“We saw the orphans in the streets … I felt very sad.”īlack says he hoped the contribution of U.S.-led troops, including himself, could bring relief to the war-weary country. “It was appalling,” he says, recalling seeing “starving” residents and many whose lives had been completely upended by the conflict. The war – which is still technically ongoing – had devastated the country, he recalls. “We sort of slap ourselves on the back that we were there to contribute, to aid them.”Ĭanada lost 516 soldiers in the Korean War, according to figures from the federal government, making it the third deadliest conflict fought by the country.īlack was deployed to South Korea in 1954, about six months after the armistice was signed.
“We take pride in what we accomplished there, all of our Canadian veterans who served in Korea take pride,” the 89-year-old Canadian veteran says. He worked on a navy destroyer assigned to patrol South Korean waters and says it remains an honour to have served. More than 26,000 Canadian Armed Forces were deployed to assist South Korea after it was invaded by North Korea in 1950 and 7,000 more followed to help with peacekeeping after the armistice was signed on July 27, 1953.īlack was part of the peacekeeping contingent. Quite a few of those notes from South Koreans have arrived lately at the Korea Veterans Association, where Black is president of an Ottawa chapter, as the 70th anniversary of the armistice in that conflict approaches.
Bill Black still gets letters and cards thanking him and other Canadian veterans for their service in the Korean War.
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