Latest news with #ForgottenWar
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- General
- Daily Mirror
King Charles and Queen Camilla in tears during emotional VJ Day celebrations
The King and Queen Camilla joined 33 veterans who fearlessly served in the Far East and Pacific at an emotional national service of remembrance in Staffordshire on Friday The King and Queen were moved to tears by the powerful first-hand testimony of VJ veterans as they spoke at a service of remembrance this afternoon, marking 80 years since the end of the Second World War. The sun shone down on the incredibly moving ceremony, held at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, which paid tribute to those who fought and died during the War in the Far East and Pacific. It included two Fly Pasts, a two-minute silence, musical interludes and testimony from survivors of the so-called Forgotten War. But it was Captain Yavar Abbas, from the 11th Sikh Regiment, who stole the show as he went off script to pay tribute to the King for attending today and drawing attention to the veterans who have so often felt overlooked. He paused to salute the King and Queen and thanked them for honouring the 'forgotten Army'. It comes after Prince Harry's devastating loss in royal rift was exposed as Meghan 'holds the cards'. 'Apologies for briefly going off the script to salute my brave King,' Mr Abbas said. 'Who is here with his beloved Queen in spite of the fact that he is undergoing treatment for cancer. The veteran continued: 'I salute him for attending this occasion. By his presence here he has gone a long way to make sure that his Grandad's 14th army is never given the sobriquet of the forgotten army.' His comments were met with applause from the guests, while Camilla's eyes were red from crying. As he returned to the Royal Box, Mr Abbas saluted the King once more, who stood to chat to the veteran, clasping his hands. They spoke for almost a minute before saluting each other and returning to their seats. When they were reunited at a reception for veterans later that afternoon, they greeted each other like old friends. Shortly before noon, the arrival of a Guard of Honour marked the start of the ceremony, followed by a drum laying ceremony while The Bands of the Royal Marines Portsmouth played Elgar's Nimrod. The National Anthem signalled the arrival of the King, wearing the stone Field Marshall Number 4 uniform, and the Queen, who inspected the Guard of Honour before laying wreaths at the foot of the memorial steps. The Prime Minister, Admiral Sir Antony Radakin and Vice Admiral Paul Bennett also laid wreaths before making their way to their seats in the Royal Box to join the 33 VJ veterans and their families. Sheltered from the heat by a canopy, they had a direct view of the hour-long service, paying tribute to those who continued to fight for three long months after victory had been declared in Europe. For decades, veterans family members of those who died have been campaigning for the VJ heroes to be given the same recognition as those who fought the Nazis in Europe. The hour-long service then got underway, which saw the jets of the Red Arrows leave a trail of red, white and blue in the skies above and was hosted by actress Celia Imrie. The 1,500 guests stood to observe the national two-minute's silence, many removing their hats and bowing their heads as they reflected on those who fought and died during the War in the Far East and Pacific. The only sound that could be heard was that of pigeons ruffling in the trees above. This included the heartbreaking testimony of prisoners of war, who recalled the horrors they endured at the hands of the Japanese Ghani concluded his testimony by saying: 'Never walk with anger, let calmness lead the way.' As John Harlow's testimony was read by actor Anton Lesser, the camera showed the veteran, sitting next to the Queen, holding back tears as he listened to his story. The King appeared to wipe away a tear. Towards the end of the service, celebrated violinist Jennifer Pike MBE performed The Lark Ascending at the top of the memorial, dancers performed at the bottom, waving white doves on long flag poles. The roar of the Spitfire, Hurricane and Dakota from The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight drew the service to a close. Charles then headed to view the memorials, including the Burma Star Memoirla and the Chanid Memoiral, before reuniting with his wife at a reception for VJ veterans and their families. They spent almost an hour moving from table to table separately and chatting with the veterans who served in the Pacific and Indian Ocean territories and their families. On the first table, the King cracked jokes and said he was concerned for those who had to sit in direct sunlight during the service. Speaking to the family of 100-year-old RAF veteran Trevor Taylor, the King asked: 'Have you had to come from a long way away? Bradford? I hope you're not driving as somebody cannot have a drink.' He then asked if they were ok after sitting in the midday sun, 'I was very worried about you all sitting out, it was incredibly hot in the sun. You couldn't put an umbrella up?' Mr Taylor then enquired after the Queen, but the King pointed her out at a nearby table and said: 'She's here, she's there. 