Transcript
So during the operation, battle of Maryong-San I was the Intelligence Officer and I went with the CO everywhere and the battalion operation was very, very successful and in the middle of it the CO decided to go to 317 which had been captured by C Company the day before. No, two days before. So, he wanted to go up there and control the extension of the battle to the west towards a feature called the Hinge. So, we were up there all day on top of 317.
The Chinese didn't like that so they started to retaliate with all their artillery and mortars so we were very lucky, I think, to survive that because the top of the hill wasn't actually hit although I expected it to at any minute. I think we were very lucky to get off there alive. Anyway, the battalion was relieved the next day because they'd been fighting for six days and on the march carrying all their equipment and suffering a lot of casualties. I think by then we'd suffered twenty killed and over a hundred wounded. So luckily we were relieved and we went into, I think the western, no, the eastern flank to protect the brigade and battalion, the British battalion that was on 355, 317 and a couple of weeks later the Chinese attacked and recaptured 317 which was a bit of a demoralising factor after what we had been through and all the casualties we'd suffered but the CO was called to divisional headquarters and awarded an immediate Distinguished Service Order which we were all very thrilled about because he eventually became the chief of the defence force as General Sir Frank Francis Hassett. Frank Hassett. Great man. Everybody loved him.
