Brian Hamblett

Brian Hamblett: My name is um Brian Hamblett. Uh, my army number was 22332705. 

 

Interviewer: Um, Hamlett, H A 

 

B: H A M B L E Double T. Hamblett. And uh, what else, what was I going to say? I was in the Glosters? 

 

I: Where are you from, Brian, and what was life like for you before you knew anything about the word Korea? 

 

B: Well, I would um, well, I mean I know they were, we were all naïve youngsters 

 

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then. Look, I mean, I left school at 14 and then, you know, the furthest I’d probably been before then was Weston Super-Mare on a coach, and I’d get a bus. Uh, um, [unintelligible] I would go to Salisbury because I’m going to be conscripted into the army. A rude awakening, like you know. And then um a completely different lifestyle, I mean. And then we went from, but with all sorts of things with the basic training, and then 

 

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went to Colchester. While we were at Colchester with the regiment, we’ve done meets, like in London. We got nuclear bombs at Scunthorpe and army, American Air Force, and then Korea.

 

I: And when you were being educated as a young boy up to that age of 14 or so, had you any knowledge of Korea? 

 

B: No knowledge at all. Didn’t know it existed, like you know? Yeah, no knowledge 

 

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at all, no. 

 

I: Even though you obviously heard about the far East? 

 

B: Well, yeah, mostly Japan, you know, Japan and China, like you know, I mean, never heard of Korea, like, you know, as such. No. 

 

I: All these sort of duties that you were doing within the Gloster, when did you know that? Was there any indication that things were changing and that you might be going to somewhere like Korea? 

 

B: Well, not really. No, no, no. I don’t, no, no, I can’t recall anything, you know. I mean, I mean, we got called to um, all the battalion 

 

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was assembling [unintelligible] and we were going to the far East, to Korea, look, you know. And foolishly, I volunteered as a National Serviceman, but I was a K4 volunteer, look, you know, so I went with a battalion to Korea in October 1950. 

 

I: And what do you remember of that journey across? Because if you’ve only been as far as Western, I was thinking that’s getting to be quite exciting. 

 

B: Well, I mean, it took forever to get there. 

 

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Look, compared with today, I mean, it was six or eight weeks on the boat going there, look, you know. We’re still doing training on there, look, you know. And then we got there, well, a different world wasn’t it, I mean. 

 

I: What was your first? Were you held off about a mile offshore before you landed? Do you remember what your first sight of Korea was? 

 

B: Black and dismal. [Laughter]. It didn’t look very inviting at all, look, you know. No, no. And then, we ended up in a 

 

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like a railway yard, I suppose. We were all shipped off then, like, you know. 

 

I: Do you remember the negro band? 

 

B: I think I can remember a band, yeah, yeah. A band played us in, yeah, yeah, yeah. 

 

I: Do you remember anything of the smell and stuff? 

 

B: Everything smelled different, yeah. There was a funny smell, like you know, but I mean, eventually you get used to it, though. I mean, it was a strange smell, yeah, as you say. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can’t explain it really. No, 

 

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it was just a strange smell, yeah, yeah. 

 

I: So, then you’re sort of marshaled, in the marshaling yard, onto trains. Can you remember, from that point, what happened next? Just talk me through where you went, what you did, and if there’s any stories you remember. 

 

B: One thing that stands out in my mind we had a battalion fire parachute, like you know. This is getting towards winter now. All battalion was around this, like a crater, like a big crater. And we all 

 

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had to, um, we stayed overnight, and the next morning we had a fire, firepower. And I’m on the machine gun platoon, like, you know. And off he fired, it goes pop, pop, pop, pop. And the brig was coughing, and they couldn’t fire. It was so bloody cold, like, you know. So, in the end, we had to have glycerine in our, in the machine guns instead of water, so it was cooled by glycerine. And, the [unintelligible] had to sleep with the working 

 

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parts of the gun with them because it was so bloody cold, like you know. Otherwise, it wouldn’t work. 

