CDKW00727 - Ground Report from Korea

In May 1954, Ambassador R. W. Mayhew toured the Canadian’s remaining Far East mission forces in Japan and Korea and produced this report as a result. Within it, Mayhew made a number of interesting suggestions about the Canadian path forward in the atomic age, now that the Korean conflict appeared to be at a close. Mayhew made an effort to visit Hiroshima alongside visits to Canadian troops in southern Japan and advised that Canadians could be appointed to the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC), as the ABCC was staffed internationally. For Mayhew, this proposal had serious merit, as it could give “prestige to Canada, would give Canadian support to a worthy project and would contribute materially to Canadian scientific knowledge.” He found the officers and soldiers in good health and humor and was impressed that Canadian brigades in Korea were particularly eager to help start schools and purchase farming equipment for rebuilding villages. This report stands in particular interest as it contrasts quite noticeably with earlier field reports sent from Tokyo; Mayhew’s report indicated that by May 1954, most remaining troops in the region had been converted to supporting rehabilitation and rebuilding efforts in South Korea, clarifying what roles exactly Canadians were undertaking within the UN security forces who remained on the Korean peninsula.