ARMISTICE TO THE HOMECOMING OF THE LAST CANADIAN SOLDIERS LEGACY OF THE KOREAN WAR After the two world wars, Korea remains Canada’s third-bloodiest overseas conflict, taking the lives of 516 Canadians and wounding more than 1,000. North and South Korea remain technically at war today. Following the armistice, the Korean War became known as the “Forgotten War.” In Canada, the war was largely considered to be at most a footnote to Canadian military history, and for decades was referred to as a “police action” rather than a war. However, in South Korea, Canadian veterans who return to visit are treated in a similar manner to Second World War veterans who return to France and Holland, and to this day, Korean children regularly tend to the graves of the 378 Canadians soldiers buried at Daeyon-Dong, near Busan. In Panmunjom, delegates from both sides signed the Korean Armistice Agreement. It marked the end of the longest negotiated armistice in history: 158 meetings spread over two years and 17 days. The truce went into effect at 10 p.m. that evening. Chinese and North Korean prisoners were returned to the Communist side, and UN prisoners, including 32 Canadians, were released from Chinese prison camps. By the end of the year all battalions of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, Royal Canadian Regiment, and Royal 22e Régiment had returned home. The final unit, No. 33 Canadian Field Ambulance, were the last Canadian soldiers to leave South Korea. 27 JULY 1953 SEPTEMBER 1953 DECEMBER 1954 JUNE 1957 François Richard Douglas Finney Gilles Martin Ralph Mintz 8
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