Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House

(1) notes that:

(a) from 21 to 28 of October the Minister for Veterans' Affairs undertook a veterans mission to Korea; and

(b) eight veterans joined the Minister to tour battlefields and attend commemorations, including Mr Gordon Hughes DSM, Mr Graham Connor, Mr Les Hall, Mr Jack Lang, Mr John Murphy, Lieutenant Commander Les Powell RAN (Retd.), Colonel Peter Scott DSO (Retd.), and Mr Ray Seaver;

(2) acknowledges that:

(a) this year marks the 65th anniversaries of the Battle of Maryang San and the Battle of Kapyong;

(b) the Battle of Maryang San took place on 3 October when the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment, as part of the 28th British Commonwealth Infantry Brigade, took part in Operation Commando, which included the capture of Hill 317, where 20 Australians were killed and 89 wounded—noted as the most significant Australian action of the Korean War;

(c) in the Battle of Kapyong on 22 to 25 April 1951, the 27th British Commonwealth Infantry Brigade, including the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment, was instrumental in stalling the Chinese advance on Seoul, with 32 Australians being killed, 59 wounded and 3 taken prisoner;

(d) more than 17,000 Australians served in the Korean War and the post armistice period, with more than 1,200 wounded; and

(e) the names of 356 Australians killed in Korea are listed on the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour; and

(3) notes:

(a) that although it has been called the 'forgotten war' in Australia, Korea and its people are still grateful for the significant contribution the Australian forces made in the defence of a free Republic of Korea; and

(b) the service and sacrifice of those who fought in the Korean War.

Australia has a long and rich military history. Many Australians are familiar with the Boer War, World War I, World War II, Vietnam and more recently the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Australians have great pride in those who have served to defend our country, our values and our interests abroad, and we honour the memory of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice every year on Anzac Day. But, sadly, our remembrance is often unequal and, while some of our wars are seared into the minds and imaginations of Australians, some are not—I think of the movie Gallipoli which has done so much to popularise World War I in the Australian memory. Who can forget young Archie forging his documents and gluing on a fake moustache so he could enlist? And who can forget that final scene of Archie sprinting towards a young death as fast as a leopard on that battlefield?

More recently, a favourite film amongst diggers these days is The Odd Angry Shot, which captures the bluff irreverence of the Aussie diggers in Vietnam. Who can forget the mateship at the heart of that film? Sadly, we have no such popular memory of the Korean War and no movies that have really captured the spirit of that conflict. We have a beautiful memorial on the western side of Anzac Parade but, if you ask most Australians, they are not familiar with the war. It is too often called the forgotten war.

The Korean War saw the service of 17,000 Australians, with 1,200 wounded and 356 who lost their lives. We have a duty to better understand the experience of these men and women who served in one of the 20th century's greatest conflicts. Our involvement in that war, so soon after the Second World War, was largely due to our burgeoning alliance with the United States. It was that growing relationship which led the Minister for External Affairs in the Menzies government, Percy Spender, to push for Australian involvement in the Korean War as he believed that a strong show of support for the US would help formalise an alliance with the United States. That alliance, of course, found its fullest expression in the ANZUS Treaty, which was signed in September 1951. That treaty, for more than 65 years, has established the contours of our closest security relationship with one of the world's oldest democracies. And it is still the United States with its vast navy that underwrites world security and guarantees Australia's lines of trade and communication.

The Korean War was significant in several respects: firstly, it halted the advance of communism at the 38th parallel, protecting many South Koreans from the brutality of communism; and, secondly, it formalised our security relationship with the United States. It has echoes today even in this parliament. The member for Dunkley made mention of this in his maiden speech only a few months ago:

Without our Korean War veterans, my wife, Grace, and daughter, Yasmin, would not be here. Grace was from South Korea, migrating to Australia with her family at three. Her dad's family only just made it across from the North Korean side, and they have not seen their relatives in North Korea since. The communists killed her mum's grandparents by throwing them alive into a well.

