>> My name is Roger Astley. I live in Finchley, North London, and I was in the Royal Navy during the Korean War. I joined the Navy as a boy of 15, and I was obviously there during the Korean War on an aircraft carrier, HMS Unicorn, which transported new planes and brought back to Singapore the old ones that had all been smashed up or crashed in, whatever. We also provided new pilots for them, and we took everything up to Japan anyway, to Sasebo, including two London buses. I think it was a morale booster for the troops to see a London bus driving round Korea. That's it for me. Wait. All right? Wait a minute. Anything else you want? >> Well, so what did you experience there? I know what you did. >> All right. What did I experience? >> Anything that you saw, kids, orphans or other units, Americans? >> No, we took everybody. We even took American sailors up there on our ship, and they loved our food, which I'm afraid that the English didn't like our food, but the Americans liked it, which was quite unusual because I went on American ships, and I always thought their food was better than ours. We got on all right, and even when we went ashore drinking, and we'd had a few drinks, a few beers and was beginning to talk, we got on well with the Americans as we did with most of the others. >> Like who? >> Well, there was Australian troops there, Belgium. There was a Dutch hospital ship. In other words, there were quite a few other nations. The harder ones, obviously, was the Oriental nations that was there. That was harder for us to get on with them. >> Because of the language barrier. >> Yes, basically, whereas with the ... Obviously the most people in the world speak English away, and us English, especially myself who has an accent from the North of England, we don't speak English as good as we should do, but it was an experience. I don't think we was ever frightened. We was only attacked three times by aeroplanes, and we chased them off, but we didn't have any trouble. Apart from that, you just did your job. You just carried on doing what you did. >> So what do you feel about Korea right now as compared to what you left it? >> Well, I'm glad it's getting more affluent than ... It's a machine country now, I should imagine, from what it was then. In fact, I think it was the making of South Korea in a way because it's very modern in everything. It's good that they do, and their exports is good whereas I don't know so much about the North, but I don't think it's doing anywhere near as good. Even the Chinese seem to be a bit sick of them. But apart from that, yeah, I've got good memories of it. >> You do. Have you returned? >> Pardon? >> Have you ... >> I have never returned, and I always used to be amused at one of the ports we went to, I think it was [FOREIGN LANGUAGE], one of them, there was a great big notice on the roof of the warehouses, "Through this port passed the best damn fighting men in the world." That was the Americans, of course. Well, of course some of our people climbed on the roof and put, "And the Brits." And it was just a job at the time. I think because we never really got ... saw action like the Army did, to us, it was a job with a bit of restrictions in it. The ship could never broadcast its name. We all had different call signs. You couldn't let the enemy know what ships was there, so we had different call signs, but for the Navy, I don't think ... It was a few early on got killed, but most of them didn't. Most of us was too far away. It was the Army took the brunt of it, and of course they weren't professional soldiers anyway, a lot of them, as you see, there's lads had to go in for 2 years training. Well, there's people like myself and the majority of the Navy was all time-serving people. And of course when I got out of the Royal Army, where I lived, a seaside resort, I went back to sea again in the Merchant Navy where I could go to the West, to Americas and South America and the West Indies, and in other words, I had a good life.