'You'll have to send her my love,' he said, to which the King responded: 'I will.' Charles was handed a couple of tea when he arrived on the third table, where he asked if Royal Marine veteran John Eskdale, 100, had ever encountered his great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten. As Supreme Allied Commander in South East Asia, he oversaw the recapture of Burma from the Japanese. The King asked: 'And you didn't come across my Great uncle lord mountbatten? I've heard a lot of stories about him.' Meanwhile, the Queen was discussing the service with Edwin Habberley and said, 'I found it so incredibly moving.' The monarch was then reunited with Mr Abbas, who served as a combat camerman, and they stood clasping hands for 40 seconds before taking their seats. The King told him: 'I can just remember by grandfather, but only just. I was told all the stories about Burma by my great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten. I learned a great deal from him.' Speaking afterwards, Mr Abbas said: 'Today, I make no apology for going off the script. If it upset their schedule, no I don't think it affected their schedule, I think it improved their schedule.' Asked why it was important for him to say what he did, he said: 'I admire the man, I admire the King, he has similar views about things that I have, about the environment for example. He's human.' I admire him for the man that he is. When I went up to him and spoke to him, he said something very touching to me. He said 'I am very grateful to you, I admire you for what you said. Thank you very much. He said to me: 'I almost cried.' And that's our King, he's a great King.' Charles's most poignant words came when chatting to Charlie Richards, 104, one of the last surviving Chindits, a unit that fought deep behind enemy lines in Burma between autumn 1942 and summer 1943. 'The things you did, I could never get over,' the monarch told him. 'We owe you all such a huge debt of gratitude.'
Telegraph
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
After 80 years, the men who fought finally had the opportunity to tell their stories
It was dubbed the Forgotten War. Fought in Asia and the Pacific, the Far East campaign received little press coverage, its heroic sacrifices and barbaric cruelties going largely unacknowledged. No more. Today's Royal British Legion Commemoration of VJ Day at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire has changed that bitterly unfair legacy forever. Here, at a deeply moving ceremony attended by 33 veterans, 400 invited guests and in the presence of King Charles and Queen Camilla, Britain remembered. And tears were shed. Eighty years is a long time to wait for recognition but by any measure it was a beautifully judged occasion, pomp and ceremony interspersed with moments of heartbreaking poignancy. The King, who earlier in the day had broadcast a message describing how those who lived and died in the Far East 'gave us more than freedom; they left us the example of how it can and must be protected', wore the Stone Field Marshal Number 4 uniform and laid a wreath. As did the Prime Minister. The Queen, who is Colonel in Chief of the Rifles laid a posy. Then, after a solemn two-minute silence followed by Reveille, the carefully choreographed programme got under way. Films from the era played on huge screens along with first-hand testimonies, including two civilian women who had been interned by the Japanese along with their parents. They were aged five and nine respectively. Without a trace of self pity they recalled hunger and blows from rifle butts for not bowing low enough to their captors. Random brutality and systematic starvation were common themes, as a generation broke their silence. And every care had been taken to do them credit. The Band of the HM Royal Marines Portsmouth played the Last Post. The Red Arrows made a flypast, there was a sweetly tuneful reprise of Vera Lynn's When They Sound the Last All Clear. When a single violinist played Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending, a shiver ran through the assembled crowd, even in the heat of the day. A history of the war was narrated by Celia Imrie in dashing turquoise tailoring. Sir Ben Okri read Burma, 1945: Sacrifice, which recounted how Commonwealth soldiers volunteered to fight in modern day Myanmar. After reading out a number of their names, he described them as 'among millions from Britain, Africa and old India, from farms and villages in ancient kingdoms'. 