https://declassified.library.utoronto.ca/files/original/638a7d924f44fb6a1afce93340e0f96b.pdf 17be3f9c06ee7e48b4ff179ac856b8c9 PDF Text Text v- X- • Document disclosed under the Access to Information Act Document divulgue en vertu de la Lot sur I'acces d I1Information y-v.' — DEPARTMENT OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS , CANADA. (DUPLICATE) DESPATCH rO : \yTHE SECRETARY O F STATE FO R EXTERNAL AFFAIR S, O TTAW A, CANADA. Security: C O NFID EN TIAL No: FRO M ; THE CANADIAN _AM BASSADO R * TO KYO ., JAPAN . Enclosures: R eference: Air or Surface Ma il; Subje ct: Vi si t of Am bassador to Korea Date:N ay..1.8,..;9.^................ P9s t File No.Otta wa File No. R eferences Accom panied by Lt-C ol. R .B. M cD ougall of the : C anadian-M ilitary M ission, Far East, I visited the Kure . area :and 25 'Brigade in Korea' betw een-7th and 13th of M ay ; 195*+. . In .general I am sure i tw as a valuable and profitable tour and that.the service personnel seem ed to appreciate, being visited by a C anadian. W hile in the Kure-H lro area, I paid calls on the M ayor of . Kure and on the-.Procurator G eneral for Southern Japan. . I. w as pleased to have, these m eetings and to express our appreciation to these gentlem en for their co- ' ' operation and help i n ci vi l i an affairs as they affected . . C anadian troops'in their areas'. 1 w ould l i ke to say that they al l spoke m ost highly of the conduct and departm ent of C anadian personnel and.that I feeltthat C olonel J.B. Allan, .who com m ands C anadian Base U nits j has done an excellent job in m aintaining friendly relations w ith the ci vi l i an authorities. I tw as . apparent, to m e, w herever we W ent, that he w as thought • highly of by the Japanese authorities and that he was " very m uch, a persona grata w ith.them . Internal C irculation Dis tribution to Posts 2. I w ould l i ke to m ention, particularly, m y . vi si t to the Atom ic Bom b C asualty C om m ission in H iroshim a, This C om m ission w as established by the Atom ic Energy C om m ission in the U nited States for' the purpose of m aking on the ground survey of the casualties suffered in H iroshim a as a result 6f the atom ic bom b and, on a. long term basis, to endeavour to follow developm ents that m ight be attributed to the bom b on • the people of the city, The com m ission i s housed in excellent m odern buildings, constructed by the U .S. G overnm ent, and i s ful l y equipped w ith'the m ost upto-date and com plete equipm ent possible. I t Is'v.ery' obvious that'a great deal of- m oney has been spents and that no effort- has been .spared to ensure th^i w hatever m ay be necessary is m ade available so £hat the research and survey m ade by :the C om m ission w i l l be com plete ‘and unlim ited. Iw as m ost.im pressed by the w ork that w as being carried on and by the equip m ent.that w as available. 3. The Atom ic Bom b C asualty- C om m ission (ABCC) • i s staffed on an international’ basis though the bulk of personnel are of Am erican origin. C ertain Am erican and: British,Arm y m edical personnel are seconded to the 000394 Ext. JfiOC (Rov.2/52) �Document disclosed under the Access to Information Act Document dlvulgue en vertu de la lot sue I'accks a l‘information -2- ' establishm ent and the ci vi l i an com ponent i s em ployed and paid . for by the Atom ic Energy C om m ission, Very careful relations have been established w ith the Japanese as the success of the endeavour now depends enti rel y upon the cooperation they receive from the people of H iroshim a and thei r subm itting them selves vol untari l y for exam ination. In order to ensure that there i s no loss of prestige to the Japanese m edical profession and to m aintain good rel ations w ith them , no treatm ent i s undertaken by the experts at ABCC unless an em ergency and then only upon the specific' request of a Japanese doctor, ABCC personnel, how ever, do m ake m ost exhaustive m edical exam inations on a cl i ni cal basis and are m ore than wi l l i ng'to place thei r findings at the disposal of the Japanese doctor concerned to assist i n his diagnosis. They are w i l l i ng to discuss treatm ent w ith him but only at his request. I ti s obvious that ‘ thi s organization and i t s w ork l+. i s unique as only i n H iroshim a can the long-term effect of the explosion on hum an beings be studied. I feel that the w ork they are doing i s hum anitarian and m ust be of great value i n thi s atom ic age. As I have stated, the staff at ABCC are international and, after m y inform al m eeting w ith them , I w ould recom m end that serious consideration be given to having C anadian representation at ABC C, I feel that to have one or. tw o C anadian doctors or scientists w orking i n H iroshim a w ould lend a prestige to C anada, w ould give C anadian support to a w orthy project and w ould contribute m aterially to C anadian ’ sci enti fi c know ledge, I vi si ted al l C anadian m i l i tary i nstal l ati ons i n the 5. Kure-H iro area and found al l the m en and offi cers, to w hom I spoke, to be i n good heart and apparently of high m orale. Though Ido not claim to be an expert i n such m atters, the high standard of conduct and deportm ent and the excellent appearance of al l quarters and establishm ents w ere m ost obvious and im pressive,. In conversation w ith the soldiers concerned, I found that they appeared to be enjoying thei r tour i n Japan and to be profi tti ng from .i t. I noted parti cul arl y a pride i n thei r w ork and i n the equipm ent that had been supplied to them . A l l of thi s refl ects m ost favourably, not only on the character of the m en that are being sent.over here, but on the leadership being given by thei r offi cers and C olonel J'.B. Allan w ho'com m ands the area. 6. O n 10th M ay I proceeded by ai r to Korea and spent that day and m ost of the 11th i n Seoul.. I have attached hereto, as a separate annexure, the notes that w ere prepared of m y discussions w ith various offi ci al s, including President R hee during that period. I have already advised you by w ire concerning som e of the points w hich arose during m y discussions s parti cul arl y w ith President R hee and'U .S. Am bassador D ean. In the afternoon of 11th M ay, I proceeded to .H ead quarters I C orps w here! paid a cal l on Lt-G en. Bryan and w as briefed generally on the present operational picture. This i s the U .S. C orps that.com m ands 1 C om m onw ealth D ivision and the C anadian Brigade. From thi s C orps H eadquarters, I proceeded to H eadquarters, 25 C anadian Infantry Brigade. 