>> Hello, everybody. I am back at the Belfast City Hall where the Korean War memorial proudly stands. I am here with the last remaining Korean War veteran, Grandpa Albert. Say, "Hello," and Ms. Carol Walker, who's been extremely instrumental in arranging everything today. She will tell you the story behind this memorial, how it got here and that there is another memorial in Korea, in Seoul, that honors the Irish Korean War veterans. So Ms. Walker ... >> Hi. >> Should we do a little ... We're going to loop around and then show you, so I just want to show you ... >> We just stay here. >> ... how it looks like. It honors the Royal Ulster Rifle, and, again, I love this inscription where it says, "The people that walk in darkness have seen the great light," from Isaiah, chapter nine, verse two, and then another ... So there's three sides that honor different ... So we're going to face way because I think this is prettier, so okay. So Ms. Walker, tell us how this memorial got here. >> Well, this memorial used to be in Korea. The soldiers themselves and [INAUDIBLE] Battle of Happy Valley. Actually ... >> Speak up. >> Oh, speak up? At the height of the battle in Happy Valley ... Afterwards, they decided, the commanding officer decided they [INAUDIBLE] something to commemorate the sacrifice of the 157 men that had made this great sacrifice at that particular battle, which as you can see from the memorial, it was on the 3rd and 4th of January 1951, so the padre set out on a task to go and find something, and he managed to come across a Korean stonemason. >> Mm-hmm. >> And they were able to get this beautiful pink Korean granite, polished granite, and create a memorial. It was on the field at the site, the battle site at Happy Valley on the 3rd of July in the 1950s, 1953, and at the service, there was a service that took place, and many of the soldiers themselves attended it, and they had the padre at the time, and he performed the sermoning, and the words that are on the memorial that you said, Isaiah, he actually used them as part of the scripture during the service that day and during the sermon, in the remembrance sermoning. Also they laid wreathes at the time, poppy wreaths like Albert has just laid. >> I do want to show this. >> They laid these wreaths to commemorate the 150 men that had made that sacrifice and that had died at the Battle of Happy Valley in trying to give Seoul the freedom. >> Oh, yeah. >> You can see ... >> Yes. >> ... it tells the story. >> Oh, it tells the story. I didn't realize that before. That's wonderful. >> But unfortunately, then what happened was after the Royal Ulster Rifles left Korea, there was nobody coming back to visit the memorial, and HMS Belfast, which is actually ironic that it was HMS Belfast, happened to be visiting Korea at the time in the '60s, '64, and it was decided then to bring back the memorial back to Northern Ireland so that the soldiers who were still alive from the Ulster Rifles could still have ceremonies and could attend remembrance services ... >> That is awesome. >> ... for their comrades. So it was brought back onboard HMS Belfast. It was brought to the [INAUDIBLE] barracks which was in Ballymena, and it was positioned there. Sadly then, Ballymena actually closed as an army base, and the memorial went into storage for a while, but people like Colonel Charley and Brigadier McCord at the time were instrumental in making sure that the memorial went somewhere important and had the honor that these men had bestowed wasn't forgotten, and the memorial was actually then given this very prominent place here in Belfast, and it has progressed over the years. It's been looked after. As Albert said, you know, there was a new path has been put in. People are able to come here and visit it, and the Ulster Rifles Association will come here and will hold memorial services and still remember the war dead oftentime. >> I guess I just want to show you that they put up that gate especially for this, you know, walkway because technically, this area right now, there's no pathway. That's the City Hall, and it is in a very prominent location. >> And it's so close to the cenotaph which is Belfast Cenotaph that's here to commemorate and honor the war dead of the First World War and the Second World War, and so it's still fitting to have it ... >> Very fitting. >> ... to have it so close to the cenotaph. >> So over there, Ms. Walker, pointing out the cenotaph honoring those who died in World Wars I and II, and it's literally ... You can see it from here, and this memorial is right here, and I just wanted to thank you because the one that's filming right now is the daughter of Colonel Charley, who was not only instrumental in getting this here, but in Korea, they now have a memorial honoring the Irish Korean War veterans. It's in Seoul. >> It's in Seoul at the National Museum, at the museum, because it's a very fitting site. It's where there's also memorials are from the Canadians, and all the other Commonwealth countries have now started as well on the back of what we did and what the Irish did with their memorial, and there's other countries, you know, from the United Nations have placed their memorials that are in a war memorial garden, and it means people can go and commemorate. The good thing is that every year, as well, the Irish, the Irish Embassy, still hold a remembrance service there and for people, so it's not forgotten. [INAUDIBLE] memorial, we spent a lot of time working out [INAUDIBLE], what shape it would look like, how the memorial would come about. It was decided that it wouldn't be a replica that we had here because it needed to reflect as it is today Ireland's [INAUDIBLE]. >> That's true. This was erected in 1951. >> And the Ireland that we are in today and we were in in 2012 when we started with the project was a very different Ireland. It was an Ireland that had started to come through the the peace ... >> Aw. >> ... process. >> Oh! >> [INAUDIBLE] >> Oh! >> I'm cold! >> I don't want him to freeze. This is Grandpa Albert, everyone. He's 91 years young, and his memory is impeccable, right? Oh, before we close, see, I wore this rifle green to match him, but can you sing [INAUDIBLE] for us? [Lyrics] [INAUDIBLE] >> Yay! Ninety-one years young. He's the last remaining Korean War veteran in Northern ... >> Well, one of the ... One of the last. >> One of the last Northern Ireland ... >> The last Irish one. >> Yes. >> He is. >> An Irish one. Many have passed just in the past month ... >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> That's it. >> ... including Colonel Charley and ... >> Uh-huh. >> And many of the veterans that we were able to take back to Korea in 2013, many of them passed very quickly after their trip back ... >> Yeah. >> ... when you think about it. >> So I want to thank you because actually Ms. Walker is part of a different organization and association that remembers and honors those that died in World War I, right? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> World War I and World War II. >> World War II. >> And the Korean War as well. >> Yes. So thank you for bringing the [INAUDIBLE] as well of their memories, and thank you again to Colonel Charley's daughter, yay, Katherine, who is filming this video. So, everybody, thank you so much for joining me in both Ireland, all of Ireland now ... I will be on my way to Wales, so thank you. Thank you. Bye!

