On 21st April, 2022, the Korean Embassy and the Korean Veterans Association, Unit #7, held a ceremony to remember the Battle of Kapyong in Korea on April 23-25, 1951. The battle was pivotal in that it allowed the retreating South Korean forces to orderly move through the Kapyong Valley and it stemmed the Chinese advance when an Australian battalion, 3 Royal Australian Regiment, and a Canadian battalion, 2 Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (2 PPCLI) stood to face an entire Chinese division. The effort of the Australians (hill 504) and the Canadians (hill 677) in this action stopped the Chinese from rolling into Soeul and making this a very short war.
During the action both battalions fought heavily but the Australians were forced to leave hill 504 on the evening of the 24th leaving the Canadians on hill 677. The action got so involved that D Company, 2 PPCLI, was close to being surrounded. The company commander—Captain J.G.W. Mills—was subsequently forced to call down artillery fire onto his own position on several occasions during the early morning of 25 April to avoid being overrun. The exposed Chinese troops did not fare well during this exercise. Late on the afternoon of the 25th, the Chinese withdrew to regroup leaving the Kapyong Valley in United Nations hands.
On the Canadian side, through all this fighting, the PPCLI loses were only 10 dead and 23 wounded soldiers to the hundreds of dead Chinese that lay around them. The 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry was also awarded a US Presidential Unit Citation for their actions in this battle along with the 3 RAR and A Company, 72nd Heavy Tank Battalion.
To see all the pictures, CLICK HERE
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