Historians see the battle as an important turning point in the war, one that helped shape the perception of the conflict down the decades.įor Simons, the experience was far more vivid and personal than anything a history text could convey. It represented a personal milestone for Simons - his first time in major combat.

It took place at what the South Koreans call Kowang San, 40 kilometres north of Seoul. Simons learned a mortar had landed at the spot where he'd been standing and the young officer, only a few hours at the front, had been mortally wounded in the head. On duty at the headquarters half an hour later, the phone rang. 'I guess you could say that we were hopeful that our activities would deter the Chinese but we didn't know how many there were or what they had in the way of weapons or anything else,' Simons said. They struck up a conversation before he continued on. Simons made his way down the hill under fire and ran into another young officer, just arrived from Canada, waiting for a jeep. 'It looked like the whole top of the hill exploded at once,' said former lance corporal Gordon Bennett, who was with a company of soldiers that had just come off the hill and gone into reserve behind the lines. Other soldiers, speaking years after the battle, swore the Chinese bombardment was so intense it shaved a foot off the top of the summit. 'It looked like the whole top of the hill exploded' On his way back to headquarters, shells whistled overhead and pounded the hilltop, kicking up great gasps of dirt and dust, turning the hillside a chalky white.

'During the day there was a heck of a lot of noise, but when the Chinese mortars landed, of course, not only was it noisy, but some of our boys were hurt and killed.' 'We were firing artillery and mortars as well, and machine guns and so on. 'It was noisy,' Simons, 92, told CBC News in an interview from his home in North Vancouver. The moment from the Korean War that sticks with retired lieutenant-colonel Brian Simons happened at the beginning of the Battle of Hill 355 - a now largely forgotten struggle in an often overlooked war.Ī young signaller attached to the Royal Canadian Regiment, Simons - a newly minted lieutenant at the time - was up on the rocky hillside at a battalion outpost when Chinese artillery and mortars opened up with their first deafening barrage.

Tank battles in the korean war