BARRHEAD - It is called the forgotten war.
From 1950 to 1953, Canada joined 21 other nations as part of a United Nations force to help South Korea combat North Korea forces who invaded their country on June 25.
After just over three years of fighting, on July 27, the war ended when North and South Korea signed an armistice agreement, creating a demilitarized zone between the two nations and the establishing border that essentially existed preinvasion.
It should be noted that although the nations signed an armistice agreement ending hostilities, a peace agreement has never been secured and therefore technically the nations are still at war.
One of the nearly 27,000 Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) served in Korea. This year marks the 67 anniversary of the armistice and the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War.
Officially, at the time, it was called the Korean conflict, but anyone involved in it knows better.
"Trust me, it was a war," Barkemeyer said.
Barkemeyer served in Korea, for 18 months, as part of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) joining the unit when he was only 17-year-old partially as a way to "see the world".
(Barkemeyer lied about his age. To be a member of the CAF a person had to be 18 years old.)
And see the world he did.
Shortly after enlisting, he found himself stationed near Hiroshima, Japan, where less than a decade before the United States detonated the first atomic bomb, to hasten the end of the Second World War.
Barkemeyer is reluctant to talk about his experiences in Korea except to say that serving in the infantry meant periods of extreme boredom followed by periods of intense terror.
One of the reasons why he is hesitant to talk about his experiences is it can trigger moments where he momentarily is transported back in time, to the war.
Like many CAF veterans, Barkemeyer suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
In a previous interview, he noted that his PTSD symptoms lessened dramatically after he visited South Korea and saw how much the United Nations soldiers efforts meant to the South Korean people.
That being said, Barkemeyer said as he gets older it often doesn't' take much of a trigger, noting it could be something as simple as a smell before he finds himself transported back to Korea.
Unfortunately, when the soldiers returned home to Canada after the Korean War, he said they did not always get the warmest reception.
He noted early on even many of the Royal Canadian Legions did not want to include service people who served in Korea as members.
"They said we did not fight in a real war it was just a "conflict", Barkemeyer said.
He noted that it took a while for that mentality to change.
"No one wanted to think about another war, no matter where it was, just five years after the Second World War," he said.
Barkemeyer added that although the populace might not have wanted to think about the Korean War, several servicemen returning from the Second World War volunteered for Korea.
"They knew what war was all about and taught us kids," he said. "They saved a lot of lives."
Barkemeyer said the Canadian government was also slow to recognize the efforts of Canadian service people who served in Korea, giving the example of the Volunteer Service For Korea medal established in 1991.
"It took us close to 40 years to get that medal established," he said.
But he said that has improved over the years, thanks in part to the work Royal Canadian Legion and the Korea War Association, which Barkemeyer is a member of.
Unfortunately, due to the average age of Korea War veterans, the latter is in danger of folding. Of the nearly 27,000 Canadian Korean War, it is estimated that only 6,500 remain. Out of the five Barrhead area youths that served in Korea, Barkemeyer, now 87 years old, is the sole survivor.
Sadly, he said, many of the events planned to honour Korean War veterans, due to the coronavirus, had to be cancelled or at the very least severely curtailed.
Barkemeyer said he watched part of the national ceremony at the Monument to the Canadian Fallen in Ottawa.
"It was good and I understand why more couldn't be done," he said. "But hopefully next year this will all be behind us and we can have a proper event honouring Korean War veterans.
Having said that, Barkemeyer said the remaining vets are doing what they can within their circle to honour their comrades, adding he is in regular contact with two of his former Korean War trench mates.
"One I speak with weekly [from Montreal], the other [from Saskatchewan] monthly if not more," he said, noting for more than forty years he also regularly talked to his former sergeant. "The friends you make during war are like no other."
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
