They Fought Valiantly for Their Country’s Survival

About the Book

They Fought Valiantly for Their Country’s Survival contains the personal accounts of South Korean soldiers and marines who fought for the survival of their country following the North Korean sneak attack on South Korea that was the start of the Korean War 25 June 1950–27 July 1953. Inasmuch as a ceasefire or cessation of hostilities was signed at Panmunjom on 27 July 1953 and the shooting stopped, the Korean War remains very much in the forefront of world news as a declaration of peace has not been signed as the 2.5-mile wide demilitarized zone between the two Koreas attests in stark, menacing evidence. The accounts that are contained within this book are real and reveal in clear prose the devastation, the pain, the agony, the danger, the fear, the betrayal, distress, wounds, death, turmoil, separation, and love of family that was the constant with these South Koreans as they stood in the forefront and stopped the evil known as communism and set in place the seed that culminated in the tearing down of the Berlin Wall a few decades later. The South Koreans who fought valiantly during the thirty-seven-month Korean War, stopped the spread of communism in the Far East. Truly, theirs was a heroic stand that the free world can applaud today.

About the Author

Bob Orrick, CD, Royal Canadian Navy, 1950–75; Korea 1952–53, HMCS Athabaskan DDE219. Following honorable discharge in 1975, Bob was a reporter and photographer then editor of a Vancouver Island, British Columbia, community newspaper. In 1979, he was appointed ministerial assistant to a British Columbia government cabinet minister. In 1986, Bob resigned his position and became a founding owner and vice president of a Vancouver-based international marketing company. In 1989, he left the firm; later that year, Bob was appointed national public information officer, Korea Veterans Association of Canada Inc.—a position he held for three years. During his tenure as PIO, Bob worked diligently to educate Canadians about their country’s involvement in the Korean War; moreover, Bob worked tirelessly to convince Ottawa to recognize the volunteerism of the 27,000 Canadians who served in Korea 1950–1953 and to award a suitable medal. In November 1981, Governor-General Ray Hnyatysen awarded the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal [Korea] to a select group of Korean War veterans. Other veterans received their medal via Canada Post. In addition, Bob spent twelve years as a private ESL tutor, and in June 2005, he retired to concentrate on his writing. Since then, Bob has spent many years researching and writing about the Korean War and has published two books on the subject as well as one book on former warships that have been turned into artificial reefs.