 

I: What was your, were you, did you say you were infantry, or were you… 

 

B: Well, it was infantry, I was in a main machine gun platoon, yeah. 

 

I: And what were you on, Vickers or Bren? 

 

B: Vickers, yeah. MMGs, yeah, yeah. 

 

I: And, um, as you were traveling North, obviously you went a long way North… 

 

B: Yeah, yeah. 

 

I: What do you remember of that sort of experience, if you like? 

 

B: Well, it was no decent roads, it was 

 

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only one road, as far as I remember at all. It was just everything was just, well, it was, everything was bare, barren, like you know. It was nothing there at all it was, it was strange, you know. I mean, very strange, you know, you just, yeah. We went North, that was it. And then, well, when we went up North, when it was as far as, nearly, it was past Pyongyang, Pyongyang, and we then, we end up,

 

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we was covering the withdrawal or the retreat. [laughter] So that was it, we covered the Americans coming through and they were setting fire to all of their kit, and a lot of our guys went over and salvaged a lot of stuff, like you know as Brits do [laughter]. And then, we were on a hillside, we was covering the road, like you know, and this Jeep comes along and goes 

 

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straight into the ditch, and off they get and run away. They had run out of bloody petrol, so we put some petrol in it and we was using it like you know. And our 2IC, Lieutenant Martin, he never acknowledged, we confiscated it, so he had this bloody motor of us, you know, like this Jeep. Oh, it was funny, that was, yeah. Then we ended up at 21, it was, this was one of the most 

 

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memorable things I can remember. We was dug in besides, um, a railway line and the train was coming towards, and all these refugees were walking through and coming through hanging on the trains, like you know. I mean, how are we supposed to differentiate between friend and foe, like you know. Everybody looks the same, like you know. And, [mumbling] ah, that’s a vivid memory I’ve got of that, you know. 

 

I: Because of the poverty? 

 

B: Well, yeah, and all these 

 

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people coming through. I mean, more so in retrospect now, I suppose, because you know, you change as you get older and um, it is strange. But I can always remember that —that was a vivid thing in my memory, yeah, yeah. 

 

I: Did you ever see the Koreans getting rid of their children? 

 

B: Well, we can, we can. It was supposed to be them dumping kids, you know, like into the river 

 

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where they would go and hide, like you know. They couldn’t manage them, like you know. Whether it was hearsay or factual, I don’t; I never witnessed it myself personally, like you know. But this is —you could hear the kids crying, and then it would stop, like, you know. Um, allegedly they were dumping them in the river, like, you know, but I, I don’t really know if it was true or no. 

 

I: Terrible poverty, terrible situation. 

 

B: Well, it was a terrible situation, when you, when they, they had nothing at all, did they? I mean, they were going to nothing as well, so 

 

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just incredible. Mm. 

 

I: And on this retreat, obviously, when you’ve gone up, it’s like ‘we’re going to be home for Christmas.’

 

B: Oh, it was supposed to, yeah, yeah. 

 

I: And then, then there’s a change in the coming back. Do you remember how you felt about that? Was there a shift in the work and stuff? 

 

B: Well, it was just strange because we could be coming back into the Pusan Box, and then we had a, then, obviously they broke out like you know, and we, we were, and then they 

 

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the brigades and then [mumbling] we would go and plug the hole, like you know. Yeah, it was strange, yeah. Mm. 

 

I: And then you went on your retreat, essentially after you have done some of this, trying to vet the friend from foe, you ended up at Hill 327, is that right? 

 

B: 327, which ones… 

 

I: This wasn’t at the MGM, this was 

 

B: No, no, I remember 327, yeah. We were, they had names for the hills. I can’t remember the names, but yeah. 

 

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We took them, I couldn’t believe it. We were, we were dug in, waiting to go, like you know. And, the Americans were on our right-hand side. And they were plastering the hill before we went. I couldn’t believe what they were doing, you know, they was. We thought nothing 

would be living when they go up there anyway, like you know. But anyway, we, up we went, and then, we got to the top of the hill, and we had to dig in, like you know. 