'It is in a stellar light that we remember their underrated sacrifice.' Later, Robert Lindsay conveyed the recollections of two Chindits, members of the British and Indian special forces unit. By way of tribute some 400 modern personnel evenly split across the army, navy and air force were on duty at the Arboretum. But for all the military brass – literally and figuratively – on display, it was the men themselves who were the undoubted stars of the show. Now aged between 96 and 105, they sat ramrod-straight, even in wheelchairs, formally dressed in suits, service medals glittering across their chests in the August sunshine. Here at this most sombre – yet paradoxically uplifting – occasion, the men who fought, the men who survived finally had an opportunity to tell their stories, 80 years on. It did not always make for easy listening. Death came from the air, the sea and land, frenzied attacks from an enemy ready – happy – to die for their country and so would fight to the death. But the Far East was as much an endurance trial as a battleground. In the gruelling 35-degree heat with near 100 per cent humidity, malaria, dysentery, cholera and dengue fever were very often a greater threat than bullets. The dangers presented by snakes, disease-carrying mosquitoes and armies of biting ants had to be overcome long before Japanese bayonets. And then, having somehow survived disease-ridden jungles and swamp ambushes, they were crestfallen by the lack of official fanfare when they came home. A euphoric Britain had brought out the bunting and danced in the streets to celebrate Victory in Europe on 8 May 1945, yet the Victory in Japan, five weeks later on August 15, passed by virtually unmarked. The dropping of atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought about a Japanese surrender, but tens of thousands of civilians died instantly – with more succumbing to burns and radiation in the days and weeks that followed. There was a feeling of disquiet about laying on VE-style celebrations – and a lack of imagination as to an appropriate alternative. As a result, the courage and resilience of some 1.8 million British and Commonwealth troops who had faced atrocious combat conditions, barely registered. And then, as the injured, broken prisoners of war slowly returned home and word trickled out of the appalling, gratuitous torture dispensed by the Japanese, the Ministry of Defence deemed it a narrative too shocking to be shared. Returning heroes were explicitly ordered on no account to talk about the torment they had endured and the trauma they had witnessed, lest they affect morale. Forgetting was deemed preferable. Never again. As these dignified veterans took to the stage and their voices rang out, it was nothing short of humbling. More than that, it was a reproach, to those who silenced them. Ronald Gumbley, 101, who served with the RAF read from Binyan's poem For the Fallen. 'They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old / Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn / At the going down of the sun and in the morning / We will remember them.' Owen Filer, 105, who was called up to join the army just four months after the start of WWII, recited the Kohima Epitaph: 'When you go home tell them of us and say / For your tomorrow we face our today'. Applause broke out when 105-year-old Yavar Abbas, who was due to read from his diaries, decided, in his own words, to 'go off script to salute my brave King who is here with his beloved Queen despite the fact that he is under treatment for cancer.' Mr Abbas disclosed it was an illness that he shared with the monarch, adding: 'And if it provides any comfort… I've been rid of it for the past 25 years and counting.' But throughout the ceremony tears were never far. How could there not be? Some 90,000 British troops were casualties of the war, 30,000 of whom perished. A further 37,500 became prisoners of war and found themselves subjected to inhuman privation and savagery. More than 12,000 lost their lives; the death rate in Japanese camps was between seven and eight times higher than in their Nazi equivalents. Veteran John Harlow, 100, whose tribute was read out by actor Anton Lesser, could be seen breaking down in the stands. 'War doesn't grant you the luxury of goodbyes,' Lesser quoted, going on to describe how Harlow, who served on a minelaying submarine, thinks of a friend each VJ Day who was killed on HMS Porpoise. 'I wish today for us to remember all the crew of HMS Porpoise, Mark, and all lost at sea,' was Harlow's wish. 'For in remembering, they live on.' Later George Durrant, 100, who served in the intelligence corps, appeared on stage with his great-granddaughter as he urged people to remember – and keep remembering what the British and Commonwealth forces endured. 'I speak to you not as a hero, but someone who witnessed the price of freedom,' he said. Shortly after, the event concluded with a flypast by historic World War Two-era aircraft; a Spitfire, a Hurricane and a Lancaster bomber. The throng below watched in awe and as the veterans were slowly wheeled away it was hard not to feel a sense of melancholy. In 2015, 3,000 veterans took part in a parade to mark the 70th anniversary of VJ Day. A decade on, the number had dwindled to 33. How many of these men will be alive for the next milestone commemoration of 90 years? Perhaps none.
