West Australians Killed in the Korean War

  Australians, including West Australians, were very keen to volunteer for Korea. Over 2000 men and 200 women had volunteered to go to Korea even before recruiting for the Australian volunteer ground force for Korea (K force) was announced in early August 1950. [i]   The first service men to be selected for advanced training for Korea were 400 regular soldiers who the Army planned to send to Japan by the end of September 1950 and make a combined force of these men with the British Commonwealth Occupation Force troops already in Japan.  At least four of the West Australians who died in Korea are in this group. The next volunteers were chosen from those with previous army experience in infantry, armour, artillery, engineers or signals, and it was expected that these volunteers could be ready for service in Korea shortly after the first 400 regulars. These volunteers also had to be British subjects, permanent residents in Australia, between 20 and 40 years of age, A1 medical...

The 23rd of July 2023 marks the 70th anniversary of the cessation of hostilities on the Korean peninsula. On this day the West Australian servicemen who went to Korea, and did not return, will be recognized in their home state when the Perth Korean War Memorial in Kings Park is unveiled.   I am interested in the stories of these West Australians. I am not a military historian, but an ordinary West Australian who became interested in the West Australian servicemen who served and died in Korea after visiting the United Nations Military Cemetery in Busan, South Korea.  There are other places where these servicemen are remembered. The Virtual War Memorial Australia has stories of some of these servicemen. However, most of these West Australians have only very brief details recorded at www.vwma.org.au . Often these servicemen were very young, and many left behind parents and siblings rather than wives and children to remember them 70 years on.  What I plan to do on this s...