A group of Jasperites attended a memorial service in Valemount, B.C., to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Canoe River train accident, Sept. 25.
The group included local resident Dong Han—affectionately known as Grandpa—who has spent years advocating for Canadian soldiers who fought in the Korean War.
“I am honoured to be here on behalf of the Korean people to express our thanks for your courage and supreme sacrifices,” said Han, during a wreath laying ceremony at the Valemount Royal Canadian Legion.
Han's father was a senior officer with the Korean army who fought in the liberation movement during the Second World War. Han was 19 years old when he was drafted to fight in the Korean War.
“We Koreans made a promise to build a strong and prosperous country that would uphold peace and freedom so that your sacrifices would not be in vain. Your sacrifices gave us a chance to be transformed. We have faithfully kept that promise, and Korea today is a vibrant democracy with a robust economy that actively promotes peace and stability around the world.”
On Nov. 21, 1950, the 2nd Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery participated in “Operation Sawhorse,” a large-scale rail movement of more than 6,000 Canadian soldiers to Fort Lewis, Wash.
The soldiers were part of a Canadian contingent being sent to Korea as part of a U.S-led United Nations intervention.
The journey aboard the first of the two trains was uneventful for the soldiers, but then, tragedy struck. At 10:35 a.m. on Nov. 21, 1950, the second train collided head on with a passenger train heading from Vancouver to Montreal, just south of Canoe River. The engine and leading coaches of both trains derailed, killing 17 soldiers and four engine crew members.
Recovery of the bodies was extremely difficult and a fire rendered a number of the victims unidentifiable. Forty-two men were also injured in the accident and treated by Dr. Gordon Straughan, who travelled from Jasper upon word of the accident.
One of the men killed in the accident was Harvey Church, a Jasperite and locomotive engineer on the troop train. His daughter, Glenda Cornforth, attended the memorial service in Valemount.
“It's important for me and an honour for me to come today and lay a wreath in memory of those crewmen who lost their lives in the accident,” said Cornforth, who was 14 years old when her father died.
“My father was a very caring man and was always concerned about his family and his community,” she recalled.
On the day of the accident, Cornforth was walking to school with her friends when she was told an auxiliary crew had been dispatched to attend a train accident near Valemount.
When she arrived at school she went straight to the office and phoned her mother, who had one of the few telephones in the community at the time, and shared the news.
Not knowing whether her father was involved in the accident or not, she carried on with her day, but soon after arriving home, a lady knocked on the door and shared the bad news: her father had been killed in the accident.
“I just couldn't believe it. I thought he would come home. I wanted to just be like all the other kids and have two parents, but that wasn't to be,” said Cornforth, explaining her father's body wasn't recovered until the spring when the snow melted.
In recognition of the sacrifice those men made, the Valemount Legion held a short parade followed by a wreath laying ceremony with dozens of veterans, cadets and active members in attendance.
A group also visited the spot where the train accident happened.
“I think the Valemount Legion should be commended for their interest in the accident that happened so many years ago and that they can bring this many people together each year,” said Cornforth.
Five years ago, the Korean War Memorial Foundation officially recognized and honoured those who lost their lives in the Canoe River train accident, including three other Jasperites: Jack Stinson, Adam Oleschuk and Hank Brosinuk. The three men were part of the engine crews on each train.
With files from Carrie White
Paul Clarke
[email protected]
