In a heroic action in the spring of 1951, a cut-off Canadian unit held out at a hill called Kapyong, after units from other armies on surrounding hills abandoned their positions. The Canadians did not and -- it is argued -- saved the front from collapsing.
Don Hibbs was there.
"I'd say more than 7,000 troops were against us, We were outnumbered seven or 10 to one," he says
In the end, they didn't go down. The Chinese finally abandoned the attack The front held. Seoul was saved.
For their valor, the unit -- The Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry -- was honoured not by their own country but by the United States. The Patricia's received a presidential citation, a decoration rarely awarded to non-American troops and the first ever Canadian troops to reveive such honours.
