The Korean War Veteran Internet Journal - August 29, 2011 Look for Herb Pitts in Winnipeg It may be your Last Hurrah; But it won t be his! At the Last Hurrah national meeting of Canadian Korean War Veterans in Winnipeg, one of the veterans will be a quiet, erudite, but forceful gentleman known by many as Herb. But he may be formally listed as Major General Herbert C. Pitts, MC, CD. He is not and never has been a blower of his own horn. Nor does he have chroniclers attesting to his achievements. He does things that he thinks are right to do and always does them well. He has all of his life.
Herb graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada in 1952 and went virtually straight to the front lines in Korea. He had been commissioned in the Lord Strathcona s Horse (Royal Canadians). However the Straths had no vacancies for lieutenants that June. So he was temporarily attached to the 1st Battalion of the Princess Patricia s Canadian Light Infantry. The much liked CO of the 1st Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Wilson Smith, asked him to stow his tanker s black beret and put on the battalion s cherry beret. Herb Pitts would wear the paratrooper s beret for the rest of his life, but did not know it at the time. When The Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR) was brutally shelled and then attacked by storm troops on the night of October 23, Herb s D Company (only 40 men of all ranks) was attached to the RCR as their P Company. They went onto the position during the action and stayed under RCR command for another 10 days. When the 3rd Patricias relieved the 1st Patricias two weeks later, Herb stayed on with them. The 3rd Battalion went into action to counterattack for and reinforce the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) on November 9. The Fateful Wiring Parties During this period on the Hook, Herb took out a very sizeable patrol; a special wiring party, which set up wire less than a hundred yards from the enemy positions. He rehearsed the team for several days behind the lines, teaching them to handle the difficult job of unwinding and securing barbed wire quickly and silently in darkness. It took considerable effort before they had the skills to do the job. They trekked into no-man s land on three successive nights to carry out the mission. On the first night Herb had been leading and dropped back to check some matter with one of the others. Corporal Francis Austin Mullin then led, followed by Private Jacob Batsch. One of them set off a bouncing Betty mine. It killed Corporal Mullin instantly and Private Batsch died in Herb s arms.
Corporal Francis Austin Mullin, 20, of Montreal, Quebec, killed in action on November 30, 1952 while on patrol with Lieutenant Herbert Pitts. Lieutenant Pitts passed the word that a mortar bomb had killed the two men. This was to keep others from panicking if they realized they were walking through mines. He continued the work, right in the face of the enemy. For this and other brave action Lieutenant Herbert Pitts was awarded the Military Cross. His rise through the various levels of command after returning to Canada was a tough, hard earned one with new challenges every step of the way. He held senior active command jobs as commanding officer of the Queen s Own Rifles of Canada, then as Regimental Commander of the Canadian Airborne Regiment. Finally, he was promoted to Commandant of the Canadian Army. Herbert Pitts as Regimental Commander of the Canadian Airborne Regiment Near the end of his active military career, Herb lost a dear son. This may have been an impetus for his very strong involvement with Scouts Canada; one does not know and he does not talk about these personal things. One thing is certain; he has served Scouts Canada and the international scouting movement with great energy and verve for many decades. A Really Good Deed His achievements in the Canadian and international scouting movement are epic. One of them that he has seldom alluded to is absolutely magnificent in its tenor. While he was the Canadian Scouts contingent Commander at the World Jamboree in Korea in 1992, a member of his 350-person group injured his ankle and was sent to a hospital.
While there two toddler children were admitted on an emergency basis. They had been playing in their yard when a car went out of control, crashed through the fence and ran them down. One of the little girls lost both legs at the hip. She was only two. Herb, the international director of Scouts Canada, set up a committee and raised and managed a fund to help the child. The young lady who received rehabilitation therapy and prostheses in Canada following a terrible accident when Herb Pitts was leading 350 Canadian Scouts at the 1992 World Jamboree in Korea. She was flown to Canada repeatedly for medical treatment, rehabilitation therapy and to be fitted with artificial limbs. The process went on for many years as the child grew and required new prostheses. Much of the treatment, rehabilitation and fitting of prostheses was done at the Shriner's Hospital for Children in Montreal. She ambulated to school until the fifth or sixth grade, but then began studying independently at home. She passed the middle school and high school exams and completed the Korean national university entrance examination when she was only 15 years old a very high and exceptional achievement in Korea. She graduated from university, summa cum laude - with high honours. She credits Scouts Canada with giving her the means and the will to grow up as an independent lady who is a high achiever. Wall of Remembrance
As members of the Korea Veterans Association of Canada will know, General Pitts for decades now has devoted untiring energy to its members and causes. He was called for help urgently at a time when the project to establish the Korea Veterans National Wall of Remembrance in Brampton, Ontario was foundering. He waded in, gave it his full personal support, even took to the telephones soliciting donations to make the project a reality. He pulled it off and while many other veterans were involved, those on the committee will never hesitate to confide that things may not have worked out if General Pitts had not stepped up and accepted the challenge. Obviously, his life since being discharged from the Canadian Army has been far from leisurely. He is busier than many executives in major corporations. And he works very hard, doing the nitty-gritty things, and does not bask in the social limelight. Among other things he had been the Honourary Colonel of the Princess Patricia s Canadian Light Infantry Regiment, the Queen s Own Rifles of Canada and the Canadian Airborne Regiment. He also has been the Patron of the First Canadian Airborne Battalion, the famed parachute unit that jumped into France during the Normandy operations and fought in the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge, as well as in Holland and Germany.
He has served and still serves on numerous veterans welfare boards with various organizations, including being a director of a veterans long-term care facility in Victoria. General Pitts also is the Honourary President of the British Columbia and Yukon Division of the Royal Canadian Legion. One thing is characteristic of him; he is a worker and a doer and never takes on a post unless everyone understands he will pull no punches in pursuing its stated goals. In other words, he is tenacious. However, as his good friend, Lieutenant Neil Rhodes, a World War Two and Korean War Veteran who served with him in Korea attests, Through the years I have never known anyone who has ever met Herb Pitts who does not like him. By through the years Neil Rhodes means 58 of them, since the two served together on a fighting patrol in Korea. So if you see Major General Herbert Pitts at the Last Hurrah function in Winnipeg, don t shy away from him. Treat him like royalty, or better than that, but make sure to remember that he is one of us a Korean War Veteran who served bravely in the field, and who has never failed his comrades.