>> My name is Stephanas Gabramaskan, Colonel retired. If you want information about the war, I think Colonel Melissa will better explain, and he has more experience, and he knows more about the war, and he will inform you better. I think you better, but from my side, I was in the 4th Battalion, and the 4th Battalion was not engaged in the war. We change the 3rd Battalion and their bunker and their defense line, and we stayed about 5, 6 months in the defense line and then were replaced by the native or the Korean army. The whole defense area after the war was replaced by the Korean army. The Korean army were good fighters. They did their best. They lost so many lives because of the invasion, and we stayed there for 1 year, and before, we were making training in case if the war started. We were making training and then stayed 1 more year. Now, everything was, I think, the ceasefire was constant and thorough, so we came back, but the three Battalions who were engaged in the war, they did a lot of fightings, about 235 times they engaged by three Battalions, and they lose about 122 men, the martyrs died in the war and totally 635 wounded that days, and they have captured so many places, and they were engaged. They captured prisoners and got information about the enemy. We were very sorry because we went to Korea, but our government, the Emperor Haile Selassie, when the Ethiopians invaded by the fascism, nobody was trying to help us, so we know. Those who are weak when they are invaded by the powerful nations and our emperor gave a faster response to the request of the UN forces and to the UN, and we just went. We sent four times a Battalion and one time a company just to represent. I think we tried to do everything what we can. We tried what weaken, and we did, and we came back. We really saw after the war the Koreans were very developed, very much developed. The highways, the buildings, the construction and everything was fantastic, unbelievable within these short times, and they became the 10th developed country in the world that nobody will ... Admire that, nobody will do that fast. There were so many countries developed before them, but within short times after the war, after they suffer everything, after everything was destroyed and after they were a colonialist, and every resources were taken from them. You don't believe it to see that. Those who know Korea first ... We saw Korea. I saw Korea first, how it was during the war, and then after the war, I just visited Korea, and there was a fast development in that country that people, you see they were working here, there, run, and you don't see people talking just in one place, collected in one place. You see people running for work, and they did their best for their country. >> We're very grateful for you. >> But about the war, Colonel will better ... In the country where we don't know, in the country where the air conditions, the atmosphere was not known to us, and in the country where we don't have ... We were fighting with old types of weapons, but when we go there, we were trained by any weapon which we don't know. After that, we start to fight with that weapon. >> You went after the armistice. What was your position? What was your rank, and what did you do? >> I was a second lieutenant, and everybody, our president also was a second lieutenant. He was very young. We were on 20s. Now, we are over 80. >> But the war didn't break out again after the armistice. >> I beg your ... >> After the armistice ... >> Yeah. >> ... no more war, you know? No more battle, right? Did you do more battles? Did you fight more battles? >> Well, inside the country. Inside the country, there was fighting. There were secessionists, and to avoid that, we tried to fight, but we were not successful. The government at this point, they made a coup. >> Which government? >> Our government. The army made a coup and overthrow the king and kill him, and they become communist influenced, so the developed countries were not supporting us. We had done also some mistakes. The army did some mistakes also, and we lose the war and the new government, the present government have won the battle, and now we are under the new government, and after this government has come, we have our friends, the South Koreans, come to us, come to help us, and through us, they were introduced to the new government. >> Did you see Korean civilians? >> And we also were not allowed to wear the medals which we got from the Korean War. >> Why? >> Because they were communist influenced, and they said you were not democrat and you fall to the communists. They said that, and we are not allowed to wear, and we were supposed to be a communist, but the west won at last because they help them, and they lose, and our friends come to help us. They build this. They build this building, the office. They build a monument for us, the same monument in Korea, the only monument for those who fought in Korea. They have one here and then here. They didn't build for others, and we have a respect for the Korean people and the government. >> Did you see Koreans when you were there fighting? What year did you go, 1953? >> '54. >> '54. >> Yeah. >> Did you see Korean kids, children, women? Did you see civilians? >> Yeah. We have met Korean people, the civilians. We were introduced after especially we come back, and we had friends also, but especially the 4th Battalion was helping the young, the students of the Korean people. We were helping. We donate some monies and specially the religious group. They had contact with our religious or the father of our religion with us who was with us, and we had contact. And even there was a boy who don't know how he is, whether he died or alive. We call him Samtayo. >> Who is that? >> A champion man. >> He was Korean? >> He was a Korean. He write Amharic. He speak Amharic within that short period. >> Wow. He learned. >> Yeah, and he was intelligent. He was intelligent. >> Was he a houseboy? Was he a houseboy, young? >> No, we were helping them. No houseboy with us. We have only those who cook foods and people, chefs, Korean chefs. >> What did they cook for you? >> Huh? >> What did they cook for you? Korean food? Ethiopian food? >> No, European food, and Ethiopian food, we don't get it. We have the C-rations and also some other foods which we receive from the UN. They cook that, prepare for us, and we eat that. They were Korean chefs with us. We never forget them. >> When you went to Korea to visit, they must have been so welcoming you, you know, welcome you, right? >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> They welcome us. Even the president was present when we reach in the port, the president was Mr. Syngman Rhee. You will see it in our museum if you ... >> Yes. >> ... if you walk to the museum. >> Yes, yes. >> You will see him. >> He greeted you. >> Yeah. He was coming to the port where we land, and then he gave salute and he received us. He was Mr. Syngman Rhee. >> Yes, first Korean president. >> Yeah, the first ... >> Yes. >> ... Korean president. >> Yes. I would like to go to the museum, yes. Let's go. >> Yeah. >> I think this is great for ...

-Yo me llamo Hely Agamez Villarraga. Me fui voluntario para la Guerra de Corea porque el batallón que yo pertenecía aquí en Colombia nos solicitaron: que quién quería ir a Corea, y yo me ofrecí que iba voluntariamente para Corea. Entonces nos transfirieron a Bogotá, nos entrenaron en Bogotá, nos trasladaron a Cartagena, de Cartagena a Yokohama. De Yokohama en tren a Sasebo, y Sasebo-Corea del sur. Entonces, allá nos entrenaron, pasaron, nos llevaron al cementerio de los, de los compañeros caídos, nos dieron todas las instrucciones del caso, y pertenecía allá al batallón Colombia en la compañía A, primera fila, era el relevante de la escuadra. Cuando nos tocó a ir al combate, no… la cuadrilla mía, la patrulla mía, se llamaba la patrulla Tigre. Y entonces cuando estábamos delante, delante del pelotón dos que era el puesto de avanzada del batallón Colombia, nos tocó hacer un patrullaje de escucha. Allá se presentaron el enemigo, entonces el cabo, mi cabo, no recuerdo el nombre bien, le comunicó a mi teniente Galindo, que era el comandante de la compañía, y le dijo, nos dijo: ustedes lo que son son unos cobardes. ¿No querían venir para acá? Combátanlos. Entonces nosotros combatimos al personal que eran como 40, los eliminamos. Entonces yo como era el reemplazante del cabo, digo: mi cabo, ¿por qué no llama a mi capitán, a mi teniente, y le dice que nos metamos por el, la patrulla, puesto avanzado, y nos evitamos…? Y dice: no. Entonces: ¡Costeño cobarde! Me dijo, a mí me dio rabia y salí, salí caminando, me fui caminando como unos 15 o 20 metros, y ahí empezaron a caernos las granadas. A mí me cayó aquí entre las piernas y me elevó, me elevó más, y de ahí para atrás, como venía de una bajada, ahí casi nos eliminaron. Entonces cuando ya yo vi que ya se, se acabó, se terminó, me regresé, y entonces conocí al comandante de la patrulla, lo voy a levantar, lo conocí por el reloj, lo voy a levantar, y cuando le metí la mano hacia atrás, le metí la mano por detrás, pero le pegó el pecho por dentro, la cabeza ya no la tenía. Entonces ya ahí ya entonces empezaron… Como ya se dio cuenta el comandante, entonces estaba pura luz de bengala para que el enemigo nos ayudara. Hasta ahí fue mi historia ya, fui herido y… Fui herido en la pierna y estoy ya aquí esperando lo que Dios quiera. No tengo más que hablar. ¡Ah! Otra cosa: también fui, también fui el 2001 a Corea, también invitado por el… Y lo que dicen mis compañeros es que era un país sumamente pobre, inclusive hediondo, olía mucho, era muy hediondo. Y nosotros como soldados, nos volábamos para estar con las chinitas, con las coreanas, y dormían como en..., y tenían la, la calefacción era como un horno que le metían, le metían como, digamos, leña para el calor de, de, de la persona que estaba durmiendo ahí, y nosotros como no estábamos acostumbrado a dormir con ese horno, amanecíamos con la piel arronchada porque... del calor porque como no estábamos acostumbrado, entonces hasta nosotros nos conocían porque nos volábamos del batallón por las, por la piel. Y total que fue muy muy bonito Corea, y lo atendieron a uno de mil maravillas, y no puedo… yme están ayudando a mí porque me están dando un auxilio a un nieto.

