Samuel L. Lamanne (Primary Source)

Samuel L. Lamanne was a cook in the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps during the Korean War.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

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I used to sleep in the gulley where the Chinese used to come through. Well, we were sleeping in our tents, so, I mean, I would, you know, I just heard the rustle of them going through. WelI, I was quiet myself... I mean when you're in a position like that, you're always under fire anyways.

Transcript

Well, as you know, Korea is built up of hills, and that's one thing they emphasized when they were training us — that Korea is actually different than Europe because Korea was a lot of hills up and down, you know. I used to sleep in the gulley where the Chinese used to come through. Well, we were sleeping in our tents, so, I mean, I would, you know, I just heard the rustle of them going through. Well, I was quiet myself. Some of my buddies used to get excited, and I would tell them, I would say, “Ah, forget it. It's just probably rats or something scooting around,” and, you know, and made it sound like it was somebody else, but they were sneaking through, that was a known fact. Well, I mean when you're in a position like that, you're always under fire anyways, regardless whether you like it or not. As you know, we had… We had people trained to look after us if we got wounded. A buddy of mine was on patrol, and he stepped on a landmine. I didn’t take it very good ‘cause he was a buddy of mine.