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Topic: Hill 187, Nov. 2-3, 1951, Second Battalion, the Royal Canadian Regiment. (Read 173 times)
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Mike Blais
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Now this is a really good read, lads.
Pro Patria.
'Canada boy! Tonight you die!'
Edward Mastronardi kept his Hill 187 battle experiences to himself. Then he decided Canada's Korean War veterans deserved more profile.
Dave Brown
The Ottawa Citizen
Friday, November 09, 2007
Now 82, Edward Mastronardi was the commander of 2 Platoon, Able Company, Second Battalion, the Royal Canadian Regiment. The 28-man platoon survived an eight- hour battle on Hill 187 on Nov. 2-3, 1951. The platoon would use up all of its ammunition, throwing 350 hand grenades in the course of the night.
Now 82, Edward Mastronardi was the commander of 2 Platoon, Able Company, Second Battalion, the Royal Canadian Regiment. The 28-man platoon survived an eight- hour battle on Hill 187 on Nov. 2-3, 1951.
Every Nov. 2, Edward John Mastronardi, now 82, has trouble sleeping, so he sits alone in his Ottawa home remembering a night in Korea in 1951 when he listened to a shout from the darkness: "Canada boy! Tonight you die!"
He pours a drink, and marvels that he survived.
Near-misses come to mind. On his first patrol, he was carrying a box, so when a Chinese soldier popped up a few metres away and aimed at him, he was helpless. A shot rang out, and the enemy soldier fell. The man behind the green Canadian lieutenant said: "You owe me one -- sir."
On another occasion, a Chinese infantryman stepped out from cover and threw a hand grenade that struck Lieut. Mastronardi on the chest. It wasn't a dud.
"It fell to the left and I fell to the right. It exploded, but I got away again."
He was in more firefights than he can recall, but the Nov. 2 action on Hill 187 near what was then Pusan and is now
Busan, is the one that keeps replaying in memory. It's as if something he can't control still wants to figure out how anybody in his 28-man platoon survived that night from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m.
As the hilltop battle rages in memory, he repeats the prayer he says he kept repeating all that night: Help me, oh God, when death is near, to mock the haggard face of fear. And if I die, if die I must, my soul will triumph in the dust.
"I don't know where I picked that up, but it's seen me through some tough times."
When he became a civilian, Ed Mastronardi kept his battle experience to himself. He served in the Canadian Navy from 1944 to 1950, in the Army from 1950 to 1953, and in the Air Force until 1962.
The Toronto native was by then a missile expert, and his knowledge made him valuable to the public service. He retired in 1987 after a lengthy career with Treasury Board.
He changed his decision to talk about his battlefield experiences in 2006, when he was asked to take part in the making of a film by an Ottawa historian. It has since appeared on the History Channel under the title In Korea with Norm Christie.
By the numbers, 26,791 Canadians served in Korea and 516 were killed. Like many who served in Korea, Mr. Mastronardi felt his fellow warriors deserved more profile in Canadian history. When Mr. Christie asked veterans to name one man to represent them, the name Mastronardi kept popping up.
On Hill 187, Mr. Mastronardi was ordered with his platoon to man an outpost down the ridge of a hill leading toward enemy territory. The lines were separated by about a kilometre, and the outpost was near the midpoint. As it grew dark, the soldiers could hear activity in front of them, and knew the Chinese were preparing a major offensive.
It started with the shouted announcement to "Canada boy," and Mr. Mastronardi says that was the only point he remembers feeling fear.
"I realized then that my platoon was the target of all that preparation. After that, things got too busy. There was just too much to do."
Through the night, second platoon would use up all of its ammunition, throwing 350 hand grenades. So many bodies were scattered about that they picked up weapons and ammunition from the dead and wounded. The fighting was hand-to-hand and nose-to-nose. Images he can't shake are still in his memory, such as shooting a Chinese soldier who was blowing a bugle -- through the bugle.
He was ordered to abandon the position, but he couldn't. He had one dead and 14 wounded, and a tradition to uphold: "The Royal Canadian Regiment does not leave its wounded."
Those still capable of movement kept the wounded supplied with weapons, and those wounded who were able kept firing.
The escape back to the main line was in a three-sided artillery box. The lieutenant called in fire from two dozen 25-pounders -- artillery pieces laying shells in a pattern 50 metres to the front and sides. While that was happening, the wounded who could walk helped the wounded who couldn't, and those still fighting set up the next line of defence. The Canadians came out of it with only one dead and a healthy respect for the Chinese. "Good soldiers," says the old veteran. "Tough. Dedicated."
The action that night earned Lieut. Mastronardi a Military Cross and made him a legend. He is still called on occasionally to speak to officer candidates, and he always passes along the same message learned that night through hard experience: "Be bold. Be innovative. Make the right decisions."
There are people in his Nov. 2 reveries he remembers fondly.
A last-minute replacement was brought to him in shackles. A troublemaker. But under fire, the man was one of the best.
"The bren guns were overheating and jamming. He was stripping them down and cleaning them with gasoline and getting them back into action."
A stretcher-bearer seemed to believe he was bulletproof, and performed rescues that night that should have got him killed. He saved many lives and his officer recommended him for a Military Medal. It was reduced to a Mentioned-In-Dispatches.
His sergeant was another bulletproof type who constantly seemed to be standing on a parapet, firing from the hip.
"He was one of those who loved action, and I believe
he really did think he was indestructible," said Mr. Mastronardi.
"After Korea, he called me and told me there was great opportunity with the French Foreign Legion. He had just joined and the good news, he said, was that the job came complete with a free daily ration of a litre of wine."
Like Mr. Mastronardi, the sergeant was a qualified paratrooper. He jumped into the battle of Dien Bien Phu, a defeat for the French that closed the First Indochina War in the spring of 1954. He was killed.
"I had to build a new platoon after Hill 187, but I hardly remember other platoons. I remember every name and face from the hill. I thought I was the last man alive, but I heard recently of a man living north of Toronto."
They're planning to get together.
dbrown000@sympatico.ca
This is the Fifth in a six-part series. Part six appears tomorrow.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2007
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
Pro Patria
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dave sewell
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Very well done look forward to number 6
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