West Australians Killed in the Korean War

  Private Geoffrey McCunnie is remembered on the WA State War Memorial and is on the WA Military Roll of Honour, but I am unsure about the nature of his connection to WA.   Perhaps he enlisted for the Korean Special Forces in WA.   Until McCunnie’s military records are digitalized and available from the National Archives of Australia, the WA connection remains unknown.   McCunnie was born and grew up in Terang in Western Victoria. He was born there on 30 December 1928 and died at the age of 22 during the battle of Kowang San in Korea on 8 th October 1951.   His mother was still living in Terang at the date of his death. The McCunnie’s were a Catholic family and Geoffrey was their youngest son.   One of his older brothers enlisted in World War II and another brother, a Catholic priest), spent a period of time just after the war as a part time chaplain to the Air Force.   Their records are available at the National Archives, but it is impossible to ...

  Private Lawrence Desmond Anderson's photo is on display near the entrance of the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea, along with photos of other Australian servicemen whose families have visited the cemetery to pay respect to their fallen relatives.  My photo of Anderson's photo (supplied by family?) at the UM Memorial Cemetery, Korea December 2022 Anderson was born in February 1924 and grew up in Rivervale, a Perth suburb on the Swan River, attending Rivervale State School.   In March 1942, Anderson was 18 years old and working on the railways when he enlisted for service in World War II.   His army service file describes him as  5 foot, 9 inches tall, and weighing 143 pounds with dark hair and hazel eyes. Anderson’s service records have been digitalized by the National Archives of Australia and making it possible to track his service during WWII and the Korean War.  He spent the early part of his WWII service with the Citizens Military Forc...

  John Alan Atkinson, (known as Alan), was born in the UK, but came out to Australia as a child. His family settled on the south coast, and by the 1940s had a farm in Albany.  His father John and brother Horace, (known by his middle name Michael), served in the Australian Army during World War II.  His father had previously been a Royal Marine during his time in the UK, according to a letter he wrote about his experiences to the Western Mail newspaper in 1934 [1] . Atkinson was employed by the WA railways, which explains why his place of association is West Midland. He was in one of the first drafts of Australian troops to serve in the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan, going to Japan straight from ‘the islands’. Newspaper accounts of his service in Japan and death in Korea as well as the dates on his National Archives files all indicate that Atkinson served in WWII, but his name is missing from the WWII Nominal Rolls. Atkinson was interviewed for a local Alb...

  Edward Lauderdale Millwood is the fallen soldier who started my interest in the West Australians who died in the Korean War. Edward Millwood was known to all as Toby. Sergeant Millwood (foreground) in Korea, November 1950.  Australian War Memorial  It was January 2015 when my husband and I found his name on the Wall of Remembrance at the United Nations Cemetery in Busan. We knew Toby was related to my husband and so I started my research into his life when we got home to Perth. Millwood, who was from Kalgoorlie, ended up being a distant cousin of my husband’s -a cousin twice removed.   How did a miner from the West Australian goldfields end up in Korea? Millwood was a five-year soldier in World War II. He embarked in Convoy 8 from Fremantle in January 1941 after completing training in Northam and disembarked in Palestine in April 1941.   Millwood was originally in 1/9 Australian Infantry Battalion but transferred to the 47 th Australian Infantry Battal...