Private Jack Richardson - 5/400017

 

As I have been researching the life of Private Jack (Digger) Richardson I am reminded how important it is to record the lives of the West Australians who died as a result of the Korean War. I have not yet been able to find a photo of Richardson, even after accessing his Korean War Service File at the National Archives in Perth.  Richardson was a child migrant to Western Australia and served in World War II as an ambulance driver and medical orderly. He reenlisted for service in Korea in August 1950 and was killed in action in February 1951.  He never married and his next of kin was a friend who probably started out as a work colleague.

Richardson was born in Coventry, England in July 1923. Only his mother’s name was recorded on his birth registration.[1] He arrived in Fremantle as a 12-year-old in October 1935 on the Otranto, one of many children on the passenger list not travelling with immediate family.[2]  Richardson enlisted for WW2 in Moora but gave his address as Kingsley Fairbridge Farm School.[3]  Often the teenage boys from Fairbridge were sent to work on farms from about the age of 14.

Richardson was 19 years of age and joined the 11th Infantry Battalion which was raised in Western Australia. At the time of Richardson’s enlistment in July 1942 the 11th Battalion was attached to the 2nd Brigade of the 4th Division to assist in the defence of Western Australia. Richardson probably moved with his Battalion to northern Queensland in July 1943, but it wasn’t until November 1944 that his Battalion went into active combat in New Guinea.[4] 

After his discharge from service in August 1946, Richardson spent some time working in Darwin. The 1949 Electoral Roll finds him working as a motor driver in Darwin.[5]  He was back in Perth in August 1950 when he enlisted for service in Korea at the Swan Barracks in Perth. [6]  Richardson listed Gavan Jones, friend, of Darwin as his next of kin and used Jones’ address as his mail address.

On the 1949 Electoral Roll Jones is also working as a driver in Darwin.  Jones was born in South Australia and served in the Royal Australian Navy in WW2 so wasn’t a Fairbridge boy, or an army comrade of Richardson’s. His friendship with Richardson began in the workplace in Darwin in the years between WW2 and the Korean War.

Richardson arrived in Korea at the end of January 1951 and joined the 3 Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment, (3RAR). In February 1951 3RAR were involved with heavy fighting after an unsuccessful Chinese offensive. 3RAR was part of the United Nations forces that pushed back the Chinese at Chuam-ni, (a mountainous area north-east of Seoul).[7]  The days between the 14 and 17 February were when the fighting was the fiercest.

3 RAR’s Unit Diaries for the 15 February 1951 describe the conditions Richardson found himself in that day. The A Company were attempting to secure the area for the soldiers to form up as a foot march along the road was planned. While doing this A Company came under heavy machine gun and mortar fire.  Later in the day they came under machine gun and small arms fire and were pinned down and in the open. Several attempts were made to move forward but the machine gun fire was causing too many casualties for A Company.[8] 

27-year-old Richardson was one of those casualties after being in Korea just a few weeks.  The cause of his death was a gunshot wound to the left side of his chest.[9] He was buried the next week in the United Nations Military Cemetery close to Busan in Korea.



Photo of Richardson's Grave https://www.unmck.or.kr/eng/

After Richardson’s death his Darwin friends were the ones who put death and memorial notices in the papers.  The Darwin RSL lamented the fact that one of their members, cheery Jack Richardson had been killed in the Korea Campaign.[10] 

 


 The West Australian. Friday 15 February 1952, p. 26

Endnotes

[1] Index of UK Birth Registrations. www.findmypast.com  

[2] Otranto Passenger Lists. www.ancestry.com

[3] World War Two Nominal Roll.  https://nominal-rolls.dva.gov.au/ww2

[4] 2/11th Australian Infantry Battalion. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U56054

Until I am able to access Richardson’s WW2 service file in Melbourne, I am not sure his exact movements during this time.

[5] 1949 Electoral Roll for the Northern Territory. https://Ancestry.com.

[6] RICHARDSON Jack [SERN: 5/400017]. NAA: PP2/3, 5/400017

[8] Australian Army Unit War Diaries Korea. AWM 85 Class 4 – 3 Battalion The Royal Australian Regiment. February 1951. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1370543.

[9] Report of Internment Richardson, J.  https://www.unmck.or.kr/eng

[10] The Northern Standard. 9 March 1951, p. 12.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Private William Stephen Smith - 5/520

Image
  Private Smith’s widowed mother would have received the news about his accidental death in Korea with dismay and disbelief. Mrs. E. Smith was living in Smith’s family home in Mount Hawthorn when the telegram with its brief details arrived in February 1951. William Stephen Smith was born in Midland Junction in 1929 and in 1950 enlisted for service in the newly formed K-force. He landed in Korea at the end of September 1950 as a private in the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment, (3RAR).   During their first month in Korea 3RAR advanced 400 miles north before being forced to retreat when the Chinese soldiers entered the war on the North Korean side. The harsh Korean winter weather conditions in difficult mountainous terrain made this retreat difficult for the Australian soldiers. In January 1951 3RAR was moving forward again as part of the allies’ counter offensive. 3RAR in position in Korea January 1951 AWM C64046 Private Smith was accidently shot on 4 February 1951. Rep
Read more

Private Kenneth Sketchley - 5/673

Image
  Private Kenneth Sketchley from Collie was one of the first casualties of the Korean War. His death made front page news across Australia at the time, and he is still remembered in Collie today.   Kenneth Sketchley was born in Perth on 8 January 1930.   His family moved to Collie to run the Colliefields Hotel in the mid-1940s. Sketchley enlisted in the army in Collie in about 1948. Sketchley spent several years in the Eastern States after enlistment. He was posted to Japan with the 3 rd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) in the second half of 1950 to train for deployment in Korea. Sketchley arrived in Busan, Korea with 3RAR on 28 September 1950. Less than a week later, on 3 October 1950, Sketchley was driving an officer in a Bren Gun carrier vehicle when the vehicle ran over a land mine, and they became the first Australian casualties in Korea. The officer killed with him was Captain Hummerston, the 2 nd in command of 3RAR’s C Company. The land mine that killed th
Read more