West Australians Killed in the Korean War

  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 ...

  Sergeant Everett Fitzpatrick was born in Nottingham, England in 1921.   His family emigrated to Perth, and he attended the Christian Brothers College in Fremantle, where he was an army cadet. Fitzpatrick enlisted for service in World War II in May 1940. Photo of Fitzpatrick supplied by his niece.  https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/617307 During WWII Fitzpatrick was captured by the Japanese in Timor in early 1942 and taken to Singapore to Changi Prison. His name (Gunner E. M. Fitzpatrick) appears in a published list of Changi POWs in the Australian press in 1945. [1 ]   He arrived back in Perth in October 1945 with other POWs on the liner Strathmore. [2] Fitzpatrick rejoined the army in 1950 to go to Korea.   When he left Perth to travel to Japan for training for the K force, Fitzpatrick left behind his wife who he had married earlier that year. [3]   Fitzpatrick arrived in Korea with the Third Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment, (3RAR...

  Sergeant Bernard Cocks was unknown to me until I saw his name on the new Perth Korean War Memorial.   His name isn’t on the RSL list of West Australians who died in the Korean War nor on the State War Memorial. But a quick search on TROVE showed me that Cocks died a hero’s death when he sacrificed his life to save wounded comrades in May 1953.   For this he was Mentioned in Dispatches. Headlines from Kalgoorlie Miner, 21 May 1953, article on p. 7 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article256917675 Cocks was born in Collie in 1921 and grew up in North Perth.[ i] , but his place of association was Balgowlah in Sydney which would explain why his name is on the Manly War Memorial and the Manly Library has a factsheet on his war service. His mother was still living in North Perth at the time of his death. Cocks was one of nine children and the second of four sons of Mr. and Mrs. K. Cocks of North Perth.   He enlisted for service in World War II in Claremont in January 194...

  On Thursday 27 July 2023 I had the privilege of attending the unveiling of the Perth Korean War Memorial in Kings Park.  The date was chosen as it was the 70th anniversary of the cessation of hostilities on the Korean Peninsula.  Close to 1000 people attended, including Korea’s Ambassador to Australia, His Excellency Kim Wan Joong, members of the Perth Korean War Memorial Committee, the Premier of W.A., other parliamentarians, representatives from the Australian Army, Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force, Korean War veterans and their families, members of Perth’s Korean community and other community members. The Perth Korean War Memorial is in the Tobruk Memorial Precinct of Kings Park, and it is a very peaceful setting. The peace was disturbed deliberately by an RAAF flyover of three Pilatus PC-21 aircraft from the Training School at RAAF Base Pearce. This flyover arrived exactly at 11am and the planes flew right over the newly installed memorial. T...

  Private Gerald Russell grew up in Armadale, south of Perth.  He is still remembered today in Armadale with a park in Hilbert named after him.  But in the years between his death in Korea and the park being named after him it appeared he may have been forgotten when the marble panel from the old Armadale War Memorial, commemorating his service and untimely death while on active service in the Korean War, was found in a rubbish skip.  It was luckily rescued and is now in Armadale’s History House.  https://collectionswa.net.au/items/26954f33-5871-4380-95b0-0e1e86cb7d79 In fact, Russell has been very much remembered since his death in Korea on 12 May 1953, even though at the time of his death he had already lost most of his family with his mother and the brother who was his only sibling predeceasing him. [i] Russell had a good friend Ian Mangan who he enlisted with and served with in the 3 rd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment, (3RAR).   Mangan was...

  Lance Corporal Ellis has an inspiring story that deserves to be remembered. There is a moving tribute to him on the Virtual War Memorial website. [1] Ellis was born in Harvey in January 1929 and spent his childhood and schooling there. Ellis’s father was a World War I veteran and a well-known member of the Harvey RSL sub-branch. The family moved to Perth in the late 1940s. [2] On his arrival in Perth Ellis first ran a milk round in Osborne Park before joining his father and brother in running a wood and ice round in North Beach. [3] After his father died in August 1950 Ellis struggled to make a living from the business due to unexpected costs, including vehicle repairs. These financial difficulties prompted Ellis to join the army to both support his young family and pay off the debts from the family business.   He volunteered for overseas service in Korea after being told he wouldn’t get promoted if he hadn’t spent time overseas. Ellis landed in Busan, Korea with the ...

  Flying Sergeant Laurence (Aussie) Haines was born in London on 4 May 1904. At the time of his christening his father was a clerk in the war  office. [1 ] Haines  worked as an electrical mechanic for 18 years and for Siemens in London for most of that time.   He married in 1928 and came to Australia with his family in the 1930s and went to Wiluna to work on the gold mines. [2]    It was while living in the isolated northern goldfields that Haines learnt that necessity really was the mother of invention. His ingenious inventions when stationed in Japan as a Non-Commissioned Office (NCO) with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) were featured in the Western Mail newspaper in Perth.    Western Mail 31 August 1950. p.43.  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39104549 Haines enlisted in the Interim RAAF as an electrical fitter after moving to Melbourne from Wiluna in 1939. He had been in partnership in an electrical store in Wiluna which...