James F. Doig was a Canadian Army officer who served in the conflict with the Royal Canadian Regiment’s 3^rd Battalion. Doig was a latecomer, arriving in the theater at the same time the armistice between the belligerants was signed, on 27 July 1953. He spent most of his time there working with the United Nations Military Armistice Commission, an organization attempting to resolve outstanding issues from the war such as the repatriation of the prisoners of war and negotiations between the belligerents to resolve outstanding issues from the conflict. From the voluminous collection of documents, photographs, maps, newspaper clippings, and other images, we have selected a few below.

This photo in our archives shows the negotiations table at the end of the combat phase of the Korean War, with the UN command on one side, the Korean's People Army and the Chinese People Volunteer Army on the other. An armistice to cease combat was reached and was signed on 27 July 1953.

One of the issues presented by this state of affairs above-mentioned was that many negative views of Korean people developed during the conflict, no doubt in part because so many were seeing the peninsula and its people for the first time in the midst of a brutal war. These views often portrayed Koreans as "backward" and undeveloped technologically, as seen here in some images published by The Star Weekly (Toronto, January 14, 1956). The Korean farming practices are herein described as “antediluvian” and the author lamenting the difficult lives of Korean farmers. It was also noted how many Korean practices, including some aspects of their manner of dress, such as the hat depicted below, had changed very little over time.

The war exacted an enormous cost on both, soldiers and civilians in Korea. Although there were many harmful stereotypes about Koreans circulating at the time, Major Doig approached the locals with compassion and seemed to understand their circumstances despite barriers posed by language and war.

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