Private Raymond Neville Petersen - 5/1213

 

This blog post honours the memory of Private Raymond Petersen who was accidently killed in Korea on 6 June 1951. Petersen was a single man, who was 21 and half years old when he died.  There are not many documents or newspaper articles left about his short life and tragic death. But like the other West Australians who died in Korea, his life and the manner of his death is important to record.

Born in May 1930, Petersen was 17 years old when he enlisted in the regular army at Swan Barracks in Perth in August 1947.  He worked as a labourer prior to his enlistment and had moved to Western Australia from NSW, leaving his father, (and family?) living in Auburn, N.S.W. [1]

Petersen arrived in Korea in November 1950 as a reinforcement to the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR).[2]  By June of 1951 3RAR were north of the Imjin River, securing territory recently held by the Chinese. [3]

 

A team from A Company, 3RAR, setting up wire defences around its perimeter in June 1951.  https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C326753

 On the night of 6 June 1951 Petersen was on defensive duty at 3RAR’s position. In front of 3RAR’s position was a recently laid minefield. There was a two-and-a-half-foot high wire fence around this mine field, with double wire on the friendly side and single wire on the other sides.  Triangular red markers, warning of danger, were placed on the fence, but in June 1951 there was a shortage of markers which meant less than usual were placed on the fence.[4]

Early that evening officers and soldiers heard an explosion from the minefield. When a rollcall was done to determine that all personnel were accounted for Petersen was found to be missing and a body was sighted within the minefield. Petersen’s body was not retrieved until the next morning when an American field engineer, from the unit that laid the mines, arrived at 3RAR’s position.   

A military Court of Inquiry found that Petersen had unwittingly crossed the fence while walking lost in thought, as it was his habit to do so.[5] Many witnesses were called including Harvey soldier Private Gettie, his section leader, who described Petersen as a very happy go lucky type of fellow and that it had been his custom to go for long walks on his own. Every fellow soldier called as a witness said Petersen was friends with everyone.

Petersen’s death was reported in the Australian press as accidental.[6]  One of the interesting facts that came out during the Court of Inquiry was that there were several places in 3RAR’s camp where soldiers regularly stepped over low wire fences such as the one around the minefield.

Petersen was buried in what is now the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Pusan, Korea and is also remembered in Perth on the Korean War Memorial in Kings Park.

 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/69979145/raymond-neville-petersen.

 Photo of grave supplied by John Winterbotham


[1] https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1716312.  AWM circular shows his next of kin, his father, Mr. A. Petersen, living in Auburn, NSW.

[2] https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/617450 - Raymond Petersen biography by Robert Kearney.

[3] As above

[4] Petersen Raymond Neville – Service Number 5/1231. NAA: PP2/8, RKM31857. This contains the proceedings of a military court of inquiry into Petersen’s death.

[5] As above

[6] THREE WA CASUALTIES. The Daily News. 21 June 1951, p. 2 

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 Jack Richardson - 5/400017

Image
  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 Kingsl
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