>> My name is Jolke Rijsdijk. I born in [INAUDIBLE] in 1928 and served in [INAUDIBLE] versus the Korean ... >> Volunteer. >> Volunteer. >> Volunteer >> ... Volunteer in 1950 after 2 years in Indonesia service. I awarded the Medal of Honor from Indonesia and Korea, [INAUDIBLE], the medal of [INAUDIBLE] ... >> United [INAUDIBLE]. >> United Nations. >> [INAUDIBLE] Korean War Medal. >> And I was in Korea in 1950 with about the [INAUDIBLE]. After shooting in the range where there's the American troops, they say to us, "You can come to the front. You are ready for shooting everywhere every day." So we started in 1950 to go to the front line, first to Taegu, afterwards to Suwon and later to [INAUDIBLE]. >> Kusongpo-ri. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> Above [INAUDIBLE] Hoengsong. >> Hoengsong. >> Hoengsong. >> Hoengsong. >> Hoengsong. >> Hoengsong. >> Hoengsong. >> And [INAUDIBLE] by the Chinese troops. We started to go to help three to five because the Chinese held the North Koreans in force, so on the upper side of the street [INAUDIBLE] died [INAUDIBLE] ... >> Preacher? Preacher? >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> ... priest died, and the paid boss died with 15 other guys, two corporal sergeants and so on. So [INAUDIBLE] little bit. >> What does this mean? Were you an artillerist? Right here. >> Combat rifle. >> Combat rifle. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Several days on the front line. >> Yeah. >> Ah, oh. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> If you are 90 days in the front line, you get from the Americans the Combat Rifle. It's the one. >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> Means that you have 90 days on front ... >> Ninety days on the front line, yeah. >> ... on the front line. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> Straight? Ninety days straight? >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> Straight? Ninety days straight? >> Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. >> Straight on the line. >> Yeah, yeah. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Radio man. >> Uh-huh. >> [INAUDIBLE] people I go with in the radio, and afterwards, North Korea, I came back in [INAUDIBLE] 40 years by the [INAUDIBLE] things. >> [INAUDIBLE] things. >> Connections. >> Connections, yeah. Telephone. >> Connections. >> Telephone, ah. >> Radio. >> Wireless operator. >> Oh, wow. >> I was wireless operator ... >> [INAUDIBLE] wired radios. >> ... and made steps in different ranks. >> Wow. In the Armed Forces? >> In the Armed Forces, yeah. >> He stayed there. >> For 40 years? >> Yes. >> For 40 years, yeah. >> Hmm, just like Grandpa [INAUDIBLE]. >> Every 36 years, you get a golden medal. >> Mm. >> Thirty-six years. >> Did he say that he received the Medal of Honor? >> No, that's ... What he's talking about is the medal that you are 36 years in the army. >> Army, 36 years, wow. >> But he stayed longer than that. >> You stayed longer? >> Yeah. >> Wow, so what are you proud about the Dutch in the Korean War? >> Wait a moment. I was in 1998. They came revisit in Korea with my son. >> Mm. >> And he works in Korea with the [INAUDIBLE] ... >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... oil platforms, to build oil platforms. >> In Korea? >> In Korea. >> Wow. >> And he brings it to start ... to Africa and all over the world. >> Does he still live in Korea? >> The Koreans platforms. They build in South Korea. >> So he lived in Korea, your son? >> And now he lives here in [INAUDIBLE]. >> Okay. >> But he goes everywhere with the platforms. He brings it back, and then during the start, they test it the [INAUDIBLE]. >> Wow. >> And the platforms bring to the power of the place. >> So you remember serving with many comrades because you were in the army for 40 years, long time. >> Yeah. >> So looking back, Dutch in the Korean War played a very important role, right? >> Yeah, yeah. >> Name couple that you feel are very important for young people to know about Dutch in Korea. >> Oh, yeah. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Yeah? [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Yeah? [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I don't do that, but there are others today do that. They talk in schools, classes, over Korea. >> Mm. >> And now my four [INAUDIBLE] go in ... >> Grandchildren. >> ... go in May to Korea. >> Mm, good. Peacetime ... >> [INAUDIBLE]. Yeah. >> ... to learn ... >> Four. >> ... to learn about the Korean War. >> Going for a week now, Korea. >> Oh, okay. >> It's nice, isn't it? >> Yes. Do you ... Did you go back to Korea? >> No, I not. >> To 1998 ... >> Maybe I go to [INAUDIBLE]. That's far enough. >> You went to Korea with your son ... >> In '98. >> ... in 1998. How about recently? >> No, there were [INAUDIBLE] British over there now. >> Did you go recently? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Yeah. >> And what's the last time? In 1998. >> Yeah, yeah. >> I hope you enjoyed it. >> It was very nice ... >> Very nice. >> ... to be there. >> Well, thank you so much for your service. Thank you. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Yeah. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Oh.

