Imjin River: Battlefield Tour

Imjin River was one of the critical battles of the Korean War, and perhaps the most tragic. It was also one where two Irish units – the Royal Ulster Rifles and the Irish Hussars – proved their worth in the sternest test of war – a battle against overwhelming odds.

Andrew Salmon, who recently presented to the IAK and guided re-visiting veterans around the “Happy Valley” battlefield during the summer, will lead this IAK organised tour, which will take in the full valley where the RUR fought, stop at their final “backstop” position, and recount the stories of the men who survived. If you have seen him talk or read his books, you’ll know that this will be an unmissable chance to learn more about the war and these battles.

Korean War Veterans’ Continued Activities in Ireland.

I received a recent email from Ms Carol Walker, Director of the Somme Association and Somme Heritage Centre, with a full update of the recent activities of the Korean War Veterans who visited Korea in last April. The 60 year anniversary for the signing of the Armistice allowed for the special celebration and get together in Dublin, where veterans from near and far converged.

I’ve copied in Carol’s email here for those interested in keeping up to date with the veteran’s activities:

Dear Conor

 

I would like you to pass on my thanks to all the members of the Irish Association of Korea for their kind donation to the Irish Veterans.  We had an event on Saturday to mark the 60^th Anniversary of the signing of the Armistice and we got all those who travelled to Korea in April together in Dublin at the Museum in Colin’s Barracks. All the Veterans were in attendance.  The day started in Belfast at 0930hrs when a wreath was laid at the original Memorial from Korea. We then travelled down to Dublin and met with the other Veterans who had travelled from Dublin, Galway, Wicklow and even Mr Gorman from Kent.  We had lunch at the Museum and then watched all the photos from the trip on a large screen, much to the delight of the Veterans and it all brought back lots of fond memories of our trip to Korea. It was here that I was able to present all the Veterans with a cheque for £200 each thanks to the IAK and pay for the gathering. They asked me on their behalf to pass on their thanks.

 

As you can imagine there was lots of happy exchanging of memories.  We then went on a tour of the Museum and met up again for a much needed cup of tea at 1700hrs. The group then moved to the Ashling Hotel, were those who had travelled were staying and where we were all meeting again in the evening for dinner.  I had expected the Veterans to take a rest but no we ended up in the pub next door were some Guinness and whiskey was consumed. Dinner in the evening was a success and again lots of great memories were exchanged. This finished about 2200hrs when those sensible among us went home or too bed (this wasn’t actually too many).  I bet you have guest it but in good old fashioned Irish tradition we ended up in the pub next door again, were the crack was great and again the whiskey and Guinness flowed.  This ended at 2am with Aubrey Bunyan, Spencer McWhirter and Mr Michael Kelly being the last men standing.  Mr Kelly who didn’t partake in the drinking made sure everyone got home to bed.  We all met up for breakfast in the morning at 0930hrs and laughed about events.  We sadly said our goodbyes but promised to all meet up again soon.  I drove some of the Veterans home and they never stopped talking for the two and half hours it took.  I thought they would sleep for the journey but I was wrong.  I was exhausted but again the Veterans showed the stamina they had shown us all while on their revisit to Korea.

 

Many thanks for everything and I hope we may all meet again in the future.

  

Best regards

Carol

 

We will endeavour to keep you updated on their continued efforts both at home and on any trips they take to Korea.

Irish veterans of the Korean War interviewed on RTE Radio 1

Great radio interview by Brian O’Connell with Michael Kelly, Aubrey Bunyan and Canon Robert Jennings for RTE Radio 1. Click on the listen link here.

Michael, Aubrey and Robert were part of the recent veteran revisit which included the unveiling of the Irish war memorial. Remember you can see lots of photos of that visit at http://www.flickr.com/photos/koreanwarveteransfromireland/

 

Asia Society video clip of the revisit of the Irish veterans of the Korean War

The Asia Society Korea Center interviewed some of the veterans when they visited in April. The short clip recounting their experiences and their impressions of modern Korea is well worth watching.

http://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/video-looking-back-irish-korean-war-veterans-revisit-battleground-60-years-later

 

 

Imjin River: Battlefield Tour of the “Korean War Thermoplyae” Sat, June 1st

Imjin River was one of the critical battles of the Korean War, and perhaps the most tragic. It was also one where two Irish units – the Royal Ulster Rifles and the Irish Hussars – proved their worth in the sternest test of war: Battle against overwhelming odds.

Andrew Salmon, who has recently presented to the IAK and guided re-visiting veterans around the “Happy Valley” battlefield, will lead this Royal Asiatic Society tour, which will take in the full valley where the RUR fought, stop at their final “backstop” position, and recount the stories of the men who survived. If you have seen him talk or read his books, you’ll know that this will be an unmissable chance to learn more about the war and these battles.

