[UNFORGOTTEN HEROES] For Aussie vets, return to Korea proves painful but rewarding

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[UNFORGOTTEN HEROES] For Aussie vets, return to Korea proves painful but rewarding

Published: 31 Jul. 2023, 17:29 Updated: 01 Aug. 2023, 15:27

Australian veterans of the 1950-53 Korean War and Australian Minister of Veterans' Affairs and Defense Personnel Matt Keogh, fourth from left, mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the war last Thursday by paying tribute to the veterans interred at the UN Memorial Cemetery in Korea in Busan. [EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA IN KOREA]

Ernest R. Holden, an Australian veteran of the 1950-53 Korean War, holds at least six heroes close to his heart.

“No, I am not a hero,” he said, recalling the days of fierce fighting in the trenches of the Korean Peninsula. “The heroes are the mates that didn’t come back.”

Holden was joined by a group of Australian veterans last week who came to Korea to mark the 70th anniversary of the armistice of the war.

Together with delegations from over 20 other nations that participated in the war, they paid their respects to the fallen soldiers buried at the United Nations Memorial Cemetery of Korea in Busan last Thursday.

Each name engraved and honored at the cemetery evoked memories, some of them too painful to recall.

“It brings back a few memories which you want to try to push out,” said Bernard J. Hughes, who had served in the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment from 1952 to the end of the war.

It’s been seventy years. But for the veterans, the days spent in the trenches feel like yesterday.

From left, Bernard J. Hughes, Ernest R. Holden and Rex L. McCall, Australian veterans of the 1950-53 Korean War, speak with the Korea JoongAng Daily in Busan last Thursday. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Respect for the fallen

Australia was the first country after the United States to commit all three branches of its armed forces to the Korean War.

A total of 17,164 Australian forces came to fight for South Korea from June 29, 1950 — just four days after North Korea invaded its southern neighbor — to July 27, 1953, when the armistice was signed between the UN Command and the armies of North Korea and China.

The fighting was fierce until the very end, said the veterans.

“There was a big Chinese attempt to gain further ground before the [armistice] was signed, and they launched a very large attack mainly directed at where we were and where the American Marine Division were, on our left,” said Rex L. McCall, recalling the Fourth Battle of the Hook, also known as the Battle of the Samichon River, which took place from July 24 to 26, 1953.

McCall was in D Company of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment, which took up a forward position during the battle.

The Chinese were attacking an area of some 40 acres, equivalent to around 20 soccer fields, recalled McCall, as the Australian forces, aided by Kiwi artillery units, fought back.

By the time the news of the armistice reached the soldiers in the trenches, some 2,000 to 3,000 Chinese forces were estimated to have been killed.

“We saw the Chinese collecting their casualties to take back to the Chinese side of the valley,” McCall said. “They all appeared to be young lads.”

Each veteran’s experience of the war is bound to be unique and different, but there appeared to be some parallel themes, especially when it came to honoring their fallen soldiers.

“Every time we would go out on patrol, I would tell the [younger] blokes, ‘If you get hit, we will come and get you, so don’t worry,’” said Hughes. “The thing is, they [the enemy forces] would let us go and pick up our wounded and bring them back in. We seemed to have an understanding there.”

Holden also recalled a similar experience.

The day was May 28, 1953, when Australian Corporal Jack Ashe was reported missing. He was reported to be injured and trapped in a minefield.

Holden and his mate Morrie Sharpe went on a search patrol.

Entering a minefield, they tried to be as discreet as possible. But soon there was an ear-splitting bang and both were on the ground.

“He didn’t know whether I would survive, and I didn’t whether he would die,” Holden said.

They made a radio report and were approached by a group of rescuers — or sappers, as they used to call them. They came with stretchers to carry both Holden and Sharpe, but soon the Chinese began to fire at them.

“They fired three rounds through the trees,” Holden said. “They knew where we were.”

Then something unexpected happened. The rescuers waved the stretchers in the air, hoping to signal to the enemy forces that they were trying to rescue their injured soldiers.

“The Chinese never fired another shot after that,” Holden said.

A few moments after the armistice was announced, some Chinese soldiers would even offer to smoke with some Australian forces on the ground.

“I remember thinking, and I don’t smoke, by golly, just a moment ago they were trying to kill me with their guns and now they are trying to kill me with a cigarette,” Hughes said.

Representatives of the Australian air force, army and navy pay tribute to the Australian veterans of the 1950-53 Korean War at the UN Memorial Cemetery in Korea in Busan last Thursday during a special ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice. [EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA IN KOREA]

Lest we forget

The Korean War claimed the lives of 340 Australian servicemen, 43 of whom were classified as missing in action and presumed dead. Over 1,216 were wounded, and another 30 were taken as prisoners of war.

