As a young second lieutenant commanding 8 Platoon, ‘C’ Company, 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, in Korea, Chris Snider of Oakville, Ont., earned a Miltary Cross for leading his 10-man patrol through two mortar attacks in enemy-infested territory. [lStephen J. Thorne/LM]

Chris Snider was a 21-year-old second lieutenant commanding 8 Platoon, ‘C’ Company, 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, when his 10-man patrol came under fire from Chinese mortars ensconced in the hills facing them.

It was the night of April 25, 1953, and Snider had detected opposing troops approaching them in the no man’s land that formed the border between the Koreas.

The war was nearly three years old and Snider, a U.S.-born, Oakville, Ont.-raised Canadian army volunteer, had become accustomed to the whiz of rifle and machine-gun rounds zooming past and the randomness of the shells dropping in from above.

Vintage trainers from the Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association in Tillsonburg, Ont., conducted multiple flypasts at the Sunnybrook Remembrance Day ceremony. [Stephen J. Thorne/LM]

The patrol was hunkered down between the berms of a rice paddy. The rest of the battalion was well behind them. The artillery batteries were farther back still.

“With great coolness this officer continued to observe the enemy’s movement and directed very accurate artillery fire onto the main body of twenty to thirty enemy soldiers,” said the citation for the Military Cross that Snider later recieved.

The Chinese continued their advance until the coalition artillery’s 25-pound rounds, fired from more than two kilometres back, were falling within 22 metres of Snider’s position, at which point the enemy turned back.

“A bit close,” acknowledged Snider, “but we were used to that.”

All the while, the Chinese mortar fire poured in, increasing in volume.

“Without regard for his personal safety, Lieutenant Snider moved throughout his patrol area checking on the safety of his men and reassuring them,” read the citation. “When the mortar fire slackened he took one man and searched the area for enemy dead or wounded.”

All they found were bloodied bandages, Snider, now 92, said in an interview with Legion Magazine following Remembrance Day ceremonies at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Veterans Centre.

They returned to the patrol position and withdrew.

“Due to this officer’s courageous action no casualties were suffered by the standing patrol and the enemy were unable to accomplish their aim.”

The procession from Sunnybrook Veterans Centre was led by the pipers of 400 Tactical Helicopter Squadron, RCAF. Families, friends and Sunnybrook staff lined the walkway to the campus cenotaph, applauding veterans as they made their way to the outdoor ceremony.[Stephen J. Thorne/LM]

Now long retired and president of Sunnybrook’s veterans’ council, Snider told those attending the facility’s cenotaph service and wreath-placing ceremony that Nov. 11 filled him with emotion and “memories of lost friends.”

He said Sunnybrook’s newly dedicated cenotaph “stands as a reminder of all those who have lost their lives in service to Canada.”

More than 1,000 family, residents and staff of Sunnybrook Veterans Centre in Toronto turned out for chilly Remembrance Day ceremonies.[Stephen J. Thorne/LM]

More than 1,000 family, residents and staff of Sunnybrook Veterans Centre in Toronto turned out for chilly Remembrance Day ceremonies.[Stephen J. Thorne/LM]

Students from Upper Canada College placed wreaths during the chilly ceremony at the cenotaph on the grounds of the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto. [Stephen J. Thorne/LM]

Sunnybrook resident Valentina Belianskaia, 102, served with Soviet forces during WW II. She died Nov. 15. [Stephen J. Thorne/LM]

Ed Marshall, a member of WW II’s 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, raised $105,000 for Toronto Sick Kids Hospital by jumping out of an airplane at age 100 on July 12, 2024. He is accompanied on Remembrance Day at Sunnybrook Veterans Centre by his recreational therapist Jacqueline Chelsky. [Stephen J. Thorne/LM]

“It is our responsibility to never forget the service of Canadian soldiers, sailors, aircrew and merchant seamen both past and present.”

Sunnybrook opened in 1946 as a military hospital for Canadian service personnel returning from the Second World War. The veterans’ centre, part of the sprawling 400-hectare Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, is home to just less than 200 residents, more than 50 of whom are WW II veterans aged 100 or older.

Each Remembrance Day, residents, their families and staff attend a private indoor ceremony, then gather outside on Raab Boulevard (named for donors and volunteers Alexandre and Jeannine Raab) for a parade to the cenotaph, where they pass among a gauntlet of applause from staff and others lining the walkway into Sunnybrook Hospital Park.

The 2024 ceremony included a rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ In The Wind” by students of John Wanless Junior Public School and wreath-placing by members of 400 Tactical Helicopter Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, and students of Upper Canada College.

Back on the Korean peninsula, there would be more exploits before Snider would receive the Military Cross.

Eight weeks after his April action, on June 13, 1953, Snider ventured forth again, scrambling out in front of his patrol to single-handedly rescue three soldiers caught in a mortar attack while a Chinese patrol approached.

“We had come upon a greater number of enemy than we had expected,” Snider recalled. “There were about 10 of us, as I recall. There were between 20 and 25 of them. They would have been Chinese at that stage; some of them could have been North Koreans. It’s hard to tell.”

With mortars falling around and among them, and at risk of being overrun by a superior enemy force—“not without a fight,” he assured—he called in another artillery strike.

“He repeatedly exposed himself in an attempt to draw enemy small arms fire and personally searched the suspected area of the enemy,” read his citation, which included both actions. “The enemy were observed moving back to their own lines and he directed artillery and mortar fire on them.

It is our responsibility to never forget the service of Canadian soldiers, sailors, aircrew and merchant seamen both past and present.

“This officer’s prompt, efficient and aggressive handling of all situations was responsible for the lack of casualties and the continuation of the domination of No Man’s Land. Lieutenant Snider at all times operated according to the highest standards of the infantry and was an inspiration to his men.”

After Korea, Snider weighed his options. They came down to returning to work as a gas jockey at a Shell service station back home or continuing to climb the officer ranks in the Canadian army. It was no contest.

A Patricia all the way, he went on to serve in Cyprus, West Germany, England, Pakistan, and as the last military attaché to the Canadian ambassador in Afghanistan before the Soviets invaded in 1979.

He served 36 years, retiring in 1987 a brigadier-general.