 

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So we’re all dug in [mumbling] so Spud Murphy said ‘we’ll use this one’ he said, just enlarge that slit there, right, and so I had a feel and I thought [mumbling] and he looked at me. It was a Chinese soldier. I come out, and the silly sod, he must have got a grenade and blew himself up, like you know. 

 

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Cut him up like you know. He had back injuries, like you know. After that, you hear pop, pop, pop. Every bunker it was, everybody was, I mean, having a pop, just making sure there was nobody in there, you know. That was a funny experience, that was, yeah. 

 

I: Was he dead or alive? 

 

B: Well, he was alive, but he, I, I, I don’t really know what happened to him after that, like you know. I mean, obviously, the medics attended to him, like you know. Like, whether he survived, I don’t know. But he pulled, they stick grenades, underneath him like, you know. Whether he was going to try and throw it, like you know 

 

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and it never happened, like you know. But um, by the Grace of God was I, like, you know. And then, obviously, we cleared that, like you know, and um, I think they lost it again, like you know, and um, I mean that’s by the way, like you know. Yeah, yeah. And then going on, the Napalm, as you said, that was another thing I was appalled at, well, more so now than then, but it was incredible. 

 

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They’d take us to show us the results of Napalm; it was horrendous. I mean, bodies were still there, charred, and you could still smell it. It only happened a few days before. And then they. I couldn’t see them doing it this day and age, you know, I mean, it wouldn’t be allowed, I don’t think, like you know. Well, it’s been banned anyway, hasn’t it, Napalm, yeah, but I mean. It was horrendous, yeah. Talk about destruction, everything was suffocated, wasn’t it? 

 

I: Okay. Let me ask you a few basic questions 

 

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about other things. What about animals? Did you ever get, you know, were there ever snakes and stuff like that? Did you ever see any of that sort of stuff? 

 

B: Only snakes I seen was when we was prisoner of war, yeah. 

 

I: Okay, I’ll come back to that. Um, what about the Koreans? Were you working with Koreans? Did you have Korean porters and stuff? 

 

B: Well, no. Well, a lot of the guys had semi-adopted Koreans, you know, like to help them out, like kids. Obviously, they were orphans, 

 

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like you know. No, that’s all the only contact, really, yeah. 

 

I: So, did you see much of the civilian population? 

 

B: No, no, no, no. 

 

I: Apart, obviously, from, obviously, when they come in as refugees? 

 

B: No, no, no. Not a lot at all, no. Very few, yeah. 

 

I: Were you ever accompanied by any journalists? 

 

B: No, no, no. 

 

I: And, at this point, obviously, we’re not at Imjin yet. How much are you having, how much daily are you having with any other commonwealth 

 

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regiments? Did you dealt with any of the Belgians? 

 

B: No, no, no, no contact at all really, no, no. 

 

I: So it’s literally just the Glosters? 

 

B: Just the Glosters, yeah. Yeah, yeah. 

 

I: Okay, um, so obviously as we move through into 1951, through to 327, then you move towards, then you’re coming back again, essentially there’s a change, there’s 

 

B: Yeah. 

 

I: No more retreat, settle in, and you’ve got to fight now. That was obviously around the Imgin. 

 

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B: Mm hmm. 

 

I: What do you remember of the setup there and where you were before the battle? 

 

B: Well, it was just hills, like you know, and the river in front of us, like you know, really. I mean, nothing distinctive really at all. Just like a scrubby hill, all the trees had been cut down anyway, like you know. They’d been used by the Japanese, like you know. So, it was just a sort of scrubby hills, 

 

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like you know. 

 

I: Was there much wildlife? 

 

B: No, no wildlife at all, really, no, no, no. It is amazing, yeah. I can remember saying I haven’t heard a bird, like you know. And, uh, it was strange, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was eerie, really, I suppose, yeah. 

