191 Canada’s newly appointed Ambassador to Korea, His Excellency Mark Fletcher attended his first every Kapyong Battle ceremony and spoke of the role of Canada’s 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, which was the only Canadian ground unit in Korea at the time of the battle. The Patricias held a cluster of strategically selected hills around the massive Hill 677, actually a mountain, and fought off enemy attacks on their B Company and D Company during the night of April 23-24, 1951. When the enemy overran a D Company platoon on Hill 677, LCol James Stone called artillery fire onto his own company’s position to neutralize the enemy that were partially occupying the hill. Temporarily cut off from rear positions the Patricias received an air drop of ammunition, rations, and medical supplies early on the morning of April 24. They were relieved on April 25 by units of the U.S. 5th Cavalry, which launched attacks against the enemy on the Canadian side of the Kapyong River Valley and the positions on the east side of the valley that had been bravely held by the 3rd Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment until the ammunition was depleted and the unit had suffered many fatal casualties. The enemy forces began to withdraw under heavy pressure on April 27. Shown beside Ambassador Fletcher is Canada’s Defence Attaché, the very hard working Captain (Navy) Jill Marrack. She is the only woman serving as a military attaché in Korea.
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