The Chinese attack Hill 187
The battle of Hill 187 occurred on May 2-3, 1953. Mr. Meagher was there and recounted his experience. Two officers he knew, Lieutenants Gerard Meynell and Douglas Banton, both of The Royal Canadian Regiment, were killed during the engagement on May 3.
"I was in my slit trench at 2130 and it was pretty black. I heard our Able Company patrol, led by Lt Meynell, patrol get hit. There were about 20 of them out there by the Sandaecheon River. I heard bursts of gunfire which meant the patrol was ambushed. And then I heard the staccato sound of a Sten gun, our light machine-gun. And then I heard a soggy grenade go and that was it. Our patrol had walked into about 400 assault troops that were headed to assault Hill 187 and Charlie Company.
"Lt Banton, who had been my platoon commander, was a gun-ho guy who always got to places first and he felt he could win the Victoria Cross. Thatīs what he told us back in Canada. He headed down into the minefield gap, put up his arms and said "Come through me, come through me!" to the patrol that was scattered and wounded. He lasted about two minutes. There is a rule in the front line that you never stand up when you can sit down and never sit down when you can lie down.
"After the patrol got hit, a bombardment came in on the Princess Patīs to the right of us. A bombardment means that you canīt distinguish one shell from the other. The sky lit up there and I thought there was an attack coming. They lost two soldiers in it. Then, there was artillery, mortar and machine-gun fire coming from the Chinese all over the place. They had massed their guns for the attack. The telephone lines linking the battalion were destroyed by the guns.
"At exactly two minutes to 12, on May 2, there was a 20-minute bombardment of 20 rounds and everything was shaken. The place lit up; it was brighter than day. Grassfires broke out all over the valley and all over the hills, the minefield, wire and trenches were destroyed, the bunkers caved in because the bombardment was so heavy. And the Chinese came in under the artillery barrage."
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