 

I: What were you doing at that time when you weren’t really doing much, do you remember? What was the entertainment? What does a soldier do when you’ve got 

 

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four or five weeks in one place?

 

B: It’s boring, really, isn’t it? It’s um, [throat clearing] we went on long-range patrol. I remember going on long-range patrol on the back of a Centurion. We almost went 80 miles, and we didn’t see a soul. We stopped, and we had to fix bayonets and go up this hill, like you know. That’s a bit of a frightening experience, fixing bayonets for the first time and going up a hill, like you know. You’d, bloody hell, it’s, 

 

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you sort of grow up overnight [laughter]. There was nothing there. We come back and then [unintelligible]. The trouble is you’re always tired when you, because you’re standing to an hour before dawn and an hour after dawn and an hour before dusk and an hour after. Everybody’s stood to and you’re doing your normal STAGs as well, like you know. So you’re always knackered, like you know. It’s um, yeah, it was 

 

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try and sleep when you could, like you know. Eat and sleep, yeah. 

 

I: Where were you positioned? 

 

B: On the hill looking, looking over [throat clearing] A Company, A Company, yeah, A Company there. I can’t remember if it was on the left, but yeah, yeah. 

 

I: Which company were you in? 

 

B: Machine gun platoon, yeah. 

 

I: So, you’re slightly higher up, so you 

 

B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. We had our fixed lines where to fire, like you know, and that. 

 

I: Are you firing much – are you firing the Vickers 

 

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during the day, or is that, or hold your position, keep quiet? 

 

B: We did fire a bit, obviously, once you’ve opened up, that’s it, you’ve got them all muck come at you like you know. But I mean, we were quite quiet, really. I, I, we weren’t really involved in a lot, like you know. 

 

I: And the Vickers machine gun, just tell me a bit about it and how many people were in your sort of little platoon.

 

B: Well, it was, um… [unintelligible] there were two machine guns. Two, two persons, 

 

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a number one and a number two. Platoon sight and a rangefinder, that was it. 

 

I: And how far does the Vickers fire? 

 

B: Oh, uh, over a mile, I think, yeah. I’m sure it does, yeah. 

 

I: Is it an exciting weapon to use?

 

B: Well, it is really, yeah. You know, it’s, it’s. It is exciting, yeah. Really, but I mean, yeah, yeah, it is really, I suppose, yeah. But being a number two, I didn’t get to fire it very often [laughter]. 

 

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I: Well, you, what’s your role then? 

 

B: Feeding the ammunition, you know, innit. And, um, yeah. Getting the ammunition and feeding it into the Vickers, like you know. Yeah. 

 

I: How’s your hearing? 

 

B: I’ve got hearing aids, deaf as a post really. I’m knackered without hearing aids, yeah, yeah. 

 

I: What, what was your first indication that all of a sudden the peace, quiet bit was over? 

 

B: Strange, we got um 

 

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yeah, we, uh. That was the most frightening thing you know. Uh, every man for himself, like you know. I mean, it’s not like they are now; they’re so well informed now. You were —you weren’t told anything; you’d just do this, do that. You were trained to obey, like you know. And, well then. We went forward to go left to get out, like you know. We knew that was the way to go, like you know. We was away, like you know. 

 

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And then [unintelligible] we holed up anyway, in this bunker, and we thought we were all quiet for ages, you know. We was waiting and waiting. We wait until dark, then we’ll go, like, you know. And the next thing you knew, we were surrounded by Chinese, like you know, and [laughter] that was it. That was the end of my war. 

 

I: And what do you remember of the actual battle and holding the position and stuff, before you had to retreat? I mean, what was that like? Just describe. 

 

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B: Well, it was quiet for me, to be honest, like you know. We were isolated up on the hill, like you know. The main fighting was to our left, like that, like you know. So we were out of it, really. We weren’t a lot of help to them, to be honest, like you know. 

 

I: Were you covering fire?

