Who were the 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 medically and have had a satisfactory report re their service in the last war. [ii] Six of the West Australians who died in Korea were ex WWII servicemen who enlisted for the K force in 1950.  Two of these ex-World War II soldiers had been held as Prisoners of War by the Japanese, but still volunteered for Korea.

The other sixteen West Australian soldiers who died in Korea were young men in their late teens or early twenties who joined the army to fight in Korea.

The K-force soldiers came from many parts of Western Australia – Kalgoorlie, Katanning, Pemberton, Norseman as well as Perth.  Several soldiers were born in the UK and came to Western Australia either as children or young men. Two of the K force soldiers came to Western Australia as Child Migrants and lived at Fairbridge Farm as children.

Three of these soldiers are still missing so their bodies have never been found.  One soldier fell overboard on the way home from Korea.   The rest of the soldiers who were killed in action or died from their wounds in Korea are buried in the UN Memorial Cemetery in Korea.

Nine of the WA Dead were airmen.  Eight airmen were in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), and the oldest West Australian casualty (Captain Luscombe, who was 46) was attached to the 1903 Independent Air Operations Flight of the Royal Air Force.   Only three of these airmen are buried in the UN Memorial Cemetery in Korea. Three airmen are still missing, one is buried at sea and the two (who died in aircraft accidents prior to their arrival in Korea) are buried in the British Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Yokohama, Japan.

This blog aims to tell the stories of the West Australians who didn’t return home from Korea, unlike their countrymen below.  


[i] SPEEDING A GROUND FORCE TO KOREA (1950, August 5). The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), p. 2. Retrieved May 9, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47878852

[ii] SPEEDING A GROUND FORCE TO KOREA (1950, August 5). The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), p. 2. Retrieved May 9, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47878852



 Australian soldiers returning from Korea, 1954.  

 Photo is now in the public domain. Australian War Memorial collection.  

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