Elliott Landall

Elliott C Landall: My first name is Elliott Charles Landall, L-A-N-D-A-L-L

Interviewer: Your first name is Elliott, E-L-L-I-O-T-T. two T’s at the end.

E: Yes, , …O-TT

I: Yes. What is your birthday?

E: 1928.

I: So, born in September 1st?

E: Yes. 1928.

I: 1928
E: Yes

I: So, now you are 91?

E: 90.

00:00:30

E: I turned 90 on the 1st of September.

I: I’m sorry that I added one more year to you. Wow, 90 years old. That’s a longevity. And you still look very good. Huh! Very good. Where were you born?

E: In Blenheim

I: Could you spell it?

00:01:00

E: P -R -E -A -R -Y -M -E

I: Blenheim

E: Yes, yeah

I: B-L-E-N-D-H-E-I-M. That is where I am headed tomorrow. I am going to take a ferry and I am going to Blendheim.

E: Yes

I: So, It is on the South Island, right?

E: Yes

I: Good. And tell me about your family background.

00:01:30

I: When you were growing up. Your parents and your siblings at the time.

E: We had eight sisters and one brother

I: And..

E: Brought up in [not deciphered]

I: Yes

E: : Lord willing, members of the family were married. I married

00:02:00

E: And moved to away

I: Why?

E: No, away

I: Wny, yes.

E: I just admired our dad.

I: What about the school you went through? Tell me about the school, you

E: Yeah, I went to Whekenu High School. which was just out of Picton

I: Oh in Picton

E: Yeah!
00:02:30

I: Yeah! And when did you finish your school? You remember? It is too hard to calculate like that. Do you remember when you graduate high school? Okay. What about when did you join the military?

E: I can’t remember that

00:03:00

Elliott’s Daughter: How old were you dad?

I: How old were you when you joined the? Did you join the Army or Navy?

E: Army

I: Army. And when. do you remember when did you join? What age were you? 21?

E: Oh well, past that, 36, I think I was.

00:03:30

I: So it was 1948

E: Yeah!

Interviewer: 46, forty, no, no, no, 1944

E: Yeah!

I: So that was before World War ended

E: Yeah!

I: Did you participate in the World War II?

E: No.

I: No?

E: I reached Korea. joined up for the army. I was sent to Korea

I: So, anything you remember about your service
00:04:00

I: In Korea?

E: No, I remember. It was actually lovely serving there because everyone reminds me so much of home. It was different channels you end up, especially in Japan. I had what I call the Inland Sea. Going up, there was a lot going up

00:04:30

E: noting the sound to Pickton. It was lovely.

I: Any other thing that you remember. What did you do there?

E: We helped the Korean people. Who didn’t want to be disturbed in their homes or bombed out.

00:05:00

E: We helped, I used to supervise them working.

I: What was your speciality? Were you gunman?

E: No, divisional signals.

I: Division of Signal. Okay. What did you do? Tell me about it?

E: It wasn’t much to do really. We used to send out

I: Send out what?

00:05:30

E: Messages to the forward troops. Just send back knowledge that might make sure they were well prepared.

I: So you were the radio operator? Did you talk to the microwave radio?

E: Yeah,

I: Wasn’t it dangerous?

E: No, not at all.
00:06:00

I: Not at all?

E: Not from where I was

Interviewer: Where were you?

E: I was in Korea but I was in a field way back.

I: In the rear. In the back. Right?

E: We were in a field way back We had say, probably, say 50 kilometers from the frontline

I: Do you remember the location name?

00:06:30

E: No (Shaked head)

I: Any camp name, or anything like that? No?

E: No, just

I: What about this Elliott? What was the most difficult thing during your service in Korea?

E: Getting used to the changes in the weather

I: Weather

E: The weather. The summers were terribly hot and the winters

00:07:00

E: Were terribly cold.

I: Not like New Zealand

E: No way!

I: So, how cold was it?

E: Well, while there, we had to wear special clothing, special boots and socks, and double jackets
I: Double jacket, but still cold?

E: Ohh, terribly cold you know.

00:07:30

E: Yup, minus five

I: Minus 5, yeah. What about life there? Where did you sleep and what did you eat?

E: Well we ate in a camp mess room. Every tent, there was ten of us to a tent.

00:08:00

E: And I used to be in charge of the tent. Tell them where they’re going in the morning to their jobs. Because a lot them would be shovelling out earth that had fallen down. After the office, it was the Korean people. They would get up to

00:08:30

E: Show them what to do.

I: What was your rank at the time? Was Sergeant or Master Sergeant

E: I was a Private Signalman

I: [Laughs]

E: And then I was promoted to Corporal

I: Corporal. And, how difficult that job?
E: No, not hard at all

I: Not much difficult

00:09:00

E: New Zealanders seem to be able to adapt very well

I: And, did any Korean people work with you? At that time?

E: No, not really. Just to help to show them what to do. Since they were rebuilding, we showed them how to help hang doors

00:09:30

E: And put in windows.

I: How did Korean people live, at that time?

E: Oh, very rural. They were given surprise by us and they were lovely people, everywhere. They relied on us a lot.

00:10:00

I: And, have you been to Seoul, the capital city of Korea?

E: Yup.

I: Tell me about, what did you see?