 

B: No, no. 

 

I: Or were you just keeping quiet because you didn’t want to give away your position? 

 

B: Just keeping quiet. Waiting to be ordered to do what we were supposed to do. We never had an order, they must have forgot about us [laughter].

 

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There’s this fantastic, you know. Looking back, you keep thinking, why the hell didn’t they use us, like, you know. I could never reconcile that, you know. It’s um, strange. 

 

I: Maybe because you were slightly more exposed, if you’d have just suddenly fired, you’d have just, that would have been it. 

 

B: We would have been obliterated, yeah. Yeah, yeah, no doubt about that, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. 

 

I: And what’s it like for a soldier to sort of be able to see what’s going on and not be able to do anything? 

 

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B: Horrendous, really, I mean it’s frightening, really. I mean, you— you don’t know what to do, do you? I mean you… You don’t use your initiative, then do you, you’re just waiting for orders, like you know. You know. I always think after, do, do we move to another place to, uh. You know, I could never understand it, but I mean, who am I? Just a squaddie. An irk. 

 

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I: And when you, uh, and what about, you know, sort of seeing this death and destruction around you then, did you say you were on the left side of the main?

 

B: If you’re looking from the front, yeah, we’re on the left, yes, if you’re on the right, yeah, yeah. 

 

I: So were the Belgians just beyond you then? 

 

B: Must have been. Yeah, yeah. 

 

I: Did you have any dealings with them? 

 

B: No, no. That was the trouble —we were so far apart, and we, we. You know, we were so

 

I: Spread out? 

 

B: We should, yeah, we was spread out, but there weren’t enough of us to cover the, um 

 

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the attack, really. Well, well we, obviously, we quelled the attack, but I mean, um, but I mean it was um really sparse, like you know. Coverage. 

 

I: Can you describe just the number of Chinese that you saw and what that was? 

 

B: Well, they were overwhelming, you know. I mean, that’s all I can remember. They just seem to be thousands of them, like you know. But, um, they just kept coming, like you know. Just incredible. 

 

I: Ok, so describe that moment of capture. What happened? 

 

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How many there was you? How many of you were there? 

 

B: Must have been, maybe four of us in this. Yeah, yeah. And then we were, yeah, we were captured and we were marched off, and then we were just waiting then. And then I can remember thinking we’re getting sort of, these um – what do they call them? These, um, airbursts, like you know. I mean, we’re getting shot at by our own people, like you know. 

 

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And then, after that, we, we [unintelligible] we always moved at night. They were petrified of aircraft, like you know. So, we used to go from, sort of [unintelligible] I mean, we done, must have done hundreds of miles marching and marching and marching, you know. To um, end up where we were in the end, like you know. Yeah. 

 

I: Do you know what the camp was called? 

 

B: Number two – number one. Camp Number One, yeah. 

 

I: And this, ok, so just describe Camp Number One, what was it like? 

 

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B: It was a little village. They’ve got like a Korean village. There wasn’t a perimeter, but there were guards all the way around, like you know. So, you. Well, it was just basic. Just, uh, mud huts, like you know. Well, a good roof on there, it was, um. Mud and walls, and 

 

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sort of, paper doors. There was no glass, like you know. And there was, at the end, sort of a house. There was a cook, cooking place on the end where they cooked, but the flues were under the floor. So there was a bit of heat in the floor, like you know. So we always slept on the floor. Mm. 

 

I: And, what, what was it, Chinese or Korean?

 

B: Chinese, Chinese, yeah. 

 

I: No Koreans? 

 

B: No Koreans, no. We were lucky in that way, because apparently, they were far more brutal 

 

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than the Chinese, like you know. They were, they’d been Japanese trained, like you know. So, yeah, yeah. 

 

I: And, and, just describe you know, are there any stories that you can remember from your POW camp life? 

 

B: Ah, being lousy for a start, that was the worst thing. And always swatting flies. Well, they used to try 

 

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indoctrinate us, like you know. We were all going for lectures, and we would sit down, they would harangue us about American Imperialism and all this rubbish, like you know. It used to go in the ear and out the other, like you know. But I mean, my wife says I have selective hearing [laughter]. Well, I learned, didn’t I? And they used to have, like, a political commissar —they call them. They were sort of in charge of us. They used to come around to each group and try and 

 

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try and get us interested in their, no. I can remember once —it was amazing, it was. We were all herded together; they’d have this, um, lecture again. And somebody had escaped, and they brought him back. So any [unintelligible], criticize yourself, self-criticism, like you know. 

And he, on the stage, said he was sorry for what he had done, like you know. And I, for some reason, 

 

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some of us we stand up on mass and we marched out. They didn’t know what to do. Well thankfully, our, our, Ding, his name was, our bloke in charge was, stopped the guard shooting, like you know. And we all marched off in order. It was incredible. I was [unintelligible], the hackles up the back of my head like you know. It was an amazing experience, like you know. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. 

 

I: Was he an Englishman or an American, the prisoner? 

 

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B: Uh, one of our guys. We were segregated; we weren’t mixed with the Americans, you know. The only other thing was, once, there was, um, he was, he was Irish, but he was an American soldier, like you know. And they didn’t know what to do with him, like you know. [laughter]. He would go between camps, like you know. Not between camps, between you know, that part of the camp, this part of the camp, you know. Yeah. You always remember the good things, yeah. The smiley things. 

 

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When we first went, there were as many as 13 or 14 a day, dying like you know. Going up Boot Hill, it was frightening, really. But, um, fortunately, it was only Americans. You see, they changed when we got there. Whether we put a bit of, bit of fight into them or what, like you know, or thought like, well, them Brits are doing alright. Like what are they doing, like you know. But you just got on with it, don’t you? You just got to adapt. 

 

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I: You know what was it? What were the temperatures like? How, how hot or cold did it get? 

 

B: Well, it went to extremes. You had, um, the tropical summer and uh, an Arctic winter. It was really, really cold, I mean. It was that cold, it hurt you know, it was really cold. Yeah.

 

I: How’d you survive in a sort of a mud hut in those sort of temperatures? 

 

B: Well, we were all, we were in a room a quarter of this size, about ten of us in a room, you see. Toe to, you know, toe to toe, we would be sleeping like, so the 

 

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body heats anyway, with help, wouldn’t it? Yeah. And you slept with everything on anyway, didn’t you? Yeah. 

 

I: Do you ever remember meeting any of the 41 Independent Marines? 

 

B: I think there was one there. Yeah, there was one. I can’t —I had no first experience with him, like, you know. No, I didn’t, no. But one, one Marine did, did abscond to China didn’t he? For the Chinese? Yeah. I feel like 

 

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his name, I can’t remember his name.

 

I: Andrew. 

 

B: I didn’t really have a lot of contact with him. There wasn’t many of them there, like you know. No, no. Hmm. 

 

I: And, and, over the. What about things to do, I mean, you mentioned Roy played football and stuff? 

 

B: Well, I played football as well and some rugby, like you know, and that. We were, well, we, I got interested in volleyball as well because the Americans used to play volleyball, like you know. And, um, yeah

 

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we would just try and do that, try get involved, like you know. And, yeah. Yeah. I remember having sort of dance classes and that, you know. We used to try do that, you know, and teach people to dance. And, yeah, yeah. Yeah. We managed to keep ourselves amused somehow, like, you know. We used to play cards a lot; we made our own cards, used to play a lot of cards. Used to play Solo, Solo Whist, like you know, things like that, and uh. Yeah. 

 

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And, and Bridge, used to play Bridge as well. But I can’t remember —I can’t remember much about Bridge now —but I mean, yeah. [unintelligible]. We would always try to amuse ourselves. Yeah. 

 

I: And what was the food like? 