– Me llamo Raúl Martínez Espinoza, soy bridadier general del ejército de Colombia. Formo parte del cuerpo de generales y almirantes de las fuerzas militares de Colombia. Fui fundador de la Asociación Colombiana de Oficiales Veteranos de la Guerra, cuya sigla es ASOVECOR. En este momento tenemos solamente 20 asociados, porque el resto de los asociados han fallecido. El objeto social de la asociación, como se ha venido cumpliendo hasta las posibilidades, es la de mantener el contacto, la amistad y el compañerismo, resaltar la participación de Colombia en el conflicto coreano a través de ceremonias militares, que llamamos “efemérides”, las cuales, desafortunadamente, tuvimos que suspender por falta, ya, de asistencia. Eh, entre otras de las partes del objeto social, son las de estar pendientes del estado de salud y el estado de cada uno de los asociados. Además, en lo posible, y hasta hace poco tiempo, utilizar los medios de comunicación social para difundir y hacer conocer nuestra presencia en la campaña de Corea. En este momento, como tal vez ya lo dije, somos muy pocos por efecto de que nos quedan solamente 20 socios.
– Y, por favor, dice con su experiencia personal en la “gera”.
– Mi experiencia personal en la Guerra de Corea, en primer término, yo fui comandante de, lo que se llama, un pelotón. Y como comandante de ese pelotón de la compañía C, me correspondió el 13 de octubre de 1951 atacar los puestos asignados al batallón en una orden de operaciones para lo que se denominó “Operación Nómada”, y capturar esos objetivos que estaban en manos de tropas de la República de la China. Fuera de esto, y después esta experiencia muy importante desde mi punto de vista personal y profesional, de capturar ese objetivo, de capturar material de guerra, etcétera, etcétera, fui relevado después de un año, y presté servicios como segundo comandante de la compañía C. Presté mis servicios como tal, o sea, ejecutivo, según la denominación militar, en el puesto avanzado en el Valle de Kumwha, cerca a lo que se llamó “El Cerro” o “El Área de Acero”, el área, y del puesto 400, que fue motivo de una “Operación Climber”. De resto, mis actividades fueron patrullar. Tuve que patrullar de día, pero también, especialmente, desde mi punto de vista como una experiencia única, el haber patrullado de noche en pleno invierno con la circunstancia, y haber resistido temperaturas de bajo 35 grados. Y lo demás ya son actividades que se cumplen dentro de la parte militar como ejecutivo de la compañía.
– ¿Cómo es la significancia de contribución, de la contribución de Colombia en la “gera”? Significancia de Colombia.
– Ah, significado de la presencia de Colombia en la guerra de Corea, es para nosotros una gran experiencia, toda vez que se demostró ante el mundo que Colombia es respetuosa de la firma de la Carta de las Naciones Unidas, y respetuosa del llamado que hizo después de la invasión de Corea del Norte después del 25 de junio, por ahí el 27, el Consejo de Seguridad a los países firmantes de esa carta. Colombia fue el único país latinoamericano que se presentó allí a responder sobre ese llamado. Desde otro punto de vista, fue muy importante el haber participado en esta campaña, toda vez desde el momento en que regresamos a Colombia, hubo una modernización, un cambio total de las fuerzas militares, e inclusive, de la Policía Nacional. Entonces, dejamos de ser una entidad militar obtusa y antigua, en una unidad o una organización militar moderna, e incluyendo una doctrina que se ajustaba al tipo de guerra que nos tocó adelantar, que era la guerra regular.
– ¿Cuántos participaron en la “gera”?
– Eh, hubo 131 muertos, 649 heridos, 69 desaparecidos, 30 prisioneros, de los cuales regresaron solamente 28. O sea, quedaron 2 de los prisioneros capturados, y no sabemos en dónde están, no sabemos qué pasó con ellos.
– ¿Y por qué es importante para colombianos y coreanos y personas jóvenes del mundo recordar las contribuciones de Colombia y recordar este, esta “guera”? Porque esta “gera”, ah, ellos dicen que es “gera olvidado”. ¿Y, y por qué es importante para nosotros, eh, recordamos?
– Desde mi punto de vista, y según mi concepto, el hecho de haber participado en este conflicto, le dio una imagen a Colombia en el mundo que no conocían. Tal vez nos conocían como un país del tercer mundo. Entonces, siempre, no solamente Colombia, sino en coordinación con otros países, hemos estado pendientes de difundir, de promulgar nuestra presencia en Corea a través de publicaciones, como el periódico de una asociación de oficiales que se llama ASCOVE, y de una revista de las fuerzas militares, y una revista, también, de el cuerpo de generales y almirantes. De todas maneras, de las formas posibles, y de acuerdo a las posibilidades que tenemos, tratamos de que cuando celebramos alguna de nuestras efemérides, que la prensa nacional publique esto. Pero con tristeza, francamente les manifiesto, no les interesa mucho, los periódicos de Colombia, publicar o difundir estas situaciones. Incluso, hemos enviado en algunas oportunidades, notas corrigiendo algunos detalles que ha habido de culparnos sobre algo de la muerte de unos estudiantes, eh, por parte del Batallón Colombia que acababa de regresado de Corea, cuando eso era una gran mentira. Y esa publicación no la autorizaron o no la hicieron. En fin, como hemos tratado de hacerlo de nuestra parte, y también de los compañeros de ASCOVE, hemos tratado de, eh, la opinión pública, pero también dentro del ámbito militar, no se les olvide que Colombia estuvo en una guerra muy importante para el mundo porque fue el enfrentamiento, prácticamente, entre el bloque conducido por Rusia, contra el bloque conducido por las Naciones Unidas.
– Y por el fin, ¿cuál, cómo piensa, eh, de, Corea y coreanos y el futuro de Corea? Porque la “gera” no termi… no termina.
– Sí, estamos totalmente enterados a través de los periódicos, de las publicaciones, que sigue, pues, indudablemente se firmó un armisticio,¿no?, el 27 de junio de 1953, pero no se firmó la paz. Entonces, siempre sigue desde antes de la guerra, cuando estaba a la cabeza de Corea, Kim Il-sung, que había estado participando en la campaña con Mao Tse Tung y con tropas de Corea. El hijo, el nieto ahora continúa el, el enfrentamiento con Corea del Sur tratando, en este caso, como siempre se ha aspirado, tanto del Sur como del Norte, de unir la península, que sea una sola, como pasó hace miles de años a través de las diferentes dinastías, hasta 1910 cuando llegó Japón y… como una colonia. Entonces, creo yo, es mi concepto, que esta situación no se va a acabar muy pronto, sino seguirá, especialmente, el Norte y, lógicamente, el Sur, con todo derecho, tratando de neutralizar la posible actividad bélica que tiene en este momento, por lo menos, en lo que nos publican en lo siguiente, los del Norte, a través de su armamentismo, se dice, con, ya, armas nucleares. Entonces, eso es peligrosísimo, pero esa situación no va a terminar. El pueblo, en este caso hablo del pueblo surcoreano, porque en el Norte tienen que estar también pensando lo mismo. Porque cuando a mí me ha correspondido hablar de destrucción, de aniquilamiento, hay que hablar es de la gente que vivía en las dos Corea, los que, lamentablemente, con el Paralelo 38, separaron el Norte del Sur. Entonces, como conclusión, yo creo que esta situación tirante, esta situación peligrosa seguirá por mucho tiempo hasta que no se apacigüe la ambición de Kim Min Un actualmente.
– Tiene 89 años, pero parece 78.
[RISAS].
– Porque que he perdido como casi 20 kilos, yo estaba más gordo.
– Oh.
– Sí, yo sufro de problemas de problemas aquí, en el páncreas.
– Sí, pero es mejor para su salud.
– Sí.
– Sí, sí. Y último pregunta, ¿visité, no, visitó, ah, la Corea?
– Sí, yo he ido muchas veces porque, primero, remplacé al señor general Ruíz en la Federación Internacional de Asociaciones de Veteranos de Corea, International Federation of Corean War Veterans, que funcionaba de acuerdo a la presidencia, y el general Alberto Ruíz Novoa, él era secre… era consejero. Entonces, yo lo reemplacé a él porque yo fui presidente de una asociación de oficiales colombianos que se llame ACORE. Por esas circunstancias, y por el hecho de haber sido, o ser, porque en este momento todavía soy presidente de la Asociación de Oficiales, he ido alrededor de unas cinco o seis veces a Corea. La última vez, lamentablemente, ya me enfermé, y no… Que fue en el mes de junio del 2013. Iba a viajar a Corea en junio, pero ya no, no pude ir, y no he vuelto.
– ¿Y qué piensa de, de Corea ahora comparado a antes?
– Pues, tengo algo en la cabeza que lo leí en alguna parte, y es la destrucción, el arrasamiento, el aniquilamiento de Corea, de dos Corea, porque estamos hablando de Corea del Norte y del Sur, fue peor que el arrasamiento que tuvo Europa en la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Así que, personalmente, tuvimos la oportunidad, como llegamos en junio de 19… Eh, mayo de… Digo, junio de 1951, observar la obstrucción, la cantidad de huérfanos, de viudas, de hambre, etcétera, entonces, nos llenó francamente de dolor ver que un país, aún cuando era un país extraño para nosotros, eran seres humanos que habían sido destrozados, que habían acabado en esa forma tan violenta y tan agresiva.

