September 2023
It’s been called the Forgotten War. For many years, Korean War veterans were denied entry to the Royal Canadian Legion branches across Canada. While veterans received a the United Nations Medal for Korea and the Korea Medal, neither were Canadian medals. It wasn’t until 1991 that the Canadian government officially issued its own medal, the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal for Korea.
The reality is that 26,791 Canadians served in the Korean War, with 516 Canadians losing their lives. Approximately 7,000 continued to serve between the ceasefire in June 1953 and end of 1955.
Like their World War II counterparts, Korean War veterans didn’t see their own cenotaphs built in the years after the wars; only tablets added to the World War I cenotaphs listing the dates and fallen from WWII and Korea as the only acknowledgements of their losses.
The Korea Veterans Association of Canada took a big step to rectify this situation on 27 July 1997, with the dedication of a Wall of Remembrance, the only purpose-built monument dedicated to the Korean War, at Meadowvale Cemetery in Brampton.
Bill Allan, President of Unit 57, Korea Veterans Association, came up with the concept of a Wall of Remembrance. With support of the secretary, past Presidents George Mannion and David G. Barker, and members of Unit 57, a plan was developed between Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries, who own and operate Meadowvale Cemetery, and several government agencies.
Designed by Toronto artist, Kari Myllymaki and built out of gray Barre granite, the 200 feet long, two foot high monument features a wall that curves gently to follow the roadway which circles around the Veterans’ Memorial. The monument follows the natural topography, which slopes gently towards the roadway and leans backwards at an angle of approximately 50 degrees.
In the centre of the monument are three panels, consisting of a rectangular block flanked by two wings which slope down from the centre, four feet wide and five feet high at the highest point.
They are The rectangular block in the centre features the Korean Veterans Association insignia, Canadian Forces insignia, United Nations insignia, and names of the participating Canadian Forces.
There are seven sections on each side of the central feature. Each section contains four rows of 6″ X 10″ bronze plaques, which are replicas of those gracing the graves of the comrades in Pusan.
On one wing features a poem by Jack LaChance, on the other, a verse from Laurence Binyon’s famous poem “For the Fallen.”
The $300,000 cost was raised by the committee from the private sector.
Inscription found on memorial
- THE KOREA VETERANS NATIONAL WALL OF REMEMBRANCE
- THE KOREA VETERAN’S WALL
EACH UNIQUELY MOUNTED NAMEPLATE
ON THIS KOREA VETERANS’S WALL
TELLS THE STORY OF A PERSON
WHO RALLIED TO THEIR COUNTRY’S CALL. - WITH COURAGE AND WITH VIGOR
THEY TRAINED AND WENT TOT WAR
AND SHIELDED US FROM DANGER
ON THE SOUTH KOREAN SHORES. - THE GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR FREEDOM
THAT WE ALL SHARE TODAY
IN A FAR-OFF FOREIGN COUNTRY
WHERE MOST OF THEIR BODIES LAY. - WE STILL HEAR THE BUGLER SOUNDING
EACH STIRRING NOTE OF HIS “LAST CALL,”
WHILE VIEWING ALL THE NAMEPLATES
ON THIS KOREA VETERANS’ WALL - J.E. (JACK) LACHANCE
CANADIAN FORCES PARTICIPATION
IN THE UNITED NATIONS
OPERATIONS, KOREA 1950-53-56
ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY (RCN)
- HMCS Athabaskan
- HMCS Sioux
- HMCS Huron
- HMCS Crusader
- HMCS Cayuga
- HMCS Nootka
- HMCS Iroquois
- HMCS Haida
CANADIAN ARMY
Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians)
2nd Field Regiment,
Royal Canadian Horse Artillery (RCHA)
? Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery (RCHA)
81st Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery (RCA)
The Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers (RCE)
The Royal Canadian Corps of Signals
The Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR)
2nd Battalion
1st Battalion
3rd Battalion
Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI)
2nd Battalion
1st Battalion
3rd Battalion
Royal 22 Regiment (R22ER)
2nd Battalion
1st Battalion
3rd Battalion
The Royal Canadian Army Service Corps (RCASC)
The Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC)
The Royal Canadian Dental Corps
Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps
The Corps of Royal Canadian Electrical and
Mechanical
Engineers (RCEME)
Royal Canadian Army Pay Corps
The Royal Canadian Postal Corps
The Royal Canadian Army Chaplain Corps
The Canadian Provost Corps
The Royal Canadian Dragoons (RCD)
The Canadian Guards
11th Battalion
The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada
2nd Battalion
The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada
ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE
No. 126 (Thunderbird) Squadron
[in addition, 22 RCAF pilots flew with the
U.S. Fifth Air Force]
Sources: Wall of Remembrance – National Inventory of Canadian Military Memorials (NICMM) – Memorials – Remembrance – Veterans Affairs Canada, The Korea Veterans National Wall of Remembrance (cdli.ca).
