Korean War Legacy Project

John Wallar

Bio

John Wallar was born on July 31, 1933 in West Auckland, England. Raised on a farm, he graduated from West Auckland Secondary Modern School and soon after was conscripted into the British Commonwealth Forces in December 1951. He was assigned to basic training at Brencepeth and served in Berlin, Germany afterwards. In September 1952, he was deployed to Korea and arrived at Pusan. He was sent north to the Little Gibraltar area and was assigned to the 28th Brigade, DLI 1st Battalion as a radio operator in the Signal Platoon. He participated in several skirmishes before being rotated back home in September 1953. He revisited Korea in 1985. Today, he lives in England.

Video Clips

Living Conditions in the British Army

John Wallar describes his unit's living conditions during his time in Korea as a part of the British Army near Uijeongbu. He talks about living quarters, bedding, and how they kept their tents warm during the cold winter.

Tags: Cold winters,Living conditions

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"You Needed Letter from Home"

John Wallar talks about writing and receiving letters from home. He describes the things that he wrote about to his thirteen "pen friends."

Tags: Home front,Impressions of Korea,Letters

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Mending Communication Lines

John Wallar talks about being under Chinese mortar fire while working on a line gang. He describes his team's job and how they went about mending broken communication lines.

Tags: Chinese,Fear,Front lines

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