Barry J. McKay

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B:        Barry McKay.  B-A-R-R-Y  M-c-K-A-Y.

I:          Um.  What is your birthday?

B:        My birthday is the 22^nd of the first of ’31.

I:          So you born January 22, 1931.

B:        Yeah.

I:          Um hm.  So you are now

B:        Eighty-eight.

I:          Wow.  Eighty-eight?  You look like 68.

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So where were you born?

B:        Gisborne.

I:          Gisborne?

B:        Yeah.

I:          Um.  Tell me about your family when you were growing up, when you were child, your parents and your siblings.  How many siblings did you have?

B:        There was four of us.

I:          Yes?

B:        A older brother

I:          Um?

B:        Uh, the older sister and a younger sister.

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So you were in the middle?

B:        Yeah, just about, yeah.

I:          Um.  And tell me about the school you went through.

B:        I went through Agatava school.

I:          Could you spell it?

B:        A-G-A-T-A-V-A.

I:          Okay.  And what else?

B:        I went to the Gisborne Intermediate, and then from Intermediate to high school.

I:          And high school.

B:        Yeah.

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I:          Yeah.  So from your school, what did you learn about Korea?  Did you know anything about Korea from the school?

B:        No.

I:          Not at all?

B:        No.  No.  There were, there was [INAUDIBLE] sent over there.

I:          Ha.  Did you know anything about China or Japan?

B:        No.

I:          Not at all.

B:        No.

I:          Yeah.  So now you are the Korean War veteran, right?

B:        Yeah.

I:          Yeah.

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What do you think about this?  You, you didn’t know anything about Korea.  Now you are Korean War veteran.

B:        Yeah.  Yeah.

I:          What do you think?

B:        Oh, so what?

I:          Um?

B:        Yeah.  I quite enjoyed it over there.

I:          You enjoyed it?

B:        The people, yeah.

I:          Um.  So when did you join the military?

B:        I joined the Navy in 1948.

I:          Forty-eight.  How old were you at the time?  You were 17?

B:        Yeah.

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I:          Yes.

B:        I was in years, nine months.

I:          Nine months.  And where did you get  the basic military training?

B:        Uh, Tamaki, Auckland.

I:          Kabuki?

B:        Tamaki.

I:          Could you spell it?

B:        T-A-M-A-K-I.

I:          C-A-T-I-M?

B:        T-A-M-A-K-I, T-A-M-A-K-I.

I:          Tamaki.

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And

B:        It, it really was called Motor Hill.  That’s when the Navy, what they called Tamaki.

I:          I see.  And how was basic military training there?

B:        I was there for three months.

I:          Three months.

B:        Then I went to [INAUDIBLE]

I:          Um hm.

B:        the rest of my training.  Then they put me on a ship,

I:          Ship

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B:        and I went to HMS Pukaki.

I:          Could you spell it?

B:        P-U-K-, P-U-K-A-K-I.

I:          U-K-A-K-

B:        I.

I:          I.  So Pukaki.

B:        Pukaki, yeah.

I:          Pukaki.  And that was Her Majesty New Zealand ship, Pukaki.

B:        Yeah.

I:          What kind of ship was it?  Was it cruiser or frigate?

B:        Frigate.

I:          Frigate?

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So explain this frigate to young children here.  They don’t know what’s frigate.  What kind of ship was it?  How many people?  What kind of weapons?

B:        It was kind of a mine sweeper, you know.

I:          Um hm.

B:        It had, uh, about three hundred of us on there.

I:          Three hundred?

B:        Yeah.

I:          Had many people.

B:        Yeah.

I:          So it was a kind of big ship.

B:        Well, it was fairly big.

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I:          Um.  And what was your specialty?  What did you do?

B:        Engine room.

I:          Engine Room.

B:        Yeah.

I:          So you knew the boilers and so on.

B:        Yeah.

I:          Yeah.  How big was it, engine?

B:        Oh, she was up and down [INAUDIBLE] but all mostly in the mortars.

I:          Mortar room.

B:        Yeah.

I:          Um.  so when did you go to Korea?

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B:        I was in Korea in 1952 as a Sergeant.

I:          I’m sorry?

B:        Nineteen fifty, soon as, soon as it broke out.

I:          Oh.  So you went to Korea as soon as War broke out.