Glasgow Times
a day ago
- General
- Glasgow Times
Service in Motherwell honours Far East campaign heroes
The event took place at the Civic Centre in Motherwell on Friday, August 15, the anniversary of Japan's surrender in 1945. It honoured the courage and sacrifice of those who served in what is often called the Forgotten War. (Image: Supplied) Among those in attendance were veterans, members of the public, and dignitaries including the Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire, Lady Susan Haughey, who laid the first wreath at the war memorial. The Far East campaign ran from December 1941 to August 1945 and involved British, Allied, and Commonwealth forces fighting in brutal conditions. Read more: 'Avoid the area' warning issued as Glasgow street closed amid ongoing incident Thousands never returned home. The remembrance service was led by North Lanarkshire Provost Kenneth Duffy and South Lanarkshire Provost Margaret Cooper, and included readings, music, and a minute's silence. Provost Duffy said: "Eighty years on, we stand here not just to remember history, but to honour real people, fathers, sons, brothers, and friends who endured horrors we can scarcely imagine. (Image: Supplied) "Their courage and sacrifice happened on the other side of the world, but the impact was felt in every town, village, and street here at home. "Today is about gratitude. It's about saying, in the clearest way we can, 'we haven't forgotten you.' "And as long as we keep coming together like this, we never will."
UPI
29-07-2025
- Politics
- UPI
U.S. honors 72nd armistice of America's 'forgotten' Korean War
1 of 4 | Statues at the Korean War Memorial are seen a day before Veterans Day on November 10, 2017, in Washington, D.C. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo July 28 (UPI) -- The White House said Monday the United States will "steadfastly" safeguard its interests on the Korean Peninsula with "safety, stability, prosperity and peace" as the endgame. That message was delivered the day in which the nation honors the truce that ended America's involvement in the Korean War more than seven decades ago. It was a day that also served as a catalyst of the current divergent north and south Korean national ideologies. "We pay tribute to every American hero who ventured to unfamiliar lands to face some of the most gruesome combat in the history of our country," U.S. President Donald Trump said in a statement. The armistice agreement signing ended the bloody three-year conflict in northeast Asia in which 36,574 U.S. military service members, according to the U.S. Department of Defense, died out of nearly 2 million who fought in the bid to repel the advancement of communism in the region. "We spent 15 minutes or so honoring all those men and women who fought and died in Korea," Master of Ceremonies Bob Fugit said Monday in Wichita as locals gathered at Veterans Memorial Park for events to commemorate what some say is America's "Forgotten War." "That's been a war that everybody wants to forget, even more than Vietnam," Fugit told KAKE in Kansas. Though most might want to forget, there still have been some efforts to remember. In July 2022, the nation's capital saw the Korean War Veterans Memorial unveil its new addition along with a total renovation to coincide with that year's Armistice Day festivities in Washington. A DOD web portal for the Korean conflict lists volumes of stories in a live-running historic archive of events related to the conflict. "Today, we pause to remember the courage and sacrifice of the heroes who served during the Korean War," the department posted Sunday morning on X, adding that the "legacy of their resilience lives on." In June 1950, then-President Harry S. Truman said that those responsible for "unprovoked aggression" against South Korea during the so-called "forgotten" war "must realize how seriously the government of the United States views such threats to the peace of the world." In a UPI article on July 27, 1953, the day it was penned seven months after war hero general and eventual GOP icon Dwight D. Eisenhower assumed the presidency, it read in part: "The armistice documents ending the bitter, stalemated efforts of the Communists to seize all Korea by force were signed at 10:01 a.m. today in the truce village of Panmunjom." On Monday, the 33rd president's oldest grandson said he believes Korea is collectively labeled by historians as the "Forgotten War" primarily because of public sentiment at the time. "I think that has to do with fact that, although Americans were firmly behind my grandfather when he moved quickly to aid a beleaguered South Korea," Clifton Truman Daniel told UPI via email, "they quickly tired of a conflict that was perceived as being not our fight." Daniel, the son of acclaimed author Margaret Truman Daniel, is honorary chair at the Harry S. Truman Library Institute, a partner of the 33rd president's library and museum in Independence, Mo. It was "a war on top of a war, if you will," Daniel, 68, said of the times. "And it came with objectives that were new, in terms of warfare," he said, adding that it was "hard to define" at that point. Outside efforts have lingered on with hopes to one day reunite the two Koreas even as the north rejects any such idea. Meanwhile, officials pointed to Trump's visit in June 2019 as the first sitting U.S. president to walk next to communist North Korea's demilitarized zone. On Monday, the president said that in observing the day "we renew our resolve that forces of freedom will always prevail over tyranny and oppression." In its statement, the White House reiterated that South Korean and U.S forces remained "united" in an "ironclad" military alliance as the region circles around aggression by North Korean communist dictator Kim Jong-Un, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. "We honor the patriots who fought and died in Korea so that freedom might endure both on our land and beyond our shores," the president continued, vowing to "rebuild" the U.S. military, support veterans "and stand strong against forces of tyranny." In North Korea, its "Victory Day" is celebrated with great fanfare, and it is not uncommon to see large-scale military parade processions in the north's capital city Pyongyang, much like Trump's in June that rolled through the streets of Washington, D.C. But Trump said that, above all, "we proudly remember every American hero who shed their blood to defend our home, our heritage and our glorious way of life." "Their valiant legacy will never be forgotten," he said.