For Holden, at least six mates didn’t make it back.

They were Private Ron Rackley, killed in a minefield the midnight of May 21, 1953; Sergeant Keith Foran, who went to try and help Private Rackley but also stepped on a landmine and was killed; Corporal Jack Ashe, who went missing in action on May 28, 1953; Corporal Albert Wells, who died from mortar fire on July 26, 1953, just a day before the armistice signed; and Private Peter Webb, killed on May 20, 1953, and Private Ronald J. McCoy from Norfolk Island, killed in July 1953.

Minister Keogh, left, visits the Ministry of National Defense Agency for KIA Recovery and Identification last Friday. [EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA IN KOREA]

Efforts to search for the missing soldiers have been ongoing for years but have largely been thwarted by a lack of cooperation from North Korea.

The Australian Department of Veterans’ Affairs is hoping to make some progress by relying on the veterans’ memories.

“We've been doing a lot of work recently engaging with our veterans directly, getting them to retell their stories, where they may have information about where people were last sighted,” said Australia’s Veterans Minister Matt Keogh during his visit to Korea on Tuesday. “But of course, many of the still missing may be on the other side of the border and that poses increased difficulties.”

Keogh was in Korea last week to attend a veterans' ministerial summit hosted by the Korean government on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the end of the war. The Australian minister also met with officials of the Ministry of National Defense Agency for KIA Recovery and Identification to share the latest on the recovery plans.

This work will continue, Keogh said, under the Australian government’s resolve to remember the sacrifice and valor of the Australians who fought in conflicts around the world.

“We have a phrase in Australia, ‘Lest we forget,’ which means that we always remember those that have participated in conflicts on behalf of Australia and often in support of other countries,” he said.

Australia’s Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Defense Personnel Matt Keogh speaks with the Korea JoongAng Daily in Seoul last Tuesday. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Evolving friendship

Every time the veterans return to Korea, they witness a real application of the local saying that with 10 years’ time, even mountains and rivers change.

“I remember there were just two bridges over the Han River, one was blown up, and another still usable,” said Hughes, recalling Korea in the early 1950s.

He was shocked to find there were 30-something bridges across the river in Seoul when he revisited in 2018.

“The change is remarkable, and a bit rewarding for the veterans to see,” said McCall, recalling how narrow the roads were between houses, many of which seemed to have makeshift walls like those built with flattened cans.

Within a generation’s time, the war-ravaged nation went on to join the ranks of top-10 economies in the world, becoming an OECD nation and an overseas aid contributor.

Security dynamics of Australia and Korea have also evolved over the decades. Australia’s joining of the Korean War marked a shift in the Pacific nation’s foreign policy from a more Eurocentric one to Asiatic.

Shortly after the outbreak of the war, Australia, the United States and New Zealand established a security agreement, the Anzus Treaty, in 1951.

Australia’s security apparatuses have evolved over the years to respond to diversifying tensions around the world, leading the country to sign a nuclear submarine agreement with the United States and Britain and join the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a security pact between Australia, India, Japan and the United States.

Korea regularly joins the Talisman Sabre military exercise led by Australia and the United States, and also holds an annual two-plus-two ministerial meeting between their defense and foreign ministries. Korea's Hanwha Aerospace recently won a multi-billion-dollar contract to build 129 new AS-21 Redback infantry fighting vehicles for the Australian Army.

The unending news of conflicts and tensions is a difficult reality for many veterans to bear, said McCall, who also went on to serve in the Vietnam War.

“It is pretty horrible, that wars are always going on and that they probably always will go on,” he said. “Remember the massive numbers of Chinese who were killed at the Hook. All young men, all dead, they no longer existed, and they’d achieved nothing.

“War is to be avoided, if possible,” he said.

The veterans, all of them in their early 90s, said they weren’t sure if they can make it back to Korea for another visit.

Holden, visiting Korea for the eighth time this year, said he would love to be back if he could.

“I never regretted that I joined the Army to come to Korea,” he said. “And I’ve loved every time I was back — it is my second home.”

Australian veterans of the Korean War, including Ernest R. Holden and Rex L. McCall, front center; Australian Veterans Minister Matt Keogh, second row center; Korean Veterans Minister Park Min-shik, second from left in second row; and Australian Ambasasdor to Korea Catherine Raper, far right in second row, join a ceremony hosted by the Korean government to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War. [FACEBOOK ACCOUNT OF MATT KEOGH]

BY ESTHER CHUNG [[email protected]]