>> My name is Mick Kilhov. I live in Australia now. I served in Korea with the British Army, the 10th Regiment. I had never heard about Korea. I didn't know where it was. I couldn't even point on a map where Korea was, but anyway, I was serving in Germany and was sent from Germany back to the UK to familiarize ourselves with the Centurion tank, which is the heavy tank used with the armor, and after 6 weeks, we were put on a ship, the Empire Halladale, at Liverpool, and it took us 6 weeks to get from Liverpool in England to Pusan. When we got to Pusan, there was an American band on the docks. They were playing, "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake," which we thought was hilarious. We were then unloaded, put on to flatcars and sent on these flatcars from Pusan to Uijeongbu. We went to Uijeongbu. That's the only Korean place I can remember going up to. I remember Seoul. Yes, I remember that, but it was in the middle of the night, pitch black. We were given a bag of rations. The first ration we had was homemade sandwiches, an apple, which you couldn't eat because it frozen solid. During the middle of the night, the train stopped because they said there was going to be an air raid. There was no air raid, but we did stop there, and a little voice came out of the dark, and it wanted to know if we wanted to swap some food for what they had. All they had was apples. We gave them what we had, just sandwiches and a piece of fruit cake. That's what we were given, and they gave us these apples, and we could not bite these apples. We had to hit it with a bayonet, and it shattered like glass. It was frozen solid. Anyway, when we got to Uijeongbu, in the case of taking over from another regiment who were pulling out from Korea, and we took over their positions, and we had Alpha, Beta and Charlie squadrons. Three squadrons were sent to three different areas, some on the Imjin River. I don't know the name of the Korean location. I just know that it was Hill 355, Green Finger, Winston Churchill, Jane Russell. These were all features in Korea, and by then, we weren't told very much about what's going on. We just got what we called a sitrep every morning, a situation report. We were told what action was going on during the night, what action, what we had been through, and I remember being hit by 99 mortars one night on the tank. It didn't make much difference. It blew all the camouflage nets off and the antenna for the radio. It wasn't a very pleasant place. It was just a case of very, very cold in the winter and very hot in the summer. Rations were very meager unless you got combat rations, which were supplied by the Americans. Normal British rations were bully beef and hardtack biscuits, and these tins of bully beef were 7-pound tins that were leftover from the Second World War, and when you took the top off, we had a hiss of gas coming from the meat, and the meat was black. So you had to cut the outside off with your knife and then get to the real piece of meat underneath, the bully beef, and we had hardtack biscuits full of weevils. We had to tap them on the side. We also had what they called pom, which is powdered potato, dehydrated potato, and I can distinctly remember the cook used to ask us, "What would you like today? Would you like a bit of steak and chips?" And you'd say, "No. Just give us the usual," and he'd say, "Oh, do you want your potato mashed, fried?" It was all the same. It was just boiled, boiled, boiled, powdered potato. That was what we had. Combat rations were good. Whenever we could, if we could get to an American camp, they were very generous. We could get from Marines anything you could pick off the table. Whatever they were eating, they'd give you, and at the end of the table, there was stuff donated by American firms. There were things like Hershey bars, writing material, torches, pens, writing paper, and right at the end, you put your name down, and you got a Chicago Herald Tribune sent to you once a month. Very handy because you had nothing else to read, and it was very useful at the end of that period to use as toilet paper as well. The thing that left me my lasting memory of Korea was the suffering of little children. It really left a mark on me. Normally, I wouldn't shed tears, but after seeing little babies and little girls and boys in the condition they were in, it really affected me. I did more than a year in Korea. I was then claimed by my older brother to his regiment. It was an artillery regiment. So I went over to spend another 3 months with them. We then went from Korea. We said farewell to our friends in Pusan who were lying sleeping in the cemetery. We went from there to Hong Kong for another year or just over, and by that time, because we had come from Germany with our own seas for 3 years, we went back to UK. And within 5 months of getting back to UK, I was then called up again for Cyprus. We were sent to Cyprus for a year. In the meantime, I got married on one day, the 22nd of October, 1955, and on the 24th of October, I was on an aircraft carrier on my way to Cyprus, where I spent a year. Having done that, I came back to leave the Army for a few months and got called up again, honored to be called up for Suez Canal trouble. So anyway, that's a part of my life, and I'm quite happy I've been married 62 years now to the same woman. I've got one daughter, and I live in Australia now. I'm quite happy with my lot. I've never been back in the UK. I have no desire to go back there. I've just been involved with the Korean War Veteran Association here. I've been their president for over 10 years. I'm still the president emeritus and their quartermaster. So I just do what I can to help my fellow man. I do a lot of hospital visits. I visit people who are in nursing homes who have had sickness, strokes, dementia. That's as much as I can do for my fellow man, and I hope one day, and I've also decreed that when I pass away and I leave this mortal coil that my body goes to research. I don't want a funeral. I don't want anything left of me. It'll go to the University of New South Wales. And I'll say my goodbyes there. Thank you.

