Forgotten Heroes: Canada and the Korean War

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Topic spans: 1950 - 1999

Forgotten Heroes: Canada and the Korean War

It is called Canada's "Forgotten War." Over 500 Canadians died in the United Nations' struggle to repel the communist forces that invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950. To the people they helped liberate, the Canadians were heroes. Yet those who made it home returned to an indifferent country and a government that took 40 years to officially acknowledge their sacrifice.

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The war intensifies

Broadcast Date: June 30, 1950

Five days after the outbreak of war, the United States commits ground forces to its defense of South Korea. Reports that the Soviet Union might respond by sending its own troops to help North Korea provokes widespread fear of a shooting war between the two nuclear superpowers. While determined to secure peace through UN negotiations, Canada commits the destroyers HMCS Athabaskan, Cayuga and Sioux to the United Nations' task force destined for Korea.

The war intensifies

Eight Royal Canadian Navy destroyers and 3,621 Canadian sailors served in Korean waters from 1950 until 1953. Canada's ships fired over 130,000 shells at communist positions on the Korean mainland. Canadian destroyers in the famed "Trainbusters Club," instituted in July 1952, claimed eight of the 28 Communist supply trains destroyed by the group, with four attributed to HMCS Crusader alone.

The war intensifies

Medium: Radio

Program: CBC News Roundup

Broadcast Date: June 30, 1950

Guest(s):

Commentator: Willson Woodside
Reporter: Ross Munro, John Rich

Duration: 7:20

Last updated:
March 13, 2008

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