Daily Mail
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Horror of the Korean War revealed by 'forgotten' British veterans 75 years on: Bridges made from corpses, troops fighting without guns and Chinese soldiers blowing themselves up
Ken Keld is sitting in the lounge of his immaculate one-bed bungalow outside Scarborough, North Yorkshire. Aged 91, he is a gentle and softly spoken Yorkshireman who still walks a mile a day. Given his warmth, it is hard to place him into the events he is describing. 'The shelling seemed to stop dead, you could have heard a pin drop. Within seconds they're there on top of us, we're outnumbered five to one,' he says. 'They were fanatics, they'd jump in the trenches and blow themselves up. It was hand-to-hand combat, it was practically every man for himself'. The great grandfather-of-two is a veteran of the Korean War, a conflict which, over the course of three years, claimed the lives of 1,100 British soldiers - more than in the Falklands, Afghanistan and Iraq wars combined. As the world marks the 75th anniversary of the start of the war, MailOnline has tracked down Ken and two other British veterans of the war. All in their 90s, their stories shed light on a horrific conflict seldom taught in schools and one which, despite the enormous sacrifice of ordinary British conscripts, is nicknamed the 'Forgotten War'. Many young men who had been sent to fight were only there because of compulsory National Service; some were still teenagers. Ken Keld, 91, is a veteran of the Korean War. He spoke to MailOnline from his home in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. He remembers how Chinese soldiers would jump in trenches and 'blow themselves up' By the end of the war, up to three million civilians had been killed. But historians generally view the conflict as one of the major success stories for the West in the post-War era; defending democracy and ensuring the safety of the South Korean people. Sir Michael Caine's memories of fighting in the Korean War Sir Michael Caine was called up to fight in the Korean War after enlisting for compulsory National Service. He recalled his experiences in an interview with the Daily Mail in 1987. Commenting on the tactics employed by the enemy, he told of 'attack after attack, you would find their bodies in groups of four'. 'We heard them talking and we knew they had sussed us…Our officer shouted run and by chance we ran towards the Chinese. Which is what saved us; in the dark we lost each other,' he added. The actor, now 92, went on: 'I remember the boredom and the bull. 'I also remember the sheer naked terror of finding that I, a kid from the Elephant and Castle, actually had to go out into a paddy field, at night, while Chinese soldiers were trying to kill me.' At the end of the Second World War, Korea – previously occupied by the Japanese – was divided along the 38th parallel, an internal border between North and South based on a circle of latitude. Determined to bring the entire Korean peninsula under communist rule, Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea and grandfather of tyrant Kim Jon Un, invaded the South on the 25th June 1950. With the support of the Soviet Union and later, China, whose maniac dictator Chairman Mao saw the conflict as a threat to his own security, soldiers poured over the border as a United Nations coalition of 21 countries rallied behind the South's Republic of Korea Army (ROKA). The invaders quickly took the capital Seoul before a back-and-forth that would see both sides gain and lose territory in chaotic seesaw fashion. By August, British naval personnel and troops were on the ground supporting the US army. 'I'd never been abroad... there was a Cockney on my ship who had never seen the sea before', says fellow 91-year-old Mike Mogridge from his home in Henley, Oxfordshire, as he recalls his eight-week journey by ship to Korea. Peckham-born and bred, Mike had been called up for National Service by the Tower of London-based Royal Fusiliers in early 1952. Among his fellow recruits were East End gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray, who Mike knew from the boxing world. After storming out one day, the twins would go on to be dishonourably discharged from National Service. A certain Michael Caine found himself in the same regiment as Mike, too. In early 1953, following six weeks' training in Hong Kong and a stint at Pusan (modern day Busan) in South Korea, Mike - now aged 19 - found himself on The Hook, a strategic area near Panmunjom so named for its shape. There, British, American, Canadian, Turkish, Thai and Republic of Korea Army (Roka) forces had been facing down the Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA). Conditions were horrific. While winters plunged to -40°C, summers could hit 40C. As the bodies of dead Chinese and allied soldiers lay on the battlefield, the rats moved in. 