7i 8. O n the follow ing day, I had an opportunity of vi si ti ng the Squadron of Lord Strathcona’ s H orse, The Q ueen’ s O wn R i fl es of C anada, the *+th R egim ent of C anadian G uards and the Black W atch R egim ent. O nce again, I w as m ost im pressed in al lm y discussions and talks w ith offi cers and m en w ith the high standard of m orale and the im pressive appearance of al l 000395 J �Document disclosed under the Access to information Act Document divulgue en vertu de la Loi sur I'acces a I'lnformation s ■ 'i f■ -3* establishm ents. I tw as m ost apparent to m e that, as a result of the leadership of Brigadier J.V. Allard and his offi cers 5 w e have an excellent Brigade w hose m em bers evidence pride in them selves and i n thei r equipm ent. As a resul t of m y obser vance and i n discussions w ith offi cers of other nations, Iam content that the C anadian reputation i s being enhanced by the conduct and capabi l i ti es of our Brigade i n Korea. As has been reported from thi s Em bassy, there 9. has been a gradual m ovem ent north of Korea ci vi l i ans i nto the arable' land occupied by U .N . Forces. I w as very pleased to have an opportunity to observe thi s re-settlem ent program m e by a vi si t to the vi l l age of' C hinm olchong i n the C anadian Brigade area. H ere I found a group of Koreans w ho had been perm itted to cross the Im ji n R iver and re-establish them selves i n the abandoned ri ce fi el ds that lay im m ediately north of i t . Already, i n a very short tim e, they have restored a num ber of them to cul ti vati on and I w as inform ed by the. U .S. Arm y authority responsible for supervision that> by next year, they w ould have brought suffi ci ent land under cul ti vati on again to becom e an exporting vi l l age. . 10. At the present the vi l l agers are concentrating on restoring the fi el ds to production w ith the resul t that they l i ve i n considerable poverty and discom fort i n tents, huts, straw lean-tos, etc. I w as im pressed, how ever, that al l , including the young and the old, appeared cheerful, industrious and i n good health. I w as grati fi ed to be advised by Brigadier J.V. All ard, w ho has taken keen interest i n thi s developm ent, that the vi l l age i s being adopted by the C anadian Brigade; A voluntary cam paign i s underw ay to raise suffi ci ent funds to provide.a school for the children of the vi l l age and Brigadier J.V. Allard tel l s m e that he isgetting w i l l i ng and generous support from the m en of the Brigade. He also indicated that the Brigade hopes to be able to raise funds to purchase 10 oxen w hich w i l lbe given to the vi l l age to help them i n the developm ent of thei r land. At / the present m om ent, the oxen are very expensive i n Korea and the. vi l l agers cannot afford to augm ent thei r present inadequate holdings w ith the resul t that al ldevelopm ent i s done by the arduous and back-breaking efforts of m en, w om en and children. I feel sure that the generous and hum anitarian atti tude of the Brigade w i l l further enhance our reputation i n Korea. J_ v 11= In respect to thi s m atter of reputation i n Korea, I m ust m ention the fact that, w herever I w ent i n offi ci al ci rcl es i n. Seoul, speci fic m ention w as m ade of our shipm ent of cod fi sh. I tappears that not only w as our generosity • appreciated but that the nature of the shipm ent had appeared parti cul arl y acceptable to the Korean people. G rateful m ention w as frequently m ade, generally, on our contribution to the Korean w ar and to the Korean rehabi l i tati on but i t appears that the selection of the sal t fi sh for despatch to Korea -w as a parti cul arl y happy choice and had been notew orthy i n i t s w elcom e and acceptabi lity. "i 12. I do not consider that thi s report w ould be com plete w ithout a reference to C olonel R .B. M cD ougall. This offi cer accom panied m e throughout m y tour ofKure and Korea and his experience and assistance w ere invaluable. C olonel M cD ougall did not accom pany m e m erely as an'aide - although he perform ed those- duties i n a m ost cheerful and helpful m anner - but i n his capacity as l i ai son•offi cer w ith the various units vi si ted he proved him self an extrem ely . 000396 �* Docume nt dis clos e d under the Access to Inform ation Act Docume nt divulgue e n ve rtu de la Lois ur I'accis a I’inform ation •% .-a -4-know ledgeable and effi ci ent offi cer w ith w hom i tw as a pleasure to travel , I think that thi s tri p w as an outstanding success, due partl y to the careful bri efi ng I received from M r. Scott before leaving and to the careful recording of the various m inutes of our m eetings by Lt. C ol. M cD ougall and to his w ri ti ng of the report on his return. I w ish i n closing to record m y appreciation of them both. (S gd.) R. W. Ma yhe w The Amba s s a dor. 000397 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CDKW00728 Title A name given to the resource CDKW00728 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived "Korean War - Reaction by Canada," RG24-B-1-a, vol. 20811, 7-10-5, part 3, Library and Archives Canada (LAC). Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Canadian Crown Subject The topic of the resource Korean War Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Canada Declassified Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource en