West Australians Killed in the Korean War

  Captain Bryan Taylor Luscombe is one of three Old Haleians, (past students at Hale School in Perth), who died in the Korean War. Hale School established a memorial grove for all ex-students who died in conflicts from the Boer War to this present day and these three West Australian pilots who were killed over Korea are remembered there. Luscombe was an army pilot, while one of his fellow Old Haleians, Richard Roslyn Sinclair was a navy pilot and the other, Maxwell Edwin Colebrook was a pilot in the Airforce. Luscombe’s father worked for the Bank of NSW which meant Luscombe attended schools in many towns in NSW, moving every few years, until the family moved to Perth in the early 1940s. Luscombe, who was known as Joe, attended Hale School from 1942 to 194.   At Hale he was a prefect in his final year and captain of their cricket team.   After leaving school Luscombe entered the Royal Military College in Duntroon. [1]   After graduating from Duntroon, he was one of ...

  The telegram was delivered in February 1953 to the younger Mrs. Halley, who was staying with her husband’s parents, at the Rectory alongside Saint Barnabas’ Anglican Church in Leederville.  It told of her still new husband’s presumed death in faraway Korea on 11 February. John Beverley Halley was shot down by enemy fire after flying 77 armed reconnaissance mission over Korea. He was posthumously awarded a commission and mentioned in dispatches.    John Beverley Halley was the eldest child of Rev. Kenneth Beverley Halley, the minister at St Barnabas’ Church in Leederville for 18 years. Halley completed his schooling in Geraldton, prior to the family moving to Leederville. Halley wanted to be a pilot from his teen years.   He enlisted in the Air Training Corp in 1942 as a 16-year-old, applying to join the aircrew as opposed to the groundcrew. [1]   One of his hobbies was flying models. (He also played Australian Rules football and cricket, swam, and enjoy...

  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...