호주 멜버른 (2)

>> Hello there, my name is Laurie Krause. I served with the Royal Australian Air Force on the 77th Squadron, based at Kimpo Air Base just northwest of Seoul. I was there in October '52 to April '53, mainly the winter, although when I first got there, it was summer there or the end of autumn, and middling cold in the winter, I remember that for sure. I think all Korean veterans in the winter remember that. I was an armorer and serviced all the [INAUDIBLE] aircraft we had. At that time, they were reduced to ground support, and they supported, earlier on, the squadrons supported the troops at the Battle of Kapyong, where the Australian Army, along with the others, were awarded the U.S. Presidential Citation, which was a great honor for the troops that were involved in that battle. One of the worst things I remember is a lot of times when the pilots took off, and they never come back, some of them that I knew very well. One come from my city of Geelong who I knew very well, and I'm afraid he'd never come back one day, and he's never been found. He's one of the MIAs, but we lived intense there in the winter, and that's why we think of Korea as being a cold country, but not the people. The people are very good to us in their latter years. They remember. The children here in Melbourne remember the hardships that their grandparents went through, through either the stories told to them or their parents, and every year in Melbourne, we attend a Korean church service, along with the beautiful Korean community, and the Australians who attend are extremely grateful for the kindness that is offered to us veterans. I'd like to say to the American people, "You've got a beautiful memorial in Washington," and we have to have one built here very shortly in Melbourne. It's taken a long time, but finally we are going to have one. On Kimpo Air Base, we had a lot of fraternizing with the Americans, and we had ... All the tanker drivers were America drivers, and we got along very, very well with them. I don't think I've got much else all to say except may God bless you all, and as I say, Hannah is telling us, like hair, we're disappearing into the sunset. Thank you very much, and God bless again.