Battle of Kapyong remembered 65 years on in Winnipeg

A lesser-known battle that is considered one of Canada's most significant military achievements was remembered in Winnipeg Sunday.

The Battle ofKapyongsaw 700 Canadian troops hold their own against a comparatively huge group of Chinese soldiers in 1951.

"We knew we were surrounded,"MichaelCzubokasaid. "We ran out of ammunition, food and water."

Czubokafought in thebattle and isone ofonly a few members of the 2nd Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry Regiment still alive today.

The Canadians were outnumbered, but managed to fight back roughly 5,000 Chinese soldiers.

Czuboka said he and his fellow Canadian soldiers considered themselves luckyto get out alive.

"When we leftKapyongwe felt verygrateful that we had survived, because the British to the west of us ... the whole battalion was wiped out by the Chinese. There was 50 or 60 survivors out of 700," he said.

Historians consider the battle to be animportant contribution tothe fall of the communist offensive in South Korea.

• CBC Archives: Looking back at the pivotal battle of Kapyong

Czuboka said the experience caused him to mature quickly, and that the gratitude of the Korean people still means a lot to him.

"We saved the people of South Korea," he said. "[Today] it's a modern democracy so for that reason alone I have absolutely no regrets and I'm sure my comrades have no regrets either."

Czubokaauthored thefictional book,Manifest Destiny,basedon his experiences in the Korean war.