'When you go to sleep, it was overrun with rats', Mike, who still goes to the gym three times a week, recalls. 'At first you'd brush them off, eventually you didn't bother, they were very big rats because they were feeding off the dead bodies.' Korea was a war fought largely at night, with fairly uneventful patrols into no-man's-land where the enemy would occasionally open up on their positions. Days were spent dodging mortar and sniper fire, which the allies returned with devastating effect. Artillery was the game of Brian Parritt. A 2nd Lieutenant of the 20th Field Regiment in the Royal Artillery, he had joined the Army in 1949 and passed out of Sandhurst in February 1952. Having arrived in Korea that December, Brian was tasked with shelling enemy positions across The Hook. Located on a back line, his artillery pummeled the Chinese with VT shells that would explode above ground and devastate units of Chinese soldiers. Brian, now 94, was Mentioned in Despatches for his exploits on The Hook, a map of which hangs in his house. It is stained with his own blood following a mine incident that killed three men and blew him into the air. But Brian is keen to downplay his role in Korea. He instead highlights his superiors, three of whom had served in the Second World War and, as luck would have it, were sent to Korea just five years after the end of the war. 'They'd tell the men, "you think this is tough, son? You should've seen Normandy"', Brian recalls. He adds: 'There was great respect for them, there is no bull******** when you know your Sergeant Major had fought his way from El-Alamein, up through Italy and on to Monte Cassino.' Conditions were tough, Brian admits. 'It was bloody cold. By the time you made a cup of tea and raised it to your lips, it would get stuck to them,' he said. When a Chinese defector called Hua Hong, who had once fought against Chairman Mao's Chinese forces as a sergeant in Chiang Kai-Shek's nationalist army, was captured by allied soldiers, he revealed how a major offensive to take The Hook was being planned by the PVA. 'He knew everything, all the details of the attack, apart from the date', Brian says from an office filled with ephemera from a 37-year career in the Army. The Chinese, who had already been practicing the attack, had tried twice in the autumn of 1952 to seize The Hook but failed after being held back first by the US Marines, then by the legendary Scots of The Black Watch. It was during those battles where the allies witnessed the true horror of Chinese 'human waves', sent forward in their thousands to be mowed down before more elite units would follow through. Some of those in the first waves were unarmed and, when killed, were used as corpse bridges over barbed wire by the units which followed behind. 'When the Chinese attack, they come in three waves, one to destroy, one to take and one to hold, with tremendous numerical strength, and our artillery start to shell them... They lost hundreds before they even got to us', Mike grimly remembers. Following Hong's revelation of a third planned offensive, the allies were prepared for what was to come. It is estimated that around 9,000 PVA shells hammered allied positions on The Hook between May 19th and 28th. The allies returned as many in a volley of artillery which devastated the land. Ken Keld and his comrades from the Duke of Wellington's Regiment had been sent up to the frontline to relieve the Black Watch earlier that month. In position, he was the forward most platoon at The Hook. 'We were the ones going in first', he says. At around 8pm on May 28, 1953, following days of shelling by the PVA and the allies, the battlefield fell silent. In the distance, the sound of Chinese bugles rang out. That only meant one thing. As Ken, then 19, looked up from his position, he could see wave upon wave of Chinese soldiers coming towards him. Moments later, 'all hell broke loose'. 'There were just waves of them coming... The tanks would put on their spotlights and you could see Chinese running down hillside, so they started on them with the machine gun', he says. 'The Chinese didn't all have weapons, they picked weapons up from someone who had been killed.' At the back of the battle, Brian was pounding the Chinese positions with artillery fire. 'It was a most intense battle', says Brian, 'the barrels of the guns were red hot. 'Someone put a damp towel over a gun and it caught fire, it was an exhilarating experience'. As the Chinese edged closer, the fighting became more and more vicious. Ken, while holding them off, was running out of ammunition. Within moments, the Chinese had stormed his trench. 