by Griff Hosker
Lieutenant Colonel Carne and Lieutenant Curtis had been put in for the Victoria Cross. In Curtis’ case it would be a posthumous award. Four men were recommended for the DSO and three, including Captain Ormrod, were put in for the Military Medal. The Brigadier wanted to put in for another medal for me but I talked him out of it. “Sir I have more fruit salad than enough and we both know that the War Office is parsimonious with their medals. I would rather the others were rewarded. I am going home now and my war is done. Give one to Lieutenant Morrison. He deserved it.” He concurred and Jake’s mother would get to meet the King when he was awarded the Military Medal posthumously.
What I did ensure was that all of those who had survived would be promoted. If nothing else it would guarantee a bigger pension and they deserved it. As we landed at our small airport and before the doors were opened, I spoke to them all, “We shared a great deal in this Korean winter. I for one will not forget it. I want you all to promise to keep in touch and we will have a reunion, once a year, to remember the dead. I know I shan’t forget them.”
I saw from their faces that they all agreed. Sergeant Major Thorpe said, “And with the money I have saved, Sir…”
I shook my head, “I am out of the army now, Ken, it is Tom and that goes for all of you.”
“Aye, well, as I was saying, Tom, I intend to buy a little pub. When I get one that shall be where we hold the reunion. What do you say, lads?”
They roared, “Aye, Sarn’t Major!”
The doors opened and there, on the tarmac, were our families. I only had eyes for mine. My wife, children, my mum and my dad. As I stepped down and ran to them, I could not control myself. All the emotion of the last months got to me
Izzy shouted, “Mummy, why is Daddy crying, is he hurt?”
Susan ran to me and threw her arms around me, “If he is then I know the best cure. Welcome home, Tom.”
Dad and Mum put their arms around me and hugged me too as the three children clung to my legs.
I heard Dad say in my ear, “It really is finally over, son. Now you can start to live.”
He was right but I knew that my dreams would be haunted by the men who had died and would never be coming home. I had to make my life meaningful for them. I would live the life they could not.
I bent down and picked up my three children. “Sorry about that, children, it has been a long flight and Daddy is just pleased to see you.”
Samuel kissed me on my cheek, “And I planted tomatoes! Can we go and water them?”
I laughed, “Of course, we can do whatever the three of you want. Daddy is home and home for good!”
Dad nodded and gestured behind me. I turned and saw the remains of my command standing at attention. I put my children down and drawing myself to attention, saluted them. It was a soldier’s farewell. I held the salute and then all of us dropped our arms at the same time. I waved and they cheered. I could now go home.
The End
Glossary
AP- Armour Piercing Shell
ATS- Auxiliary Territorial Service- Women's Branch of the British Army during WW2
Birome- the world’s first commercially produce biro (using the two inventor’s names- Bíró and Meyne)
Bisht- Arab cloak
Bob on- Very accurate (slang) from a plumber's bob
Bombay-Mumbai
Butchers- Look (Cockney slang Butcher's Hook- Look)
Butties- sandwiches (slang)
Caff- Café (slang)
Capstan Full Strength- a type of cigarette
Chah- tea (slang)
Comforter- the lining for the helmet; a sort of woollen hat
Conflab- discussion (slang)
Cook-off- when the barrel of a Browning 30 Calibre overheats
Corned dog- Corned Beef (slang)
CP- Command Post
Dhobi- washing (slang from the Hindi word)
Doolally tap- Going mad (slang- from India Deolali- where there was a sanitorium)
Ercs- aircraftsman (slang- from Cockney)
Ewbank- Mechanical carpet cleaner
Formosa- Taiwan
Fruit salad- medal ribbons (slang)
Full English- English breakfast (bacon, sausage, eggs, fried tomato and black pudding)
Gash- spare (slang)
Gauloise- French cigarette
Gib- Gibraltar (slang)
Glasshouse- Military prison
HE – High Explosive shells
Jankers- field punishment
Jimmy the One- First Lieutenant on a British warship
Katusas – Korean soldiers attached to American units
Killick- leading hand (Navy) (slang)
Kip- sleep (slang)
Legging it- Running for it (slang)
LRDG- Long Range Desert Group (Commandos operating from the desert behind enemy lines.)
Mao Tse-tung- Mao Zedong
Marge- Margarine (butter substitute- slang)
MGB- Motor Gun Boat
Mossy- De Havilland Mosquito (slang) (Mossies- pl.)