Read more about the tour and book a place on it here

Korean Lament

Mark McConnell – one of the veterans who visited last week – recited his very moving poem ‘Korean Lament’ last Thursday at the unveiling of the memorial for all the Irish who died during the war. Pictures courtesy of Tom Coyner, see more of his pictures from last week here

Korean Lament

There’s blood on the hills of Korea, it’s the blood of the brave and the true,
where the nations they battled together, ‘neath banners of white and pale blue,
as they marched over the fields of Korea to the hills where the enemy lay,
they remembered the Brigadier’s orders, those hills must be taken today.
And forward they went into battle, with faces unsmiling, and stern,
for they knew as they charged up that hillside there were many would never return.
Some thought of their wives and their mothers and some of their sweethearts so fair
and some as they plodded and stumbled were softly saying this prayer,
‘There’s blood on the hills in Korea, it’s the blood of the freedom we love,
may our names live in glory forever, and our souls rest in heaven above.’
And boys, when you go back to Belfast, when this War is over and done,
just think of the ones left behind you out in the Korean sun.

Coverage of the memorial for Irish people who died in the Korean war

Good to see some coverage of the war memorial popping up in Ireland

Korea Times

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2013/04/351_134798.html

The Journal

http://www.thejournal.ie/memorial-for-irish-war-heroes-erected-in-south-korea-885180-Apr2013/

The Irish Times

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/recalling-role-of-irish-soldiers-in-tragic-korean-war-battle-of-happy-valley-1.1372892

JoongAng Daily

http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2970619

Article by Andrew Salmon in the Wall Street Journal

http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2013/04/25/aging-warriors-return-to-armageddon-north-of-seoul/

Korea Times

http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2013/04/113_134892.html

Slugger O’Toole

http://sluggerotoole.com/2013/05/02/british-irish-flags-at-new-korean-war-memorial-for-ulster-troops/

(we’ll add more links as find them)

Thanks to the Dublin Terrace for hosting the veterans fundraiser

We had a great Sun afternoon/evening at the veterans fundraiser and we just want to say thanks to everyone involved – in particular Andrew Salmon, Dara Sheahan (who was not dissuaded by the lack of an amp), Olivia Houck and all the other great musicians who played. Special thanks to Mr Lee of the Dublin Terrace who donated 2,000,000 w to the fund for the veterans visit (as well is donating many of the raffle prices, his premises etc). This money will be used by the Somme Association to alleviate the costs associated with the trip here. Here is a picture of Mr Lee presenting the donation to Carol Walker of the Somme Association and Trevor Ross, colour sergeant of the Royal Irish Regiment (successor to the Royal Ulster Rifles).

Person of the night was Ben Delahunty, 88 years old and a veteran of both D-Day and the Korean War.

You can see more photos from the night on Facebook

The 11 veterans from Ireland arrived safely on Monday and their week long visit has been going well. To find out more about their visit follow the Irish Embassy in Korea on Twitter.

Andrew Salmon’s books

If you enjoyed the talk by Andrew Salmon yesterday at the fundraiser for the visiting Irish veterans that was held at the Dublin Terrace then you should check out the two books he has written about the Korean War.

 

To the Last Round: The Epic British Stand on the Imjin River, Korea 1951 – this book is about the 3 day battle on the Imjin river during which the Gloster Regiment was reduced from 750 to 50 men.

 

 

 

 

Scorched Earth, Black Snow: Britain and Australia in the Korean War, 1950 – an account of British and Austrailian involvement in the earlier part of the war, covering everything from the Pusan breakout to the introduction of the Chinese to the war.

 

You  can leep up to date with Andrew on his own website 

Additional info about the Irish veterans fundraiser next Sunday

We just want to give you some additional info about the fundraiser for the visiting Irish veterans of Korean war that we are running in the Dublin Terrace in Gangnam next Sun April 21 from 16:00 – 20:00.

• we are really happy to announce that Andrew Salmon will be giving a talk titled “The fighting Irish of the Korean War”. This 40 minute talk will be an account of the experience of the 1st Battalion Royal Ulster Rifles (RUR) and 8th Kings Royal Irish Hussars in the Korean War. Andrew has written 2 books about the Korean War; “To the Last Round, The Epic British Stand on the Imjin River, Korea 1951” and “Scorched Earth, Black Snow, Britain and Australia in the Korean War, 1950”. The talk will be accompanied by a slideshow of images from the war.
• we are also very lucky to have representatives of the Royal Ulster Rifle veterans in the form of the Somme Association of Ireland attending. The veterans themselves don’t arrive in Korea until Monday morning.
• as was mentioned before it is family friendly event that is smoke free, with food available to purchase. Kids will have free entry and we will have some colouring materials and books to help keep them occupied
• there will be a raffle during the evening, everyone will get a free raffle ticket on entry.

Schedule

16:30 – opening words by Irish ambassador Eamonn McKee
16:45 – “The fighting Irish of the Korean War”presentation by Andrew Salmon (40 min)
17:45 – Dara Sheahan
18:30 – traditional music session

For full info see here