Saturday marks the 60th anniversary of the Armistice that concluded the Korean War. The Korean Peninsula was divided by American administrators along the 38th parallel following the Japanese surrender in September 1945. On 25th June 1950, North Korea invaded the South. The United States of America provided 88 per cent of the 341,000 international soldiers who aided the Republic of Korea in repelling the aggressors. Twenty other countries offered support including Britain, which committed over 14,000 troops into the field. The fighting was brutal and unrelenting, the more so because of the difficult terrain and harsh climate. In the first month alone, before the Coalition could re-enforce them, South Korean forces lost 77 per cent of their strength; by then numbering less than 22,000 men, they withdrew to the Pusan perimeter and clung on grimly.
The UN subsequently counter-attacked, forcing North Korea north, almost to the Yalu River. On the 25th October, 200,000 Chinese troops crossed into North Korea and entered the fray with Soviet air support. The first confrontation between the Chinese and US military occurred on 1 November, deep inside North Korea.
For three terrible, bloody years the fighting raged across the peninsula. The ‘butcher’s bill’ was ghastly. The United States suffered more than 36,000 fatalities with over 8,000 missing in action – almost 1 in 5 men were lost. South Korea reported 373,599 civilian and 137,899 military deaths. Estimates of Chinese killed and wounded were close to a million; the Korean People’s Army’s half that. 4,286 British servicemen were killed, wounded, missing or captured by the end of all the fighting.
Combat was a grinding combined arms struggle – characterised by pitched battles like that at the Chosin Reservoir, fought over 17 days at the end of 1950 at -37 degrees Centigrade. At one desperate point in the fight, a task force was formed with 921 troops from 41 Commando Royal Marines, G Company of 1st Marines USMC and B Company of the 31st US Infantry. Task Force Drysdale, under constant attack, fought its way through to re-enforce isolated troops at Hagaru-ri, down ‘Hell Fire Valley’, losing a third of its combat power in the process.
Between the 22nd and 25th of April 1951 Chinese and UN forces clashed at the Imjin River. The blind ferocity of this particular engagement caught the attention of the world. The 29th Infantry Brigade, which included three British battalions, bore the brunt of the Chinese assault. The Gloucestershire Regiment, who were isolated on Hill 235 by the enemy’s advance, fought an unblinking defensive battle; by the end of it, only 217 men were left – 620 were listed as killed, wounded or missing. Four Victoria Crosses – Britain and the Commonwealth’s highest award for gallantry and the equivalent of the Medal of Honor – were awarded during the Korean War; two of them at this action on the Imjin River.
Korea is sometimes called ‘the Forgotten War’, for some reason overshadowed by those that came before and after. But by any metric it was a Titanic struggle characterising the very worst and best behaviours of mankind; by extraordinary sacrifice, determination, commitment and transcendent courage by ordinary British and American men fighting with their allies, thousands of miles from home for the South Korean people and in the cause of freedom. The gallant surviving veterans of Korea must be remembered now, on this historic date. Remembered fiercely with pride and gratitude by each one of us. George Orwell once remarked that, ’ Gentle folk sleep safely in their beds only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.’ We who sleep safely, humbly salute those who stood guard in Korea together with the young men and women who serve in harms way on our account today.