>> ... the door who had been captured and could walk over the UN forces with them, but the UN troops, the Astor Rifles and the others who were with them, who had been killed were just left to lie, and they weren't buried by the cruiser, and they went out, and in this hard, harsh ground, they buried the bodies because they felt they needed to give respect to these people from overseas who'd come to fight for them, so it was very poignant, and then we were told how after the ... What we were shown were the ... Albert showed a picture earlier of the bullet holes on the bridge, which another Astor Rifleman ... I think it was a lieutenant then, Merv McCordy, went on to become a brigadier eventually. He got an MC, a Military Cross. Himself and somebody else protected a sort of area and ... two of those who had died in Korea, and they ... I discovered when I was back recently in Korea that near that side of Seoul is where all the monumental memorial makers were, and so that's how they managed to find ... >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Yeah. The Padre found ... was told to go and get a stone, and he found a stonemason as well. Apparently, they were in the back of an army truck. I assume he was paid, and they drove around with the ... wherever the battalion was going, and he was told to carve on this memorial to remember the Royal Astor Rifles and the others who'd been there and then in Happy Valley and who'd died there and others of the Regiment, who'd died nearby or elsewhere in battles that included Imjin because the Astor Rifles had heavy casualties at Imjin as well, and that was dedicated July 1951. My dad wasn't there because at that stage he was in Japan training people to go to Korea and things, so he wasn't there but some very famous, very poignant pictures of that. That memorial, we will see later. It came back to Northern Ireland in the 1960s, put up in Palace Barracks ... not Palace Barracks, sorry, the barracks by Mina where the Regiment, the Astor Rifles, had their depot, and then that closed in 2010, and it got moved to outside the city fort here in Belfast, and my father, Merv McCordy got the MC in career, and a lot of the others of the Regiment were very instrumental and moving in that getting it placed outside the city hall, and it's been recently refurbished, and we've now got access to it from the Cenotaph area, the city hall, and they're looking after it well. So my dad and I went back to Korea in 2011. Mr. Kim showed us around Happy Valley, and my dad, I think he never totally said this, but I think, to me, but I think he always felt guilty that he'd survived, and so many hadn't, and he really wanted to do something to remember those who'd died in Korea of the Regiment, and initially we were thinking about putting up a wee plaque or something in Happy Valley. We spoke to the British Ambassador when we were there. We spoke to Mr. Parker when we were there. When we came back, we spoke to members of the Regiment because obviously it would have to have regimental approval, and then when we were sort of just ... We were just thinking of doing something quite small, really, maybe in Happy Valley itself, and then I got ... We met Andrew Salmon out there. He'd already met my father. He'd been to Belfast 2 or 3 years before to interview my dad for his book, "To the Last Round." He interviewed quite a lot of the Royal Astor Rifles for that, and he was delighted to see my father in Korea. They got on very, very well. They enjoyed going out and both good storytellers, so they could sit around and drink and tell stories, top teacher, he was, with the stories. But anyway, Andrew Salmon sent me an e-mail and said that the Irish Association of Korea and the Irish Embassy in Korea were thinking of putting up a memorial in Korea to those from Ireland who had died in the Korean War, and because although Ireland wasn't a UN nation, it ... People from Ireland had thought and for the Americans, the Australians, and then many of people from the south of Ireland were part of the Royal Astor Rifles, which was a British Army Regiment, so it was part of the UN. So and they were also wanted to remember some Padre, some missionaries who died in Korea as well, and there's a link there with the Royal Astor Rifles too, which I'll explain in a wee minute. So anyway, we then started liaising with Ambassador McKee, and again, we had to get approval from the Regiment and from the British-Korean Veterans Association, and there were links between Dublin and Belfast and everything else because obviously, we have these politics involved in this country too, and in among that, that's when Mrs. Carol Walker came on board because my mother used to ... my mother? My father used to be ... He was very much behind the setting up the Somme Association, the Somme Museum to remember those of the First World War from the north and south who'd died at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, and he knew that Carol had a lot of experience in memorials. She put up memorials for the First World War in France, in Turkey, in visitors places. I'd asked her initially for advice on that, and then discussion began about taking back veterans from the Royal Astor Rifles and from Ireland. Generally, Carol has had experience of taking back First World War veterans to First World War battlefields, and so that's how she become involved in the ... on the team, basically, and then a representative of the Royal Irish Regiment, the modern regiment for the Royal Astor Rifles, which the Astor Rifles, my dad's regiment in 1968 amalgamated with three other regiments into the Royal Irish Rangers, and then in 1992, that became the Royal Irish Regiment, and they're very supportive of their heritage and interested in their heritage. So lots of discussions about the memorial, lots of liaisons between Korea and Ireland and phone calls at 7 o'clock in the morning and to work with the time difference, and then in 2012, Carol, myself and Trevor Ross, who was representing the Royal Irish Regiment, went out to Korea at the time of the Commonwealth Veterans revisit the following year and met with the British Ambassador, the Irish Ambassador, members of the MPVA in Korea, went to see possible memorial sites, and it was then that it was decided the memorial should ... the key memorial should go up in Seoul because it'd be easier to look after it there by the War Museum and things, and the Irish Embassy said it was look after it and that there would be a panel put up in Happy Valley as well to remember the battle in Happy Valley too. 2013, and you'll hear more about this from Mrs. Carol Walker, the memorial was dedicated in Seoul. My father and I were meant to go to be there for that dedication and for all the other events and be there with the other veterans from the Royal Astor Rifles and from Ireland. Unfortunately, my mother had a very severe stroke just a week or two prior to us going out, and we, anyway, my father and I couldn't go. She died shortly after the veterans returned from Korea, but we were very close in contact with what was going on. My dad was very keen to know. He kept saying, "Have you had a signal from Carol?" because he's not quite into e-mails, but a signal, and so Carol, Trevor and the others sent back information of what was going on, sent photographs of the memorial being dedicated, being put up and everything, but me and my father were ... My father and I were very evolved with Carol and others, and everything had to be approved with the wording on the memorial and everything else. Then with regards to the memorial, my dad ... One of the sides of the memorial, one of the sides is the Royal Astor Rifles and reflects this memorial here in Belfast and the wording on the memorial here in Belfast, and it particularly mentions Happy Valley. Another side mentions those Irish birth and heritage. Another side is ... talks about seven missionaries from Ireland, who died in Korea, and one of those missionaries, my father actually knew. Father ... I think he's known as Father John O'Kane, is it? >> It's O'Kane. >> Yeah. Father John O'Kane, though, my father knew him as Father Jack. Quite often in Ireland, people who are called John are known as Jack, very confusing. Anyway, so my father knew Father Jack. He'd been a Royal Astor Rifles Padre in the Second World War. We think he might have been at D-Day with them, but we definitely know he was with the Royal Astor Rifles in the Second World War. He was older than my father, maybe 10 years older than my father, and then after the war, my dad was in Palestine and Egypt, and he was the Catholic Padre with the Regiment there. The Royal Astor Rifles has a Catholic Padre and a Protestant Padre, and he was Catholic Padre in Egypt, and he remembered him because he was a Padre. He was part of the officers' mess. He had a tent, himself, I think, because he's a Padre ... had his own tent because my father had to share a tent with somebody else, which are all the boys who are over there, had a lot more in the tents, and he remembers them being very good at cards. He remembers them being a lot of fun. He remembers them riding around the camp on a motor bike, and all the guys thought he was wonderful, so my father was very sad when he'd heard that he'd been killed in Korea. He knew he'd gone out to Korea as a missionary, and so that's a link between the Astor Rifles and the others in the memorial as well. Then in 2015, this ... the ...