 

B: Rubbish wasn’t it really? I mean, it was, um, basic, you know. Well, Sorghum, I mean staple thing, really. Sorghum, millet, maize. Rice was a luxury, really, yeah. Initially, then eventually. 

 

0:28:00 

 

Um, I hope you’re time watching so we can go. [laughter]. The, um, then eventually we’d have, um, some steamed bread in the end, like you know. We used to toast that, like you know. But, um, I mean. Meat was sort of um, it was always pork anyway. Just more or less the juice, really, more or less. The flavors, um, whatever rubbish we was having, like you know. 

 

I: You said you saw snakes? 

 

B: Yeah, only when I was a 

 

0:28:30 

 

Prisoner of War. Well, I went through because we built a dam across the river, so we could, uh. I mean, so we could swim in there and have a swim in the summer, like you know. And um, also bathe, I mean. Otherwise, we would have been, well, we were stinking anyway. But I mean. Yeah, and [unintelligible] I seen one besides that way, up on a toilet, and um. Well, the toilet was a pit with a bar 

 

0:29:00 

 

and you cocked your backside over the bar, and you done it in there. And the Koreans would come and take that away, as uh, sewerage wouldn’t they? As, um, fertilizer, like you know. [laughter]. When you think about it now. Eventually, we did, we did, well, lots of built toilets, 

like you know. Um, well, it was still a hole in the ground, but it was proper wooden seats, like you know. Or sat down in, you could sit down and do it, like you know. 

 

0:29:30 

 

But, um, yeah. It’s only things that we did ourselves to help ourselves, really, like you know. Yeah, yeah. 

 

I: What was your feelings towards the Chinese at the time? 

 

B: Just didn’t like them, you know. You could smell the, couldn’t you, the garlic, you know. You could smell them coming. Yeah. Yeah. 

 

I: When did you know that things were changing? 

 

B: Basically, they would fluctuate with the peace talks 

 

0:30:00 

 

that was going on, like you know. They seemed to change, like you know. Either got better or they sort of stayed level, like you know. Seemed to fluctuate.

 

I: And then, towards the end, you know, did you see any aircraft or anything like that? 

 

B: We were, we were strafed once, like you know. We had aircraft panel, recognition panels up, like you know. We did get strafed once, yeah. But, um, fortunately, nobody got killed, like, you know. But I mean, that was frightening. 

 

0:30:30 

 

I: By Japanese, by Chinese, or American? 

 

B: American, yeah, American, yeah. Mm. Yeah, that was frightening, yeah. 

 

I: Where were you? In a hut? Or out on the ground? 

 

B: Oh, this happened at nighttime, I think. Yeah. I’m sure it was nighttime, yeah. Mm. I say, they seen the recognition panels, you know. It’s like a big, big square things. Because we never had no Red Cross or anything 

 

0:31:00

 

like that, no Red Cross parcels or anything like that, you know, like that. Yeah. 

 

I: And what do you remember of the, you know, the end of it, and how did you know it was? 

 

B: Well, suddenly it was all over, and now we’re gonna be repatriated, but then. It was sort of a lottery then. We was, we embarked on a train. 

 

I: Do you remember being called into the parade grounds and stuff and being told it was over and what have you? Do you remember that moment? 

 

B: No, I can’t remember that, no, not, to be honest, no, no, no. 

 

0:31:30 

 

No. But some of the guys got the dates and times we were released, you know. Nothing like that, like you know. But I mean, I don’t know how they find these things out, like you know. But, I mean, it’s amazing. I was just glad to get out of it, like you know. 

 

I: Yeah, yeah. 

 

B: And then, um, eventually we got ordered onto trains and then onto trucks and we sort of pass over the bridge of, you know, the Chinese were coming that we way and we were going that way, like you know. I remember 

 

0:32:00

 

going to this um, I think it was Canadi- Canadian, I think, yeah. Oh, having proper food, like you know. Oh, god, I think we were like pigs, we ate everything. I was sick as a dog after, like you know [laughter]. And then, our beds, I couldn’t sleep in the bed. I couldn’t sleep at all; it was terrible. Yeah, that was strange, that was, yeah, yeah. 

