# Passing of Pte Matthews - "The Face of War" Korean War Vet



## dangerboy (11 Mar 2015)

Received the following information today, I put this in Military History as the picture that Pte Mattews was in is one of the most famous from the Korean War.



> Private Heath Bowness Matthews (Ret’d) passed away on 07 December 2013 at Leawood, Kansas, USA. Born at Alberton, Prince Edward Island on 03 August 1932, he was 81 years of age. Heath Matthews was a Korean War Veteran who enlisted in the Canadian Army Special Force for service in Korea shortly after the outbreak of war in 1950. He was 18 years old at the time. Private Matthews served in Korea with Charles Company, 1st Battalion The Royal Canadian Regiment (1 RCR) during 1952-1953. While acting as a signaller, Heath Matthews participated in a company-sized fighting patrol on the night of 21-22 June 1952. The action was a raid against a Chinese position near Hill 166, west of the Jamestown Line. As the objective was neared the patrol was caught in a devastating enemy mortar barrage. Two Canadians were killed and several wounded. Hit in the face by shrapnel, Heath Matthews was one of the wounded. On the morning of 22 June as a wounded member of the Charles Company patrol waited outside a front line bunker to receive medical treatment, Sergeant Paul E. Tomelin, an army photographer of the No. 25 Canadian Public Relations Unit, snapped a highly evocative photo of this dazed and wounded soldier. Tomelin’s photograph would become the iconic picture of the Canadian involvement in the Korean War and would subsequently be dubbed as “The Face of War”. Of this now famous photograph one future reviewer would comment, “Among the hundreds of outstanding photographs in this presentation is one from the Korean conflict entitled The Face of War. Taken by Paul Tomelin, it's a black and white portrait of a Canadian soldier just after a night raid on the enemy. Private Heath Matthews' face is covered in blood as he awaits medical attention for his superficial lacerations. The blood, combined with the weary and astonished expression on the young soldier's face, effectively portrays the terror of war. Looking at such a poignant image, one cannot help but feel a certain degree of admiration for the photographer himself.”  See: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Capturing+the+face+of+war%3A+the+Canadian+Army+Film+%26+Photo+Units.-a030149189.
> 
> Then, as now, Private Heath Matthews was described as the subject of the iconic photographic, however not without some controversy. Another signaller in Charles Company, Private Herbert George “Herb” Norris of Kingston, Ontario was later to claim that he was in fact the wounded soldier in the picture. He had been carrying a roll of signals wire during the patrol, had been wounded, and apparently had killed two enemy soldiers with his American M-1 carbine during the action. When Norris passed away at Kingston on 29 December 2011 he was still adamant that he was in fact the Canadian soldier in “The Face of War”. Notwithstanding the conviction of Herb Norris, the weight of evidence and of public endorsements in books and by such institutions as the Canadian War Museum, Library and Archives Canada, the Royal Canadian Legion and Veterans Affairs Canada, would appear to be on the side of Heath Matthews.


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## jollyjacktar (11 Mar 2015)

An unforgettable photo.  Thank you, Pte Matthews for your service.


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## Cloud Cover (14 Mar 2015)

RIP and thank you for your service.

I do note the following about the picture: looking at his pupils, he does not appear to be dazed, confused or in shock. He is clearly mentally alert, physically relaxed (probably tired) and perhaps somewhat agitated as he appears to be glaring at something that is bothering him. That is in fact an M1 Carbine leaning on his left. He is wearing what appears to be a bracelet (a baby's bracelet ?) on his right wrist. Nothing about his uniform suggests his trade.  The grenades speak to the mans recent experiences. He fights light.....

He is a tough looking young man, the epitome of battle experienced soldier. The same type of lad that are currently serving today in Iraq and previously in Afghanistan and elsewhere.  I still think we as a country produce some of the most stout hearted, physically tough soldiers in the world and I think when it comes to our 18/19 year olds (male or female) pitted against those of other countries, our recruiting and training system is doing something incredibly right.


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## daftandbarmy (14 Mar 2015)

whiskey601 said:
			
		

> RIP and thank you for your service.
> 
> I do note the following about the picture: looking at his pupils, he does not appear to be dazed, confused or in shock. He is clearly mentally alert, physically relaxed (probably tired) and perhaps somewhat agitated as he appears to be glaring at something that is bothering him. That is in fact an M1 Carbine leaning on his left. He is wearing what appears to be a bracelet (a baby's bracelet ?) on his right wrist. Nothing about his uniform suggests his trade.  The grenades speak to the mans recent experiences. He fights light.....
> 
> He is a tough looking young man, the epitome of battle experienced soldier. The same type of lad that are currently serving today in Iraq and previously in Afghanistan and elsewhere.  I still think we as a country produce some of the most stout hearted, physically tough soldiers in the world and I think when it comes to our 18/19 year olds (male or female) pitted against those of other countries, our recruiting and training system is doing something incredibly right.




It is instructive to compare the huge loads that we force our troops to carry these days versus what he is wearing, fresh back from a fighting patrol in mountainous terrain against a numerous and vicious opponent i.e., not much.


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## Old Sweat (14 Mar 2015)

daftandbarmy said:
			
		

> It is instructive to compare the huge loads that we force our troops to carry these days versus what he is wearing, fresh back from a fighting patrol in mountainous terrain against a numerous and vicious opponent i.e., not much.



I believe he was a company signaller and the attachments, brace hanging down from his web belt suggests to me he had something carried on his back hooked to them. However, your point is well taken.


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