Mickey- 'taking the mickey', making fun of (slang)
Micks- Irishmen (slang)
MTB- Motor Torpedo Boat
ML- Motor Launch
Narked- annoyed (slang)
Neaters- undiluted naval rum (slang)
Oik- worthless person (slang)
Oppo/oppos- pals/comrades (slang)
Piccadilly Commandos- Prostitutes in London
Pom-pom- Quick Firing 2lb. (40 mm) Maxim cannon
Pongo (es)- soldier (slang)
Potato mashers- German Hand Grenades (slang)
PTI- Physical Training Instructor
QM- Quarter Master (stores)
Recce- Reconnoitre (slang)
RSM- Regimental Sergeant Major
SBA- Sick Bay Attendant
Schtum -keep quiet (German)
Scragging - roughing someone up (slang)
Scrumpy- farm cider
Shank’s Pony- walk (slang)
Shooting brake- an estate car
Shufti- a look (slang)
Skiver- those who avoided conscription
SOE- Special Operations Executive (agents sent behind enemy lines)
SP- Starting price (slang)- what’s going on
SNAFU- Situation Normal All Fucked Up (acronym and slang)
Snug- a small lounge in a pub (slang)
Spiv- A black marketeer/criminal (slang)
Sprogs- children or young soldiers (slang)
Squaddy- ordinary soldier (slang)
Stag- sentry duty (slang)
Stand your corner- get a round of drinks in (slang)
Subbie- Sub-lieutenant (slang)
Suss it out- work out what to do (slang)
Tatties- potatoes (slang)
Tommy (Atkins)- Ordinary British soldier
Two penn'orth- two pennies worth (slang for opinion)
Wavy Navy- Royal Naval Reserve (slang)
WVS- Women's Voluntary Service
Historical background
Royal Marine Commandos did operate in Korea. However, I have Tom and his men arriving early. The North Koreans did race through the South Korean army and by the time the Americans arrived the South Koreans and the Americans held just an 80 by 50-mile corner of south-east South Korea. The attack by MacArthur at Inchon was a masterstroke. The North Koreans lost not only all of their gains but elements of the American and Allied forces reached the border with China. Had China not intervened then who knows how history might have been altered but invade they did and the war which might have lasted months dragged into years and the peace talks lumbered on into the next millennium!
I have tried to use the names of the places as they would have been in 1950. Mumbai was Bombay then and Busan was Pusan. Beijing was Peking!
The Royal Marine Commandos and the Rangers both operated in North and South Korea. Most of their missions were behind the enemy lines. My raids are all fictitious but reflect the sort of work that would have been carried out.
Radio protocol from:
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/24-19/Ch5.htm
There was an attempt, in October 1950 to try to rescue POWs before they were spirited across the border but the 187th was also tasked with capturing North Korean politicians. The attempt was only partially successful.
Stalin used Soviet Advisers to aid the North Koreans and he was less than pleased at the sudden collapse of the North Korean defence. He allowed his MiGs to operate but only in North Korea. MacArthur reached the Chinese border and wished to invade. What he did not know was that 200,000 Chinese troops were poised to come to the aid of North Korea and that Stalin had authorised the Russian air force to intervene. The Chinese marched at night and every time an aeroplane flew overhead, they froze! When they attacked the American 8th Cavalry regiment and the 1st Marine Division at Chosin Reservoir it came as a complete and devastating shock.
Operation Thunderbolt was a reconnaissance in force but as the General had over 90000 men it could have been called an attack. The General was being cautious. It took just two weeks to reach the Han River and although Seoul took a week or so longer to recapture the allies had regained the 38th Parallel and begun to eat back into North Korea.
Soviet MiG in the Smithsonian at Dulles
Author’s Photograph
American Sabre in the Smithsonian at Dulles
Author’s Photograph
Battle of the Imjin River
Captain Ormrod's tanks had forced their way down the last lap of the valley through milling Chinamen. They could see what was estimated at 2,000 more, swarming down the western hillsides, from the heights where they had been held up all day. The Centurions came through, crushing enemy under their tracks. Sgt. Cadman found a Chinaman battering at his turret to get in, and directed the tank straight through the wall of a house, to brush him off, and then ran over an M.G. post beside the road. Cornet Venner, who had behaved with great gallantry at every stage of the day's fighting, lost his scout-car, but guided one Centurion out of trouble and escaped, wounded, himself. Captain Ormrod was wounded in the head by a grenade. Three platoons of Infantry suddenly appeared, in parade-ground order, out of the river bed – and were blown to confusion with some of the last ammunition the tanks carried. Some tanks took to the paddy and were ploughing-in Communists, crouched under every bank. The firing was a continuous iron rain on the outside of the tanks, and only a small proportion of the Infantry on the top survived this death-ride. The tanks came out of the valley to see the Belgians leaving their ridge, that all day had guarded this southern opening.
