Bishop, John R.: my Army recollections (November 15, 2006)
PublicRank: Lieutenant-Colonel.
Interviewer: Murseli, Kenan
An interview/narrative of Lieutenant-Colonel John Bishop's experiences during the Korean War. Interview took place on November 15, 2006.
Interviewee: Bishop, John R.
ABSTRACT: Lieutenant-Colonel John Bishop Starts with background information on Lt. Col. Bishop. Born in Calgary, moved to British Columbia at age 8 Was 23rd man to enlist in the Canadian Army Special Force in 1950, volunteered to go to Korea out of a sense of adventure -- 18 month commitment to army Public reaction to Korean War was limited, few even knew where Korea was but interest picked up as casualty reports increased, little reported on television though In shadow of Second World War, members of public did not consider Korea as a war, even U.S. President Truman referred to it as a "police action" No anti-war movement as we see today Lt. Col. Bishop began training in Calgary, then at Wainwright and Fort Lewis, WA Sailed out of Seattle 25 November 1950 on Joe P. Martinez, arrived 23 December in Korea Served as infantry section commander (corporal leading 10 men) with 2 PPCLI Initially Lt. Col. Bishop's unit involved in chasing communist guerillas near Pusan -- this served as great training as it was combat but not nearly as dangerous as later in war Fought at Battle of Kapyong, April 1951 -- morale was high here and most times, kept up at the individual level as every person was different and coped differently Very little downtime, constantly on the move, marching from one end of the country to the other, very tough physically -- catching up on sleep whenever possible was crucial, checking and cleaning of weapons and equipment during downtime as well Canadians were equipped well enough, especially since virtually everything they had in the field needed to be carried on their backs Did not see much of the North Koreans, main opposition was the Chinese who Lt. Col. Bishop saw as good soldiers, especially considering the more adverse conditions they faced Everyone dealt with loss of comrades in battle differently -- paid respects and reflected but not dwelling on casualties and getting on with mission was key Korean civilians seldom seen, S. Korean troops really only seen when fleeing the enemy, American units racially segregated and included many draftees (some units better soldiers than others), Australian troops generally older and had significant experience from WWII Lt. Col. Bishop joined the Regular Army in March 1951, became career soldier Korea was the "Forgotten War" because it just did not compare in scale with WWII and was overshadowed by other world events at the time (NATO, Cold War in Europe, etc.)
- In Collection:
- 1 sound recording (MP3)
- 36.5, 127.75
- 40, 127
- Original recording (DVF) on compact disc (CD) in Special Collections.
- Canadian Military Oral History Collection
- BJR_495
- Special Collections Finding Aid: https://uvic2.coppul.archivematica.org/military-oral-history-collection
- January 23, 2013
- Digital sound recording in .mp3 format at 56 kbps and 22 kHz. Digitized by JF, technical and cataloguing metadata provided by JF and JP. Interview migrated to digital format for UVic Special Collections in 2013. Migration metadata by KD and MT.
- Rights
- This interview has been posted with the understanding that it may be used for research purposes only. Should the interviewee or their heirs have any objections to this interview being accessible on the Internet, it will be removed promptly. Contact UVic Special Collections for permission if using for other than research purposes: speccoll@uvic.ca
- DOI
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Bishop_J_0495_01.mp3 | Public |
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