B:        Yeah.

I:          Were you in Japan?

B:        No, no.  Straight

I:          Straight.

B:        Straight to Hong Kong, and then from Hong Kon up to Sasebo.

I:          Hong Kong to Sasebo?

B:        Yeah.

I:          Yeah.  And then to Korea.

B:        Oh yeah.

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We patrolled from Sasebo coast up and down all day, all bloody night.

I:          Hm.  Do you remember  the month that you arrived in the Korean Sea, Yellow Sea?  Was it summer or winter?

B:        Winter.  Oh, the old winter, I suppose, it be, we got there about, uh, August.

I:          August?

B:        Yeah.

I:          So you were there pretty,

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all in the phase of the Korean War.

B:        Yeah.

I:          Hm.  Tell me about any military action that you took.

B:        We, uh, we were patrolling the border

I:          Um hm.

B:        and firing at the shore when

I:          You were firing at the shore?

B:        Yeah.

I:          Why?

B:        We were trying to put the trains out of commission.  The, uh, stop going up and down the coast.

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And then the biggest ship we had, it was the Missouri.

I:          Missouri Aircraft Carrier.

B:        Yeah, no.  She was a, a battle wagon.

I:          Uh huh.

B:        She was the biggest one there.  She had four 8” guns.  Ours was only 4”.

I:          Yeah.

B:        And ships had 40 mph an hour, and we have to get in about 4 [INAUDIBLE]

I:          Um.

B:        The way she falls, you can see the ground all around the place.

I:          It’s a big aircraft carrier.

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B:        Yeah.

I:          Yeah.  American ship, right?

B:        Yeah.

I:          Yeah.

B:        Yeah.  The Americans were there and, and Dutch, French.

I:          What about other occasion.  Were you being attacked by North Koreans?

B:        Yeah, we were attacked.

I:          Tell me about it.

B:        We were attacked by a MIG fighter.

I:          MIG fighter.

B:        Yeah.

I:          Tell me about it.  How, how did it  happen?  Describe the  details because young children

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they don’t know anything about it.

B:        No.  We was

I:          Explain it.

B:        We were just cruising up the coast, and this MIG come out of somewhere and open fire on us.
I:          Where were you?  Were you in the engine room or were you on the deck?

B:        I was in the engine, in the boiler room.  And then it didn’t do, uh, much damage to, to, I think it was too much artillery around

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firing at them.  We were the only ones under attack of all the ships

I:          Uh huh.

B:        were getting under attack.

I:          Did you fire back?

B:        Oh, I suppose they did.  I heard the guns going off anyway.

I:          Um hm.  Must be very scary.

B:        Oh, yes.  Just had to sit there and keep the boat going.

I:          Hm.

B:        Yeah.  Every once a time

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we’d get type the information from the Captain and he’d go fast or slow.  And then on up to, up to the, the, what’s the name, the [INAUDIBLE] you see, and we had three [INAUDIBLE] and you’d switch from three.  And if you went there going fast, [you’d have to go forward

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INAUDIBLE] to keep one spare all the time.  Keep it clean.  And then  you [just threw flaps and she’d change it right over].

I:          Hm.  Where did you learn taking care of engine?

B:        On the ship.

I:          On the ship?

B:        Yeah.

I:          So you didn’t know much about the engine before.

B:        No.

I:          So what kind of job did you do?

B:        Me?

I:          Yeah.  Engine, with the engine.  What did you do?

B:        Oh well, keep the, the,

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the pistons oiled [INAUDIBLE] and the piston would hit the [INAUDIBLE] up and down.  So there were [OCCASIONS]  That was the engine was in the boiler room to keep the water level there, of the boiler the same level all the time.

I:          Same level.

B:        Yeah.

I:          So you were checking all those maintaining.

B:        Well a few.  They, they upped the bloody, you know

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the, uh,   separated the ship to take more water you see, yeah.

I:          How long did you work every day?  What time did you start, and what time did you end?

B:        Well, I was on three watches, [that was four watch], three watches, four hours.

I:          Four hours.

B:        Yeah.

I:          Yeah.  So there is a shift.

B:        Yeah.

I:          Two shifts or one shift?

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B:        There would be three of us all at once.

I:          Three of you.

B:        Yeah.