8th Hussars Regimental Journal
Richard Napier who was a tank commander at the battle wrote a book. He said that, as he was unable to use his weapons, he withdrew, allowing infantrymen to hitch a ride on his tank. The Chinese had infiltrated behind them and were swarming around them, shooting at the infantrymen on the tank. The crew resorted to lobbing grenades out of the hatches at the mass of Chinese infantry. On one occasion, the Centurion tanks of the 8th were swamped by Chinese soldiers who were attempting to prise open the hatches to throw grenades inside. The response of the Irish Hussars was to turn the turrets of their tanks towards each other, and "hose" the enemy off with their Besa machine guns. On their return to the British Lines, it was said that these tanks "ran red with the blood of dead Chinese." Human detritus was also caught up in the tracks as the tanks had run over a number of Chinese and (unfortunately) some British dead.
Timeline of the Korean War
This is adapted from Encyclopaedia Britannica.
June 25, 1950
A massive artillery barrage from the North signals the beginning of the Korean War. Roughly 100,000 North Korean troops pour across the 38th parallel, and, although South Korean forces are driven back, they retire in good order.
June 27, 1950
The United Nations Security Council adopts Resolution 83, authorizing UN member states to provide military assistance to South Korea. Seoul falls the following day.
September 12, 1950
North Korean troops reach their farthest point of advance. Although thousands of UN troops have arrived to reinforce South Korea, months of fighting have reduced the area under their control to a 5,000-square-mile rectangle centred on the critical south-eastern port of Pusan. By the time the North Korean invasion force reaches the “Pusan Perimeter,” its strength has been nearly cut in half and it is almost entirely lacking in armour.
September 15, 1950
X Corps, a force led by U.S. Maj. Gen. Edward M. Almond, stages an audacious amphibious landing at Inchon, some 150 miles behind enemy lines. The plan, conceived by UN commander Gen. Douglas MacArthur, is an unqualified success; 10 days later Seoul is liberated.
October 25, 1950
Having destroyed the bulk of the North Korean army, UN troops have pressed on into North Korea and are now approaching the Yalu River. Chinese People’s Volunteers Force (CPVF) troops under veteran commander Gen. Peng Dehuai cross into North Korea and inflicts serious losses on the lead units of the UN advance. The sudden appearance of Chinese forces sends the main body of UN forces reeling back to the south bank of the Ch’ŏngch’ŏn River.
December 6, 1950
The U.S. Marines at the Chosin Reservoir begin their “attack in a different direction” as they engage in a fighting retreat to the port of Hŭngnam. Two entire Chinese armies have been tasked with the destruction of the 1st Marine Division. They succeed in driving the American force from North Korean territory but pay an enormous price: as many as 80,000 Chinese troops are killed or wounded, and the CPVF Ninth Army Group is rendered combat-ineffective for months.
January 4, 1951
Chinese and North Korean forces recapture Seoul.
March 14, 1951
Seoul changes hands for the fourth time when UN forces once again liberate the South Korean capital. The city has been devastated by fighting, and its population has been reduced to a fraction of its pre-war size.
April 11, 1951
U.S. Pres. Harry S. Truman relieves MacArthur of command. He is succeeded as UN commanded by Lieut. Gen. Matthew Ridgway.
April 25, 1951
Vastly outnumbered UN forces check the Chinese advance on Seoul at the Battles of Kapyong and the Imjin River. 4,000 men of the British 29th Brigade stage a successful delaying action against nearly 30,000 troops of the Chinese 63rd Army at the Imjin River. Some 650 men of the 1st Battalion, the Gloucestershire Regiment (the “Glorious Glosters”), engage in a Thermopylae-like stand against more than 10,000 Chinese infantry at Imjin. Although the overwhelming majority of the Glosters are killed or captured, their sacrifice allows UN forces to consolidate their lines around the South Korean capital.
July 10, 1951
Truce talks between the UN and the communists begin at Kaesong. The negotiations do not mark an end to the war, however; the fighting continues for two more years. In October the peace talks relocate to the village of P'anmunjŏm.
I had to keep referring to the timeline whilst I was writing the book as events seemed to happen too quickly to be true. The actual war lasted just 13 months and considering the numbers of men who were killed it was a too bloody a war to be called a police action!
Reference Books used
The Commando Pocket Manual 1949-45- Christopher Westhorp
The Second World War Miscellany- Norman Ferguson
Army Commandos 1940-45- Mike Chappell
Military Slang- Lee Pemberton
World War II- Donald Sommerville
The Historical Atlas of World War II-Swanston and Swanston
Churchill's Wizards: The British Genius for Deception 1914-1945- Nicholas Rankin
The Korean War 1950-53 -Thomas, Abbot and Chappell
Military Small Arms of the 20th Century- Hogg and Weeks
Jane’s Fighting Ships of World War 2
Jane’s Fighting Aircraft of World War 2
World War II tanks- Grove
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