Far Eastern Tour: The Canadian Infantry in Korea, 1950-1953 [Hardcover]

Brent Byron Watson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2002

What was it like to serve in the infantry during Canada's "Forgotten War"? In Far Eastern Tour Brent Watson tells the story of the Korean War from the perspective of Canadian soldiers. Dealing with the fiasco surrounding recruitment, a training regime inappropriate for the war they were to fight, and the stark living and combat conditions the soldiers faced, Watson examines the human consequences of an Army that was totally unprepared for service in the Far East. Using rigorous archival research and oral accounts, Far Eastern Tour follows the experiences of Canadian soldiers from the time they responded to the government's call to arms to their indifferent homecoming a year later. Because Army brass and defence planners in Ottawa insisted on viewing the conflict through the familiar lens of the Canadian Army's World War II experiences in Europe, Canadian soldiers in Korea suffered needless casualties and endured conditions that bordered on criminal neglect. That Canadian troops "soldiered on" in spite of such hardship and misery was a measure of their fortitude and dedication.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book is wonderful - anything but a conventional narrative, Far Eastern Tour is a kind of social history of the Canadian army in this war, written "from below" to include such things as military socialization; the army's physical, mental, intellectual, and psychological preparation for war in Asia; and how the army fulfilled its responsibilities for the care and custody of its soldiers in the fields. Watson has examined these incidentals as things in themselves. The result is that the whole story of each is told and analysed and then related to the wider story of how the army performed on the battlefield. And he does this with some of the liveliest prose I've read in a long time." Steve Harris, chief historian, Directorate of History, National Defence Headquarters

About the Author

Brent Byron Watson is a defence policy officer at the Canadian National Defence Headquarters.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press; First Edition edition (October 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0773523723
• ISBN-13: 978-0773523722
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,904,597 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What living amid such combat was like, January 6, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Far Eastern Tour: The Canadian Infantry in Korea, 1950-1953 (Hardcover)

Far Eastern Tour: The Canadian Infantry In Korea 1950-1953 by Brent Byron Watson (History Teacher, Okanagan University College) is a tautly written and serious-minded examination and history of Canada's involvement in the Korean War, including the hardships Canadian infantry suffered which included inappropriate training, stark living and combat conditions, and the deadly blood toll of the war itself. Far Eastern Tour is very highly recommended as being an extensively researched, carefully written, and scholarly accurate look into what living amid such combat was like, the pressures it demanded, and the extraordinary people who faced the horrors of war and did not back down from what had to be done.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Canadians must remember the lessons of Korea, August 8, 2004

By 

John D. Anderson (Tagelswangen, Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Far Eastern Tour: The Canadian Infantry in Korea, 1950-1953 (Hardcover)

This book is both wonderful and horrifying at the same time. In today's global environment, the lessons of Korea are all the more important for the Government of Canada, the high command and the Canadian public to remember! This book should be read and sit on the corner of every desk in the Department of Defense. Canadian should also reflect on the government's callous disregard of the navy's helicopter pilots (i.e. the Sea King Episode), or the fact Canadian troops were sent to Afghanistan in green uniforms. These episodes clearly demonstrate that politics wins over the lives of the service personnel every time, just as it had in Korea. Here we sit over 60 distant from the Korea war and the Canadian Government and military are still making many of the same mistakes.