'We were in the trenches and they were just dropping in, they're blowing themselves up and whoever's with them... our number two Bren gunner Mick Connor was just mowing 'em down until he was killed himself.' 'It was practically every man for himself, it was more or less back-to-back, covering up for your other man, it was chaos.' Ken was pushed back into the tunnels which had been dug by the Black Watch before the Chinese ordered their surrender, promising good treatment. Recounting what the Britons replied to the surrender demand, Ken laughs and says: 'The second word was "off".' 'We were in there when they blew the ends in, all you could hear was thumping of things, Chinese voices, all you are thinking about is how long we're going to be here, are we going to be eating rice three times a day as prisoners!' With Ken and his comrades buried alive in the tunnel with just a Sten gun and one grenade, the Duke's outside launched a heroic counter offensive on the Chinese trenches. By 3.30am, they had taken control of The Hook. It was a resounding victory but one which had come at a devastating cost. By the end of the Battle of The Hook, just 17 out of 45 men in Ken's Duke of Wellington's platoon had survived. Among the dead was his friend from back home in Yorkshire, Dennis Smith, aged just 19, whom he points out in his 'In Memoriam' book. Around 2,000 PVA soldiers had been killed or wounded in just seven hours of human wave attacks and suicide missions. The Hook was a 'mess', Ken says, adding: 'We were offered a meal but there were so many bodies we didn't want it. 'The worst of all was the stench, buried, decayed, limbs and bodies. There had been so much fighting, it was like being sent to death row.' Ken was sent to a rear position following the battle of The Hook and Mike's Royal Fusiliers - who had been at the battle but in a rear position - took over. A month later on July 27, the truce, now known as The Korean War Armistice, was signed at Panmunjom, where the modern-day Demilitarized Zone now stands separating North and South Korea. When news of the truce got out, Brian heard the Fusiliers in their trenches singing Vera Lynn's 'There Will Always Be an England'. The rest of the battlefield soon joined in. As well as the 1,100 British dead, there were 3,000 wounded, and more than 1,000 missing or taken prisoner. For all of the horrors of Korea, the three men hold no hatred towards their former enemy. For Ken - who in 2023 received an MBE for his work with Korean War veterans - he respects the bravery of the Chinese on the battlefield, noting that on balance they were 'good soldiers'. For Brian, humanity shone through when, towards the end of the war, he met two Chinese soldiers in no-man's-land. They shook hands and took photos. He says: 'Having seen the consequences of war, I believe in jaw jaw before war war".' For a former Brigadier who spent nearly four decades in the Army, and whose service in Cyprus and Northern Ireland with the Intelligence Corps earned him an MBE and CBE respectively, it is a seismic comment. Korea, for Brian, was a resounding success and a victory which is still appreciated by South Koreans to this day. But it was the reception that met British soldiers on their return to Britain in 1956 that all three men struggled with. Mike, whose TV presenter daughter Fiona McLean starred in Grange Hill and whose son later joined the Army, explained: 'When I got back my father took me for a pint at our local, I remember one of his mates asking me "where have you been?" 'I told him I'd been in Korea, and he said, "oh, did you have a nice time?" And that was that.' Ken feels much the same about the 'forgotten' nature of Korea and the sacrifice made by ordinary Brits, many of whom were teenagers on National Service. He says: 'We had to pay for our own memorial, £40,000. You can't understand it. We've had to fight for everything to get recognition. I was getting shot at for a quid a week.' It is accepted among the three men that Korea became a forgotten war in part due it's sheer distance from Britain - 5,600 miles - but also thanks to a fatigue present amongst Britons so soon after the fight against Hitler. 'The appetite for more war was just not there', Mike admits. Brian, who is the only British soldier to be awarded the Order of Civil Merit (Moran) medal by South Korea, concludes: 'You'll go round the world looking at gravestones, a lot of them young National Service boys and there's a feeling, what the hell were we doing there? 'In historical terms it is not recognised what the army did in the post-War period. 'I do feel that in this period that the British Army tried to move from Colonialism to independence. I don't feel that is recognised.