 

I: Was that when you got back or when you’d just got released?

 

0:32:30 

 

B: When we got released, [unintelligible] we got deloused first of all, and then into this, the hospital place. They were segregating us then, like anybody who was really ill, they would get shipped off somewhere else, like you know, yeah. So. Mm. 

 

I: And did you go to [Curie] as well? The R and R? 

 

B: No, I went to Tokyo, actually. Tokyo, yeah. I was lucky I went to Tokyo for R and R, and that was from the Imjin, yeah. 

 

0:33:00 

 

Five days R and R in, in Tokyo, yeah. That was amazing. Really, you know, just incredible, really. Yeah. Just to be, you know, to have a bath and go out and – 

 

I: And then go back to the Imjin? 

 

B: And then back to the Imjin, yeah, yeah. 

 

I: That was your last enjoyable time before you got captured? 

 

B: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. 

 

I: And, obviously, you got, you head home back to the United Kingdom, it wasn’t exactly a royal welcome. What do you remember of, sort of coming back? 

 

0:33:30 

 

How did it feel, and how long did it take you to adapt to life? 

 

B: Oh, ages, oh. I used to drink like a fish when I first come home, I remember that. I drank quite a lot, quite a bit, yeah. But I had a father and brother who drank. Well, another thing was my, my brother gone in the army, as a regular. He was in the artillery; they wouldn’t let him. He wanted to come in with, to me, like, you know. He was a younger brother. 

 

0:34:00 

 

And he ended up in the artillery, and he was in um in Egypt, and coming through, I met him. He came on the boat, on board at Suez, and sailed down so far with me and got off, like you know. Had a few jars together, like you know. Yeah. [laughter] 

 

I: Nice. What do you think about Korea now? Have you been back?

 

B: Oh, yes. Several times, yeah. It’s amazing, yeah. The welcome is so amazing, you know. It’s overwhelming, really. 

 

0:34:30 

 

I mean, their generosity and their appreciation of what we’ve done is incredible. I had to go back, because we used to call it the arsehole of the world, to be honest, like you know. There was nothing there. And to go back and see what they’ve done there and it’s just amazing because they’ve got no natural resources, like you know. Just manpower and ingenuity. What they have done is incredible, yeah. Absolutely incredible. 

 

I: What about this business of it being a forgotten war? You obviously lost a lot of mates, didn’t you? 

 

B: Yeah, quite a few, yeah. 

 

0:35:00 

 

Well, it isn’t well known, really, like you know. I mean, yeah. It is called a forgotten war. I suppose it is really, you know, well, I mean. I, I, I don’t think about that. No. 

 

I: Why? 

 

B: Well, bad memories, isn’t it? I mean, you remember the good things, don’t you? That’s, that’s why I say I’ve got a selective memory. And hearing. 

 

0:35:30 

 

I: So some of the, for instance, things like the Imgin, you’re able to kind of shut doors on some of that stuff and – 

 

B: Oh, yes. I can shut doors on lots of things, yes. I mean, your brains a funny thing isn’t it? It’s um, I mean it’s, you’ve got to recall, got to try to recall it. I don’t want to recall it because, I mean, else I’ll be having bloody nightmares again tonight, won’t I? But, there you are. I mean, probably tonight I won’t be able to sleep properly.

 

0:36:00 

 

I’ll just be thinking about Korea all the time, like you know. And, um, yeah. 

 

I: So the memories are there, but you’ve covered them up? 

 

B: Yeah, I’ve buried them, haven’t I? You know, I’ve buried them, yeah, yeah. 

 

I: They’re still there, you can’t 

 

B: They still get resurrected, like you know. But I mean, you can’t help that, but I mean, I do try and shut it down, like you know. Yeah. Well, I’ve successfully, like you know. 

 

[End of Recorded Material]