Penticton's Ernie Seronik was a member of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry battalion that fought in the Battle of Kap'yong in Korea in 1951.

Image Credit: Mark Brett, Local Journalism Initiative

It was lying at the bottom of a cold, wet trench, the shells exploding around him in 1951, when 19-year-old Ernie Seronik of Penticton learned about the true horrors of war.

On that April night, he and other members of the 2nd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (2PPCLI) were pinned on a hilltop in the epic Battle of Kap’yong.

Those two days of bloodshed represented one of the most critical engagements for the Canadians who were there as part of the United Nations forces defending the south in the Korean War.

“I remember sitting down there in that trench one time during that fight and I was shaking and I was thinking, ‘What the f--k are doing here, you dumb shit?’” said Seronik, 91, a member of the 2PPCLI’s D Company. 

“You really can’t tell people about it, can’t describe it. You can’t know what it’s like until you’re there, the fear you have, and it stays with you. I was scared all the time.

“Every time we went on patrols – we did day patrols – and every time I came back I thanked God that I made it. I was no hero.”

Outnumbered and outgunned, the 2PPCLI were charged with the task of defending Hill 677, facing successive waves of attacks by Chinese forces.

As the Canadian forces were advancing to the region, they were passed by other United Nations soldiers going in the opposite direction.

The hill was part of a critical last stand. Had it been lost, it would have provided the Chinese a direct route to the South Korean capital of Seoul, which had already switched hands several times.

Seronik sadly recalled the day the battle began when he and about 20 company members were being transported by troop carrier to the nearby headquarters.

Unfortunately, due to poor visibility the truck driver missed a key turn and the soldiers came under enemy fire – not for the first time.

“We got shot up and the guy right next to me took a bullet and he fell over on me. I had blood all over me,” said Seronik. “The driver went over the bank to get away and I’m pretty sure the guy was dead by the time we got to where we were supposed to be.”

Ernie Seronik (standing right) of Penticton, a member of the 2nd Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, while on patrol in 1951 as part of the United Nations force in Korea.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED

While daylight hours were bad for the Canadians, the nights were much, much worse.

“When you sit in the dark and are looking for and waiting for them to appear, every stump that is out there is a person, the enemy,” recalled Seronik. 

“At that time, the real terror comes from not knowing what’s going to happen to you. At any time a bullet can come out of nowhere and you’re dead. It happened a lot.”

That constant threat of death took its toll on some of the other battalion members.

“It just got to them and they would go to pieces and they would be pulled from the line,” said Seronik. “Not everybody can take it. Everybody is different, some people can handle it, some can’t.

“Me? I don’t know what I did to handle it. I guess I just went with the flow.”

While backed by mortars and machine guns, the Canadians themselves were armed only with bolt-action Lee Enfield .303 calibre rifles: “So figure it out. You put a guy with a Lee Enfield with one in the spout (chamber) and nine in the clip against a guy with an M-whatever that shoots 10 bullets a second.”

This is a 1988 painting by Scott Taylor entitled, "Night Action at Kapyong" painted in honour of the Canadian military's contribution to the Korean War.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED

The situation became so desperate at one point that Seronik’s lieutenant requested an artillery strike at his own troops’ position. New Zealand gunners obliged, and while the Canadians in their trenches went unscathed, the attack devastated the communist soldiers across the line.

“The shells were going off all around us but we just stayed hunkered down, that’s all we could do,” said Seronik, who’d had a similar experience when a piece of shrapnel hit the ground near him and buried him up to his neck.

For their efforts in winning the battle, the Canadians and their United Nations troopmates from Australia received the United States Presidential Unit Citation – the first time it had been awarded outside of the US.

According to Dr. Andrew Burtch, a post-1945 historian at the Canadian War Museum, the Battle of Kap’yong was one the first significant tests of Canadian special forces.

“They had gone through a number of major battles but this was their most severe fight and one in which they acquitted themselves quite well,” said Burtch. 

“Generally, there was a bit of a mismatch between the Canadians and the attacking Chinese forces.”

Ernie Seronik (left) of Penticton with another member of the 2nd Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry in Korea.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED

He pointed to the order to shell their own location as a testament to the bravery of the 2PPCLI soldiers.

“You can imagine having several thousand rounds of high explosive detonating around you. For the veterans I’ve spoken with who survived the ordeal, it was an awful experience, seemed to last forever and yet be over in a flash,” he said.

Meanwhile, for Seronik, after 13 months in Korea, he eventually returned home to Canada in one piece and thanked his lucky stars.

Through the Veteran’s Land Act, he got an orchard in Cawston where he lived for a number of years before moving to his current home in Penticton.

— April 23 to 25, 2023, is the 72nd anniversary of the Battle of Kap’yong and the heroic efforts of the Canadian battalion in Korea that overcame incredible odds to help win it. Penticton’s Ernie Seronik was there.

— This story was originally published by the Penticton Herald.

News from © iNFOnews, 2023