Over the past 10 or 15 years, much has been done by many people to help tell the story of the Korean War.
This war, like all others, was a terrible event which took such a heavy toll of human lives both civilian and military. Cities and homes and industry were destroyed and the daily lives of people forever changed.
The war in Korea became the forgotten war. It lay quietly in the dark shadows cast by the First and Second World Wars but with the passing of time, it has gradually moved a little closer to the forefront.
In post-war years, the people of the Republic of Korea worked hard to not just rebuild their cities and repair everything that was destroyed, but have far surpassed anything that could ever have been imagined. The war scorched the land and its people, and through tireless work and sacrifice, Korea became a modern, prosperous place that is almost unequalled.
Last year, I was able to travel to Korea and see first-hand the dramatic growth that had taken place. I am too young to have seen Korea in the 1950’s but have looked at countless photographs and listened to many stories from veterans. My journey to Korea was an amazing experience that took me to the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Busan.
The foundation of the unimagined growth and success of Korea was the result of the United Nations contingent who fought for the restoration of peace and freedom.
Some soldiers who were among the fighting force are those who are interred in the Busan Cemetery and the Yokohama War Cemetery in Japan. There are also others who died and were buried elsewhere and these few men could be called Canada’s last forgotten soldiers of the Korean War.
There are eight men from British Columbia who volunteered to go to Korea and fight. They were officially part of the Canadian Brigade. The names of these men are Carol Boyd Lecuyer, Lorne Rolfe Mooney, William Muir, Alfred Guillaume Poupart, William Allan Rathbun, Frederick Slater, James Raymond Zantolas and Edward Gordon Kain. These names are found in Canada’s Book of Remembrance for the Korean War, the Korean War Memorial Wall in Brampton Ontario, Korean War Memorial Ambassador for Peace Monument in Burnaby Central Park, and even on the bronze honour roll at the British Columbia Parliament building.
Their cause of death was sometimes unusual, and their deaths did not take place on the Korean peninsula or in a military hospital in Japan.
How did they die? Well, one soldier named William Muir died in Sumas when training with the Military Engineers. Another soldier named Lieutenant Edward Kain lived near the Barnet Road in North Burnaby. He was a veteran of the Korean War, serving with the Royal 22nd Regiment. He was only 25 years old when he passed away in Shaughnessy General Hospital.
Their cause of death was sometimes connected to the war or from lingering wounds and injuries suffered from the previous world war or were the result of natural causes or accidents. But should they be forgotten because they did not die in the far east? Perhaps for these reasons, they have been relegated into a place where they receive no recognition, no tribute or even remembrance.
Their story is heartbreaking not just because of their death but even more so because some of our Korean War dead can be found close to us and yet they suffer the fate of being forgotten. Sapper William Muir and Lieutenant Edward Kain, Lieutenant Carol Lecuyer, Craftsman Frederick Slater, and Private James Zantolas names are etched into granite military grave stones at Mountainview Cemetery in Vancouver. This is their final resting place and it is appropriately located only a short distance away from where their names can be seen on the wall behind the Korean War monument in Burnaby.
I wonder if one day someone will stand at the Burnaby Korean War monument and turn and face their graves at Mountainview Cemetery or maybe one day someone might visit them and say thank you and place a poppy where they lay.
Guy Black is a Coquitlam resident.