Our Korean War veterans helped many people in ways that are unseen and unheard. The member for Dunkley's testimony reminds us that Australian acts of sacrifice on far-flung battlefields—although forgotten and sometimes unreported—can make a huge difference in the lives of people.

I am therefore pleased to note the recent Korean War veterans' mission to Korea. Last month the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Dan Tehan, accompanied eight servicemen of the Korean War to that country: Mr Gordon Hughes DSM, Mr Graham Connor, Mr Les Hall, Mr Jack Lang, Mr John Murphy, Lieutenant Commander Les Powell RAN (Ret'd), Colonel Peter Scott DSO (Ret'd) and Mr Ray Seaver. Together they toured battlefields, cemeteries and memorials and participated in commemorative services. One of those men, Mr Jack Lang, is a constituent of my electorate. He lives in the small town of Coolup, central to Canning and a place well known for its green pastures, friendly general store—the only store—and horses. Today I want to share with you some of Jack's experience of the Korean conflict.

Jack was born in Harvey WA in 1931 and left school before he turned 14. Within a few years he had a good job at the Bullfinch mine. One day he and his mates were enjoying a beer at the pub when an Army recruiter pulled up outside. It seemed like a pretty good idea at the time, so Jack signed up. Being 17 he was underage, so he gave the recruiter his aunt's name, Olsen, as his own.

Jack hoped to be a bricklayer upon enlistment but, following basic training, found himself listed as 'general duties'. This meant, as he put it, 'They gave us a bloody tin hat, a pair of boots and a rifle and said, "Righto, you're off to Japan!"' A rifleman of 67th Battalion C Company 9th Platoon, Jack spent his first year of service as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan. The 67th Battalion was planning to return to Australia until the United Nations called for the defence of South Korea from communist invasion. As part of the BCOF Jack was among the first Australians on Korean soil in September 1950.

The BCOF landed in Pusan on the southern tip of Korea and pushed north with initial success. At the Battle of Kujin, Jack's battalion—by this stage renamed 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment, 'Old faithful', with the motto 'duty first'—had to scale a blown-up bridge on makeshift ladders. Jack remembers this engagement was particularly bad with 'bullets flying everywhere and ricocheting of the bridge. I don't know how we got up there; but we had to keep going because we were exposed and all bottled up'. His good mate Bluey Wilkinson died in that action. Bluey was among the war's first Australian casualties.

The physical conditions of Korea were formidable. Jack remembers terrible freezing cold and rough terrain, the 'mountains upon mountains' in which they fought. Being ill-equipped for such conditions, Jack recalls how the Australians would steal heavy winter gear from the Americans, who eventually gave up and just started giving it to them. Under such conditions, the UN forces pushed North Korea to the brink of defeat. It was only the intervention of over half a million Chinese troops that forced the UN withdrawal. The 3rd Battalion, along with other British units, took part in extensive rearguard actions while the UN forces made their retreat. Jack never saw the 3rd Battalion's most famous battles at Kapyong and Maryang San. Kapyong, of course, is significant because the 3RAR halted a Chinese division in a desperate defensive battle to protect the approaches to the capital of Seoul. 3RAR were honoured for their valour over the course of several days with the US Presidential Citation.

Jack missed Kapyong because, in January 1951, he took cover behind a tank that exploded. This caused permanent damage to his hearing and after several months in hospital he was ruled unfit for the infantry. Jack was discharged and back in Australia by 1952. He returned to find most people had no idea of the war he had just come from. Old friends would ask where he had been, where Korea was and what he had been doing there. It was easy to wonder what it had all been for.

When asked what future generations should to learn from the Korean War, Jack said, 'People must understand that if you are going to have peace you have got to pay a hell of a price for it.' It reminds me of the RSL's motto fixed to many RSLs around this country: 'Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.' I am reminded of Ernest Hemingway, who I quoted in my maiden speech:

I have seen much war in my lifetime and I hate it profoundly. But there are worse things than war, and all of them come with defeat.

