1st glosters in korea

Discussion in 'Korea' started by rachel-E, Apr 10, 2011.

  1. rachel-E

    rachel-E Senior Member

    Hiya all,
    Does anyone know which port the 1st Glosters would have disembarked in Korea ? November 1950.
    I've been trying to find information on the Internet and there is plenty about Imjin and Gloster hill, but not much about the disembarkation.

    I think they went from Southampton on either the Empire Fowey or Windrush. And came back on one of those, but again I don't know which port they came back from. November 1951

    Does anyone have the expert info ?

    Kind regards
    Rachel.
     
  2. Wills

    Wills Very Senior Member

    Rachel E. Pathe news Gloucester's return home for Xmas to Southampton aboard the Empire Fowey - The Battalion not captured
    The POWs came later 150 officers and men - Pathe News 'Carne of the Gloucester's' return home to Southampon aboard the Empire Orwell, you will see the men ferried ashore on the tug Solent - she is still moored here and just last week was given a permanent berth after recent fears she would be scrapped.
     
  3. rachel-E

    rachel-E Senior Member

    Hiya Wills, thank you for that information.
    My dad would have returned on the Empire Fowey in time for Christmas then as his service records say he returned in November and no mention of POW.

    Glad to hear of the permanent home too. It's important to preserve history.

    Cheers again, I'll have a look at the pathe stuff.
    Rachel.
     
  4. Wills

    Wills Very Senior Member

    The 1st Bn Glosters sailed from Southampton - Empire Fowey, September 1950 and arrived Pusan 4 November 1950 - hope that helps
     
  5. rachel-E

    rachel-E Senior Member

    Yes it does Wills thank you.
    I wondered if it was Pusan or Inchon as they are the names that kept cropping up but I couldn't find anything concrete.

    Cheers again. I can write it up now.
    Much appreciated
    Rachel.
     
  6. Wills

    Wills Very Senior Member

    Now you can go to youtube and listen to the 'Kinnegad Slashers' The name and regimental March of the 28th - The Glorious Glosters'
     
  7. rachel-E

    rachel-E Senior Member

    1st time hearing the regimental march. Weirdly though it sounds familiar in parts.
    Thanks Wills.
     
  8. Groundhugger

    Groundhugger Senior Member

    Hi Rachel
    I remember reading a Biogaphy of a Chap called 'Lofty' [apologies for not remembering his proper name]ex SAS and Gloster National seviceman , who was with the Glosters when they arrived in Korea and was a POW in N. Korea , sorry can't remember the name of the Book either .

    [edit , might not be a 'gloster' but 'ox & Bucks' , but would probably done the same route]
     
  9. spider

    spider Very Senior Member

    Pusan (Busan) is and was the largest port in South Korea, the majority of troops disembarked at Pusan.
     
  10. chrisgrove

    chrisgrove Senior Member

    Hi Rachel
    I remember reading a Biogaphy of a Chap called 'Lofty' [apologies for not remembering his proper name]ex SAS and Gloster National seviceman , who was with the Glosters when they arrived in Korea and was a POW in N. Korea , sorry can't remember the name of the Book either .

    [edit , might not be a 'gloster' but 'ox & Bucks' , but would probably done the same route]

    Groundhugger

    The book you read was 'One man's war in Korea' by Lofty Large who enlisted in the Wiltshire Regiment, but volunteered while in Hong Kong to reinforce the Glosters in Korea. I could also recommend 'The Edge of the Sword' by Tony Farrar-Hockley, the Glosters' Adjutant in Korea and who retired as a general many years later.

    Chris
     
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  11. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

  12. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

    Groundhugger

    The book you read was 'One man's war in Korea' by Lofty Large who enlisted in the Wiltshire Regiment, but volunteered while in Hong Kong to reinforce the Glosters in Korea. I could also recommend 'The Edge of the Sword' by Tony Farrar-Hockley, the Glosters' Adjutant in Korea and who retired as a general many years later.

    Chris
    I would also add to those two, 'In Spite Of Dungeons' by S.J Davies who was the 1st Battalions Padre.
     
  13. spider

    spider Very Senior Member

    The battle of Kapyong, April 1951

    From the AWM:

    Standing directly in the path of the main Chinese thrust towards Seoul was the British 29th Brigade. On 22 April the brigade held a front of 12 kilometres on the Imjin, a broad, winding river which drains much of west-central Korea and forms one of the major obstacles on the road to Seoul through the Uijongbu corridor. Unfortunately for the defenders the river was fordable by infantry at many points at that time of the year. The 1st Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment, was deployed on high ground which overlooked the valley, flanked on the right by the 1st Battalion, The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, and supported by the 1st Battalion, The Royal Ulster Rifles, in reserve. The brigade was holding a checking position; its defences were lightly constructed and did not include mines and barbed wire. It had been told to expect the Chinese to close up to the river on the night of 22 April and attack across it at dawn on the 23rd. This appreciation proved wrong. The Chinese did not pause, but delivered their main attack immediately after crossing the Imjin, falling on the Gloucesters around midnight.

