm Post subject: |
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| I've had a few of the older Koreans bring it up. Many seem to think that their country is the only one to have had an internal conflict to divide the country. What else is new. It is mostly them talking about their feelings without being able to understand another side. Of course, exceptions exist. |
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BigRedJ
Joined: 16 Feb 2009
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| Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 12:40 pm Post subject: Something you might not know... |
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Good post. Those Canadian flags sewn on those backpacks won't help you much against communist troops or 5th columnists.  |
First off, great thread, lots of interesting stuff said thus far. Okay now my intention is not to try and turn this thread into anything akin to America bashing or some pro-Canuck propaganda piece. But there are obviously a few misconceptions I can see throughout this thread, but what I am going to focus on is the Canadian character and I don't think this is the fault of a few misguided Americans. Instead, it's our own misunderstanding and ignorance of our history and culture.
The whole notion that we are some peace loving/peackeeping ultra-liberal country really isn't rooted in any national tradition. Rather, it's some futile attempt to differentiate us from our "war-mongering neighbours" (also a misconception) to the South. In fact Canada has deployed far more combat troops overseas than we let ourselves believe and instead we try and grasp this notion that we have purely altruistic intentions in the world. Perhaps we do try and save the world, but much like our American neighbours and European cousins, our foreign policy over this century and the last, is best characterized by the deployment of COMBAT troops not UN peacekeepers.
At the risk of typing out a long-winded answer I am going to get to what I was hoping might have been alluded to in this thread. That is the fact that Canada sent COMBAT troops into Korea. And guess what? We performed exceptionally well, as we have since the forging of our nation at places like Ypres and Passchendaele.
What I think is important to note about this conflict for both sides (Canadians and Americans) is the commitment and cooperation of our two nations during the Cold War and especially today.
But now for a little friendly and very brief propaganda about Canada's participation in Korea, and perhaps something you can share with Koreans. At the Battle of Kapyong, 2nd Battalion of Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry defended Hill 677 against a massive Chinese offensive (don't have exact numbers for the 23rd April but was part of a larger Chinese Spring Offensive numbering over 700,000 troops). Canadian forces watched as 3RAR was overrun on Hill 507 only to be completely surrounded moments later by waves of attacking Chinese soldiers. 2 PPCLI fought tooth and nail, hand-to-hand and fist to face in order to hold Hill 677 and avoid being overrun (highest feature in the region!). The fighting was so desperate that the Canadians were forced to call in artillery strikes on their own position a number of times. Okay now I can't do this justice in a short post but the fighting lasted for nearly two days before the Canadians could finally be relieved.
Lieutenant-Colonel James R. Stone of Canada was awarded the Distinguished Service Order as a member of the British commonwealth. However, what is most notable is that 2nd Battalion of the PPCLI received both a United States Presidential Unit Citation and a South Korean Presidential Unit Citation for their actions at the Battle of Kapyong. In fact this stirred up a lot of controversy in Canada, as we weren't sure how to or whether we should accept an American unit citation. This was a very unusual circumstance as a Canadian unit was being awarded by a foreign military service.
I am not sure what you want to or what I expect you to take from this post, but hopefully you will come away a little more proud of your Canadian military history and for a number of you this might be a shock to learn that we were in Korea. As an American I hope you will appreciate that your friendly neighbours to the north know how to kick ass and take names.
Thanks. [/quote] |
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wylies99
Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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| Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 1:18 pm Post subject: |
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I am not sure what you want to or what I expect you to take from this post, but hopefully you will come away a little more proud of your Canadian military history and for a number of you this might be a shock to learn that we were in Korea. As an American I hope you will appreciate that your friendly neighbours to the north know how to kick ass and take names.
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I'm not the one you need to educate about the Korean War. It would be nice if more Canadians in Korea knew that Canadians fought and died in the War.
Most Canadian expats here claim to be anti-war/US. They claim that they wear those Canadian flags on their backpacks so "everyone knows" they're not Americans, like there's anything wrong with being American, so, the flags on the backpacks are a casual Anti-American kind of thing.
I've even been forced to work with one at my first hagwon who vocally claimed to support Kim Jong-Il because the Canadian teacher didn't like the USA. Yeah, he even said it in front of students and parents.  Maybe he didn't know that Canadians fought and died during the Korean War.
It's well-known that a number of nations contributed to the Korean War efforts. It was a UN action, after all. If anyone wants to learn more about the contributions of soldiers and civilians from their home countries, I'd encourage them to visit the Korean War Memorial.
Oh, and good for you- a Canadian who's proud of his/her nation's military history is hard to find in Korea. Keep educating the younger Canadians about the sacrifices Canadians made to keep communism out of South Korea. |
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catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 2:54 pm Post subject: |
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Has everyone here been to the UN cemetary in Busan? I'm luck to have been there on two separate occasions.
I wonder if the schools ever take their students there? |
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jss1919
Joined: 01 Dec 2008
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| Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 3:58 pm Post subject: |
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| It's nice to see posters doing the research. US bashers just keep smoking what you're smoking ... you "rebels" (sarcasm). |
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