>> My name is Earl Kalani Simerson. I went to Korea in 1950, July 1950. I followed after the 5th Regimental Combat Team had left before me. I was at that time at the [Indistinct] general’s office in 4th Chapter.

[ Chatter ]

>> You’re a local native Hawaiian. As a local native Hawaiian, what did you know about Korea and the Korean War before you went, and how did you feel about it after?

>> Before the Korean War, I didn’t know nothing about Korea, but after I went there, I left Korea. In Hawaii, well, we always had kimchi, so when I was in Korea, there was a lot of kimchi, so that was my meal, kimchi and rice. Still today, I still got kimchi and rice.

>> You had kimchi before you went to Korea?

>> Yeah.

[ Chatter ]

>> Wow.

>> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] kimchi.

[ Chatter ]

>> Tell me about your experience in the war. Your experience in the war and after.

[ Chatter ]

>> In the beginning, I saw a lot of casualties, and as a young boy, I never seen this in my life, and so I couldn’t eat for 11 days. I was so upset. And after that, I started to eat, understand I got to eat. Otherwise, I’d die. But I learned a lot about the Koreans. They were very nice people. Everywhere we went, they were taking care of every soldier, and otherwise, that’s about all [INAUDIBLE].

[ Chatter ]

>> You can talk about anything you want.

[ Chatter ]

>> Whenever you’re ready.

[ Chatter ]

>> Well, one of the things that we were there, we didn’t have supplies, so I never changed clothes for 3 months. That’s how bad. There was no supplies, no clothing.

[ Chatter ]

My clothes was just like leather. Most of us, every time we went to take a shower, everything was frozen, and so we couldn’t take showers but … And we used to burn houses to keep warm because you had no facilities, and so as we advanced, we’d stand under a house with a cigarette lighter, keep warm. That was it, but we had no winter clothing. By the time April came, 52 of the supplies came. It was too late, but that was because of the war started, and then America wasn’t in any war at that time so unprepared for it, the Korean War.

>> You know Hawaii didn’t become a state officially until 1959?

>> Yeah.

>> And you were sent to Korea in 1950. I don’t understand.

[ Chatter ]

>> Yeah, well, we were a territory of the United States.

>> I know, so did you volunteer, or were you drafted?

>> I volunteered in the Army.

>> Why would you want to volunteer for? Technically it wasn’t even your country.

>> Well, I volunteered in 1948. There was no jobs. Well, most of us all … After you got out of high school … Because of the second war, my parents went broke. We lost everything due to the Second World War so couldn’t go to college, so after I graduated from high school, joined the Army. Most of us all did. We joined the Army to get income, I guess, because at that time, there weren’t many jobs around.

[ Chatter ]

But that was one of the reasons why. Yeah.

[ Chatter ]

>> That makes me sad because you risked your life.

>> What’s that?

>> That makes me sad because you had to risk your life.

[ Chatter ]

It makes me sad because you had to risk your life for it.

>> Yes. When I think of it, oh, my god, I was lucky, but thank God.

[ Chatter ]

All my friends got wounded or were killed in action.

[ Chatter ]

So I’m thankful for what I have today.

[ Chatter ]

>> Thank you.