    The 1st ROK Division, on the brigade's left flank, was driven back several kilometres. The forward companies of the Gloucesters withdrew to the vicinity of the battalion headquarters. The Chinese penetrated a gap of several kilometres between the Gloucesters and the Fusiliers, thereby cutting off the former. The brigade fought back desperately and heroically on 23 and 24 April against enormous odds. Several attempts were made to relieve the Gloucesters, but the enemy forces were too strong to be broken through. Amongst these attempts was one made on 24 April by the Philippines Battalion, supported by C Squadron of the 8th Hussars, in which Captain J. C. Gorman, an Australian, was serving. (6) He later described the state of the Gloucesters' B Echelon (supporting elements), which he encountered on the road to the battalion's main position:

    It was a shambles. Rifles and equipment lay scattered everywhere, among burnt-out carriers and smouldering trucks. Dead Englishmen lolled behind shattered steering wheels, and rows of holes in the vehicles showed the line of enemy machine-gun fire. Short Chinese cartridge-cases littered the area. Dead men lay in profusion, sightless eyes staring up to the sky. It was definitely depressing. The thought occurred-`That dead man, but for the grace of God, is me'. There was not a single enemy body. It is nerve racking to see only your own dead, for it gives the impression of disastrous defeat. Of course, the Reds had removed their own dead, as they always did.

    Encyclopedia | Australian War Memorial
     
  14. spider

    spider Very Senior Member

    Hiya all,
    Does anyone know which port the 1st Glosters would have disembarked in Korea ? November 1950.
    I've been trying to find information on the Internet and there is plenty about Imjin and Gloster hill, but not much about the disembarkation.

    I think they went from Southampton on either the Empire Fowey or Windrush. And came back on one of those, but again I don't know which port they came back from. November 1951

    Does anyone have the expert info ?

    Kind regards
    Rachel.

    May be a job for RoboCop (sorry Andy :)) at the NA Kew, the diaries would be very intersting reading.

    http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQn_6_TkzittqXgQy11HNNdBBID6mpaVjY5NVUJRDXbTnMM-PjQ
     
  15. spider

    spider Very Senior Member

  16. rachel-E

    rachel-E Senior Member

    Hiya guys n gals..

    Sorry for the late reply. It's holiday time .. Kids off.. Monty the dog has gone barmy and i aint had time to claim my computer back from the delightful little munkies...


    Thank you for the info, it's really appreciated. x

    Regards
    Rachel.. the demented mum (for the time being)
     
  17. StyvBez

    StyvBez Junior Member

    My uncle Vernon was at Imjin River. He was a ww2 serving as a sergeant cook and recounted a moment when a Chinese got into the kitchen area and was met with a pan of boiling water and some sharp implements.
    My uncle was also sent on long range patrols because he was also an SAS vet. I would dearly love to hear from anyone who remembers him or who has info. about that time because it is very hard to come by.
     
  18. Beefordboy

    Beefordboy Junior Member

    The finest book on the Imjim river battle is "To the last round" I believe the auther is Salmon, by the way the Yanks renamed Gloster Valley. Blue Lancer Valley. I was on the ground in the area in 1953 a few days after the cease fire.
    John
     
  19. BrianM59

    BrianM59 Senior Member

    Full book reference is To the Last Round - the epic British Stand on the Imjin River Korea 1951, by Andrew Salmon. Aurum Press, 2009/2010

    Also available, but not quite as readable, yet still very worthwhile reading, is Fight, Dig and Live, the story of the Royal Engineers in the Korean War, by General Sir George Cooper, Pen & Sword 2011

    My dad was recalled to 55 Field Squadron Royal Engineers in 1950 - he was most unimpressed, having only been demobbed less than a year previously and having just got married and found a job. He wrote to my mum from the Empire Windrush that he was with a great bunch of lads - the Glosters and that he would be perfectly safe. Imagine his delight when the Chinese invaded and he was handed a rifle and told to fight with the infantry.

    Cooper's book has the 1 Glosters sailing on the Empire Windrush - the famous ship which brought West Indians into Britain in 1948 - and they arrived Pusan November 10 1950.
     
  20. Shel

    Shel New Member

    Hello all
    I've just happened on this site wondering if it was The Windrush that took my father to Korea. He was captured at Imjin with my mother pregnant with myself. He felt he had a bit of a raw deal as he was in the BEF and then fought rearguard at Dunkirk before the Luftwaffe nigh on obliterated his Company. 7 of them escaped across country to St. Malo (I think ) He made it back and then volunteered for the Chindits where he did two expeditions and when he was demobbed he was on B reserve - so he thought he was safe but of course Whitehall wanted battle hardened soldiers to help the Yanks out with their debacle. He attempted escape several times, sometimes with Farrar-Hockley.
    When the POWs finally got released 3 years later they were put on a ship but the next day they had to turn the ship downwind in bad weather so that the ships medic could successfully remove my old man's appendix - and yes he did win the pools when he got home! His name was Ronald George Sheldon.
     

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