South Korea honours Canadian veterans during port visit

LS (Ret’d) Roderick Finley displays a photographic collection featuring his late friend and former shipmate CPO2 Fred Watson. Finley was aboard South Korean vessel ROKS Munmu the Great during a Port visit to Esquimalt in December. He accepted a South Korean Ambassador for Peace medal on behalf of Watson during a ceremony that also honoured nine other Korean War veterans.

Peter Mallett, Staff Writer ~

A close friend and former shipmate of a Korean War veteran was recently overcome by tears while posthumously accepting an Ambassador For Peace medal on his behalf.

They were tears of joy but also remorse says Leading Seaman (ret’d) Roderick Finley. That’s mostly because his good friend Chief Petty Officer Second Class (ret’d) Fred Watson wasn’t around to enjoy the outpouring of gratitude by representatives of the Republic of  Korea navy and government.

“I’m not sure if it’s such a great sight to see a grown man cry but there were certainly some tears on that day,” said Leading Seaman (ret’d) Roderick Finley.

On Dec. 19 the 81-year-old Victoria resident was aboard Republic of Korea (ROKS) Munmu the Great for a medal presentation ceremony and reception on the destroyer’s flight deck.

Watson was one of ten medal recipients honoured on Munmu the Great that day. The awards were presented to veterans of the Korean War by South Korea’s Navy Cruise Training Task Group Commander RDML Minsoo Yang and Defence Attaché Colonel Keunsik Moon during the ship’s four-day port visit to Esquimalt.

“The Republic of Korea will always remember the Korean War Veterans, and their courageous actions during the Korean War,” said Colonel Moon. “We are forever thankful and we will continue our efforts to remember and commemorate their sacrifices.”

Four of the ten medal recipients honoured are no longer living.

“He would have loved the moment and I truly wish he was there to see it,” said Finley. “I was tearing up during the ceremony because all the memories of him came flooding back to me. Even though I never served in Korea I was a great pal of his and glad I could do this for him and glad that I applied for this award on his behalf.”

The award includes a medal, pin and commemorative certificate of expression of appreciation from the government of South Korea. It is awarded to foreign servicemen and women who served in the Korean War. It was first awarded to veterans as a special memento for those who returned to South Korea through its Revisit Program.

During the presentation ceremony, the award recipients also a received a monumental statue that represents a smaller version of the Alliance Monument which was installed on the ROK-US Combined Forces Command site in 2019.

The ceremony was also attended by Republic of Korea Navy Cruise Training Task Group, Rear Admiral Yang Minsoo with representation from the Royal Canadian Navy including Deputy Commander Rear-Admiral Chris Sutherland.

Finley served in the RCN for ten years as an Electrical Technician and retired in 1967. He then launched a lengthy career with Hudson’s Bay Wholesale where he worked as an electrician. Watson, a career sailor and Second World War veteran, died in July 1984 when he was 65. He served in the Battle of The Atlantic and during the Korean war aboard HMCS Cayuga.

Watson once commanded the stoker branch of HMCS Assiniboine, with Finley working under him in the engine room for two years. His memories of Watson are all good ones.

“He was laid back and normally easy going as a PO [Petty Officer] and if you ever had a problem, work-related or otherwise he was there to help you,” said Finley. “I never heard a bad word said about him which wasn’t often the ‘norm’ while working on a ship back in those days.”

Years later Watson would finish his career at CFB Esquimalt’s Damage Control School in Colwood.

It wasn’t until later years in Watson’s life that the two men’s friendship flourished and it was all by coincidence says Finley. That’s because the two men discovered they were neighbours on the same street in Saanich in the late 1970s and the two fathers and neighbouring families became very close says Finley.

“He was like a father figure to me and I know how much his service in Korea meant to him so that’s why I applied on his behalf for him to be honoured with this medal,” he said.

For more information on how to apply for an Ambassador for Peace Medal visit the South Korean Embassy webpage: http://overseas.mofa.go.kr/ca-ko/index.do