West Australians Killed in the Korean War

  Private Ronald Gordon was born in Collie on the day after Anzac Day in 1929 but moved to the Maylands/Bayswater area of Perth prior to 1952.   It has been difficult to find out much about Gordon’s life before he enlisted in the Korean Special Forces of the Australian Army and subsequently landed in Korea in March 1952.   He is another young West Australian soldier who went to war in a foreign nation and died there, leaving few records that have remained more than 70 years after his death. Gordon’s Korean War service file has been examined by the National Archives of Australia and a decision was made by them to keep it closed and not available for public access. This means details of his enlistment and subsequent service are not known, except for information that is available at the Australian War Memorial, the United Nations Memorial Cemetery of Korea and newspaper reports and personal notices of his death.   Gordon was married before leaving for Korea.   ...

  Pilot Officer Maxwell Colebrook was born in Perth in May 1926 and was shot down over Korea on Easter Sunday 1952.   He attended school at Kalamunda before becoming a pupil at Hale School from 1938-1940. Colebrook was an excellent golfer and tennis player as well as a footballer for Hale’s school team. Another of his hobbies was making models of aircraft. As Colebrook had red hair he was affectionately known as Bluey. [1] After leaving school, Colebrook studied at a Perth commercial college before taking a clerk’s job at a car dealership. In 1942 he joined the Air Training Corps as a cadet. The Air Training Corps had been formed the year before to train young men between 16 to 18 years old so they could successfully join the Royal Australian Air Force, (RAAF).   At the end of his two year’s training Colebrook was described by his unit commander as an Excellent Cadet. [2]     In 1944 Colebrook enlisted in the RAAF as a Leading Aircraftman.   After his ...