I:          Um.

B:        It was three or four hours each.

I:          Um hm.

B:        Yeah.

I:          And how was life inside of this frigate?  Even though there are a lot of people in this, uh, big ship.

B:        Yeah.  There was

I:          But still this small

B:        twenty-four on our deck.  And we had to sleep in  hammocks, you see.

I:          Hammock.

B:        Yeah.

I:          Um.

B:        Cause when they swung the hammock with the ship rolled,

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the hammock, [STAMMERS] never touch you.

I:          It’s a swing, right?

B:        Yeah.  Yeah.

I:          Yeah.  How was it ?

B:        It was alright, yeah.

I:          Okay?

B:        Yeah, quite comfy.

I:          Yeah.  Compared to the  Army’s who had to sleep in the friend, uh, foxhole with the water or snow.

B:        Oh boy.  Their sleep was, was, uh, very cold in the winter.

I:          Yeah.

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B:        But the first trip I did was a six, five months .  See, we went over, see it’s July, and they, we were back by December.

I:          December of 1950.

B:        Yeah.

I:          And then, did you go back?

B:        Yeah, well, I went on to the War strike, and I went down [INAUDIBLE]

I:          When was that?

B:        Fifty-one.

I:          Fifty-one.  You went back to Korea again.

B:        We were called from,

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they called on to, to another ship, Taupo.

I:          Um hm.  Another ship named what?

B:        Taupo.

I:          Could you

B:        T-A-U-P-O.

I:          That’s it.  Taupo.

B:        Taupo, yeah.

I:          Taupo.  And that’s a frigate, too?

B:        Yeah.

I:          So you were there two times.

B:        Yeah.  Last time was 14 months.

I:          Fourteen months.

B:        Yeah.

I:          So you left Korea

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more like, uh, 1952, ’53?

B:        Yeah.

I:          When, ’52 or ’53?

B:        I was there in, uh, [INAUDIBLE]

I:          Fifty-two, 52.  Were there any dangerous moments where you could be wounded or being hit?
B:        Well, see, when I was transferred to a British, uh, destroyer [INAUDIBLE]

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I:          Yeah.  So you were transferred to destroyer.

B:        Yeah.

I:          So from frigate Taupo to destroyer.

B:        For three months training, yes.

I:          Uh huh.

B:        And then we were attacked

I:          Yeah

B:        and we lost three men only.

I:          Why?

B:        Because they hit the, hit the, the laundry where the,

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we, we used to have laundry, you see, and it hit the laundry and killed these three seamen, yeah.  And they happen to be Chinese.

I:          Happened to be Chinese.

B:        Yeah.

I:          How come?

B:        Well, they were, they were allowed to come on board and do their laundry.

I:          Oh, laundry.  So they were not soldiers.

B:        No, no.

I:          But they were killed.

B:        Yeah.

I:          Huh.  I’m sorry to hear that.

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B:        Yeah.

I:          Um, Barry, what was the most difficult  thing during your service in the ship?

B:        Ooo,

I:          What did really bother you?
B:        Nothing doesn’t,

I:          Nothing in particular?  Was it cold?

B:        Oh, it was cold.  Cause when they put anybody ashore, I’d have to be

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on the

I:          Deck.

B:        on the boat.

I:          Yeah.

B:        They took the, they departed, I was the Chief Engineer on the boat, you see, to keep the boat running

I:          Um hm.

B:        and we, I used to take the, the landing parties ashore, then set off and wait for the signal to go back and get them.

I:          Hm.

B:        And my God, [INAUDIBLE] was cold and she was rough.

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I:          But engine room was always warm, right?

B:        Oh, yeah.

I:          Yeah.

B:        Yeah.

I:          Yeah.

B:        But, you know, the, the, the best part of it all was trying to get back on the ship because the  boat was rolling [SEAS]

I:          Um.
B:        [HE WAS FRIGHTENED, YEAH]

I:          Did you volunteer to join them again or were you ordered to join them?

B:        Oh, would you, if they called you up, you just went.

I:          I see.  And you were not married at the time, right?

B:        No.

I:          No.

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And you are here with your daughter.  So when did you marry?

B:        When I came out.

I:          Came out.

B:        Three years after I got out, yeah.

I:          I see.  And have you been back to Korea since then?