E: Well when I first went there, it was all a black out because it was the North Korean strategy to bomb us again. So we had to get the heck out of it and it brought us to what you refer

00:10:30

E: To as the suburbs. Nothing had been directed to the people from there. So if they were bombed then we would have to hospitalize them or help to get them back into their house.

I: What do you think about that city?

E: Oh, lovely city. It is well laid out, actually.

I: But everything was destroyed

00:11:00

E: Oh, everything yes

Interviewer: And, have you been back to Korea?

E: No, I haven’t. I would like to go back and have a look around

Interviewer: And, do you follow up with things happening in Korea now? In Korea, Now. Do you know about anything about new Korea, modern Korea?

E: No

I: Do you know about Korean economy?

00:11:30

E: No not really. I haven’t had much to do with it since I left.

I: Yes. After you left, Korea industrialized the whole nation and now we are the 11th largest economy in the world.

E: Yes

I: What do you think about that?

E: Very good. We contributed lots

I: And, had you ever thought that Korea would become like this today?

00:12:00

I: When you left?

E: Yes, because they were very good listeners and I always took down their instructions. And, it was so nice to teach them because they listened. They followed whatever you asked them to do.

I: So, you were able to teach them?

E: Yes

I: What teach you, what did teach, what did you teach?

00:12:30

E: I taught them some English

I: English? To whom? Who was your student?

E: No students. They came up on their job orders and we used to tell them what to do with everything and it was spoken English. And we did not speak in Korean.

Interviewer: And did they learn from you?

E: Oh yes.

00:13:00

I: How was them?

E: Vere good learners

I: That is very interesting to know. Were you married at the time?

E: No, I came home from. I went to Japan. I went to get it arranged for me to come home to New Zealand and got married and came back again.

00:13:30

I: Came back to where?

E: Japan

I: To Japan

E: I was under strict instructions that I showed them papers to make sure I came back. Once I got married and didn’t just stay back in New Zealand. I came back here and left with my wife. She was living with her mother.

00:14:00

I: And now, you are the Korean War Veteran.

E: Yeah

I: What do you think about that? Are you proud of, to be Koren War Veteran?

E: Yeah

I: Why?

E: Because if you speak to a Korean, they are so lovely and humble. Actually, I was in the hospital watching my blood, if a Korean person didn’t come into the next bed to me and we got quite

00:14:30

E: A conversation going. It was lovely to talk. She said we loved the New Zealanders. She said we didn’t like the Aussies too much because they were so cheeky and rude. She said but the New Zealanders always helped us out.

I: That’s very good.

E: Yeah

I: Next year will be the 70th anniversary of the Korean War.

00:15:00

I: Can you believe that?

E: Yeah

I: When did you leave actually Korea? Was it after the war or ended? Or before

E: Oh. Yeah.

I: Huh?

E: After the Second World War? Is when I went to Korea

I: Yes. But, when did you leave Korea?

E: Oh Gosh, I wish I had written this all down

00:15:30

I: Ok. Was it after, before war ended? Right

E: Oh, Yes. The Korean War was relatively over

I: Ok, Anything you remember particularly about your service?

E: It was very satisfying, actually.

I: Why?

00:16:00

E: Because if you help people, they are also grateful. That they took the knowledge and they always wrote down everything. Or if you give them booklets on what to do and they alway study them up. They would bringing them to work with

I: So, you like Korea?

E: Yeah

I: And, you want to go back to Korea?

00:16:30

E: Oh, I wouldn’t mind a trip back there

I: Anything you remember particularly about the war that you fought for? Was dangerous? You said that it was not that dangerous? But anything that you remember about your service there?

E: Nothing special. We just more or less

00:17:00

E: Worked on recuperating the people

I: And why is it known as forgotten war? Korean War. Korean War is known as the forgotten war. Why is that?

E: Because of the two big wars were over. The Korean War was just a little war.

00:17:30

E: We forget about that one. I didn’t worry, It wasn’t

I: But out of Korean War, now there is a strong relationship between Korea and New Zealand.

E: Yes, very strong

I: Yes, very strong. Right.

E: Yes

I: And the Korean economy is one of the strongest in the world. And, so very good thing came out of your service. But we do not teach about it.

E: No

I: What do you think?

00:18:00

E: I think the Kiwis, as they called us, did a lot of good things for them. We helped them with their English. We helped them build. I wasn’t a builder but I teach them how to hang doors and windows, that sort of thing. And they were so grateful and they feed you well, lovely food.

00:18:30

E: They used to make it.

I: Oh, my thank you. It is my thanks to you because you served in the Korean War. So that we were able to have a chance to rebuild our nation and now we are one of the strongest nations in the world.

E: Yes, very good

I: Isn’t it?

E:: Yeah

I: Yeah, so I think we should be able to teach about this because it was a good war.

00:19:00

E: It was.

I: Of course, many people were killed but still. Good things came out of your service. And that is your legacy. Right?

E: That’s right

I: That’s right. That is why we are doing this. And we will try to work with the teachers here in New Zealand, so they can use this interview in their classroom. Okay?

E: Yes. that is very good

I: Very good. All right. Thank you very much for coming Elliott and keep up with your good health

E: Thank you

00:19:30

I: Thank you