B:        No.

I:          You never been back to Korea?

B:        No.

I:          Ah.  Do you know what’s going on in Korea now?

B:        Oh,

I:          Do you know about  the Korean economy and so on?

B:        No.

I:          You don’t know?

B:        No.

I:          The country you fight for 70 years ago

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now becomes 11^th largest economy in the world.

B:        We were in Korea, Kura

I:          Yeah

B:        very far from Hiroshima.

I:          Hiroshima.

B:        And we were, uh , taxi, [INAUDIBLE]  we went through to Hiroshima to have a look, and it was flat.  All that was there were a few

I:          Yeah.

B:        Bars.  Of course, we [PULLED] in there

I:          Um.

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Have you seen any Korean cities?  No.

B:        No.

I:          No.  Did you have a chance to patrol Han River ?

B:        I could have, but  I was in, uh, uh, cause I was, port we went to

I:          Han River or

B:        Yellow [INAUDIBLE]

I:          Yeah, Yellow Sea.

B:        Yeah.

I:          Yellow Sea.

B:        We went up one river

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and got stranded.  Had to get another boat in to pull us out.

I:          Um hm.

B:        It was just as well.  They didn’t have any big guns on them.

I:          Hm.

B:        But we used to fish the dead bodies out of, out of the water and sew them up in canvases and [INAUDIBLE]

I:          Um.  Anything you remember that

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particularly you remember during your service in the ship?

B:        Some what?

I:          Any, any particular episode that you remember?
B:        No, no, no, nothing

I:          No.

B:        spectacular.

I:          So are you proud to be a Korean War veteran?

B:        Yeah.

I:          Um.

B:        Yeah.

I           What do you think you did for Korea?

B:        Hm?

I:          What do you think you did for Korea?

B:        Oh, helped the people I suppose,

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you know?

I:          Um.

B:        [INAUDIBLE]

I:          Yes.

B:        you know, have a life?

I:          Because you fought for Korea, Korea were able to rebuild their nation.  Now they are 11^th largest economy in the world, very big economy.

B:        Yeah.

I:          Yeah.  By 2030, we will be ahead of France.

B:        Yeah.

I:          Just behind Great Britain.

B:        Yeah.

I:          So we going to be 7^th largest

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economy in the world.

B:        Oh yeah.

I:          Yeah.

B:        Yeah.

I:          But the Korea when you went there, Korea was miserable.

B:        Yeah.

I:          Yeah.

B:        Yeah.

I:          That’s why we are doing this, okay?

B:        Yeah.

I:          In your family, is there anybody who’s teaching in the high school or middle school?  Any school teacher in your family now?

B:        No.

I:          Nobody’s teaching.

B:        No.

I:          Oh.  We are doing this so that teachers will play this interview

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in the school.

B:        Oh yeah.

I:          for the children so that they can know who Barry John McKay was and what he did.  You did twice in the  Korean War, right?

B:        Yeah.

I:          Yeah.

B:        My  granddaughter took my medals to, uh, school and explained them

I:          Yeah.

B:        what they’re all about.  Then she brought them back to me.

I:          Yeah.  What’s her name?

B:        [INAUDIBLE]

I:          Um.  And she explained about your medals, right?

B:        Yeah.

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I:          That’s very nice.

B:        [INAUDIBLE]

I:          Excellent.  Any other story that you want to say to this interview?

B:        Uh, I don’t, I don’t know.  I just can’t remember them.

I:          Um.

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So you didn’t know about Korea.  But now you know Korea, and you are Korean War veteran, right?
B:        Yeah.

I:          So what is Korea to you now personally?

B:        Well, it’s called [INAUDIBLE] country

I:          Um hm.

B:        you know?  It was more like a civilized country.

I:          Yeah.

B:        when we were there.  They, they just did what they had to do.

I:          Um hm.

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Do you want to go back to Korea?

B:        Oh, I’m too old to go back there now.

I:          Um.  Alright.  Barry, thank you so much for coming and sharing your story with us.

B:        Yeah.

I:          And I’ll make sure that this interview will be edited for the use of teachers and students in New Zealand.

B:        Yeah.

I:          Okay?

B:        Yeah.

I:          Great.  Thank you so much.

B:        That’s alright.  Thank you.

I:          Thank you.

 

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