Jack describes travelling to Korea last month as part of the delegation as an honour—a good reminder that what he did over there was worth it. He says it felt good to be thanked by ordinary South Koreans who understand it was the service of men like him that protected them from the yoke of communism. To use his words, 'They were really thankful. It makes it worth it, that you have got someone who appreciates what you have done. It means a lot that the boys did not die for nothing.'

To Jack Lang and all who served in the Korean War, we say: thank you. We will remember your sacrifice for our nation, for its values, and for the people of Korea. And it is upon us to tell your story and to keep that story alive.

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion. We have just heard from the member for Canning and I commend him for putting this motion forward. I had the great honour of joining the magnificent eight on that trip to Korea last month for the 65th commemorations of Kapyong and Maryang San. It was a great honour to join those extraordinary men. I spoke at length about them last week. For their years they are still incredibly resilient and still incredibly fit. They have very healthy appetites and very healthy drinking appetites and they were wonderful company. Like the member for Canning, I do want to honour them today: Graham Connor 1RAR, Les Hall 1RAR, Gordon 'Taffy' Hughes HMAS Sydney, Jack Lang 3RAR, John Murphy 3RAR, Les Powell 3RAR from the ACT, Peter Scott DSO 3RAR and Ray Seaver 77 Squadron.

As the member has said, the Korean War is a forgotten war, in many ways, for Australians. They do not understand what actually happened there. We had 18,000 Australians serve up there and we lost, tragically, 340 Australians during that war. Four million people died through the course of that war from right round the region as well. So it is a significant war and is, tragically, forgotten here. That is why I welcome this opportunity to discuss this motion. We do need to keep the contribution that Australians made to the effort in Korea alive. We need to keep having conversations on this because they made a significant contribution. It is one that lingers to this day and is one that is greatly appreciated by the Korean people.

I will talk about that at the end of my speech. But because I did not get a chance to do so in my speech last week I do want to take this opportunity to congratulate DVA on the commemorative visit for the 65th anniversaries of those two significant battles. I want to thank Squadron Leader Chris Gilbert, who was the doctor there, and Jane Gallagher and Julie Howard, who were the nurses there who were up at 4 am and in bed at midnight. They were up tending to these vets, looking after them and making sure that they were fit and ready to take on the day. They were just tireless and incredibly dedicated and incredibly patient. Those women deserve a medal. They are extraordinary. I also want to thank our embassy in Korea for its contribution, particularly the charge, Ravi Kewalran, as well as the defence attache, Captain Vaughn Rixon CSC. I also thank the Federation Guard, who, as always, put on a sterling effort in their performances at the many commemorative events that we had at the Busan cemetery, Kapyong and Maryang San. They were outstanding, as always. I also want to thank the young men from 3RAR who were there. As I said in my speech last week, they told me that they were there for their good looks, but I do wonder how they got a gig! But they were there and they were incredibly respectful, and they had a number of little commemorative services around each of those graves at Busan. It was wonderful to travel with them.

In my speech last week on the Korean War, I mentioned two very moving stories. I want to mention just one more today. The story is about the passage of Thelma Healy to Busan to visit the grave of her son Vince Healy. Vince volunteered and, once he had signed up, his letters to the family trickled to very little contact. His sudden death in uncertain circumstances on a frozen battlefield in 1951 plunged his mother into a deep depression. But Thelma Healy was determined to say farewell to her son. She vowed that, before she died, she would find her son's grave and say goodbye. This began a 10-year odyssey that eventually took Thelma, on her own, on a 15,000-kilometre journey halfway around the world to war-torn Busan in Korea in 1961, through a variety of transport mechanisms. Being a woman of no means, and with nine other children to feed and clothe, Thelma had to scrimp and save, sew and slave, to raise the money needed for her epic voyage. But she got there in the end to bid farewell to her much-loved son. She was an extraordinary woman. There are so many stories like this around the Korean War. Lest we forget.

Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before the member for Canning leaves, I would like to mention what a great privilege it is to follow him, a decorated former member of the Australian Defence Force, in this address. Considering the context of the matter we are discussing here today, I would also like to mention the member for Canning's service in Afghanistan. We are so blessed in this country that young men and women are prepared to volunteer their services to protect our values. I thank the member for Canning for that.

The motion before the House today is one of great importance, particularly in 2016, the 65th year since the two major battles of the Korean War. As the member for Canning mentioned, the Korean War is often referred to as the 'forgotten war'. Australians fought and died in Korea, yet the veterans of this conflict have not always received the recognition they deserve. But I will return to this thought in a moment.

Sixty-five years ago, Australian soldiers joined British, New Zealand and American forces in the valley of the Kapyong River. Over three days in April 1951, the combined forces held their ground against a Chinese and North Korean offensive on Seoul. The enemy's forces numbered close to 500,000. On 23 April, the 27th Commonwealth Brigade was ordered forward to the valley of the Kapyong River, where a critical route ran south through the region. Faced with a requirement to cover a seven-kilometre front, the commander of the 27th Brigade accepted it would be impossible to establish a continuous defensive line. Instead, he set about creating strong points to block and contain any enemy offensive. One of the first battalions deployed, the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, was sent to hold the high ground to the east of the river. The men of 3RAR halted the Chinese advance in their sector, and no further attempts were made to break through on the eastern flank of the British brigade. But the battle cost the Australians dearly: 32 men were killed, 59 were wounded and three were captured as they withstood a continuous attack by a far more numerous Chinese force for more than 24 hours.

Six months later, the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment was again involved in one of the most momentous Australian actions of the Korean War. Fighting alongside British troops, 3RAR attacked a group of hills near the Imjin River. The attack was named after hill 317, the largest of those hills, also known as Maryang San. The capture of hill 317 was particularly significant because it allowed UN forces to push the Chinese troops back several kilometres. But it came at a price: 20 Australians died in this conflict and a further 89 were wounded.

These two battles speak of the resounding courage and resilience of the Australian troops who fought in the Korean War. Our soldiers fought to defend democracy and the values that we treasure in Australia. Those values are now upheld in South Korea, which I consider to be one of the great success stories of the 20th century. Yet the veterans of this conflict do not always receive our gratitude to the extent that they deserve. I would like to share, if I may, the story of Richard Woodhams, better known to his friends and family as Dick. Dick Woodhams enlisted in the Australian Army in 1951 at the age of 19. A member of the 6th platoon, 3rd battalion, he fought in the Battle of Maryang San 65 years ago. Now 85, he resides in Albany, the same town where I live with my family in the electorate of O'Connor. In regard to the notion of the forgotten war, he had this to say:

When I joined the RSL in 1953 and I mentioned I'd been in the Korean War, they said, 'You're joking mate, that wasn't a war.' Any veterans of the Korean War, they understand, but the old timers, they tend to think that it wasn't a 'real war'.

The conflict in Korea may not be recognised as one of great significance for Australians, but for veterans like Dick the memories of this war still linger on. He still remembers the cries of the Chinese troops as the 3rd battalion sprayed machine gun fire across the hills near Imjin.

Dick is one of the four Korean War veterans that live in Great Southern in O'Connor. I would like to pay tribute to Ivan Tilney and Victor Pope, also from Albany, and my old friend Ian Mangan of Jerramungup, who recently passed away.

These men deserve our respect and our gratitude. Of the 17,000 Australians that fought in the Korean War, 356 were killed and another 1,200 were wounded. The Korean conflict might be known as the 'forgotten war', but today we have a chance to recognise the Australians who fought for that democracy. I offer my gratitude and respect for every soldier who served in Korea, and I am sure everyone in this chamber would join me in honouring their contribution.

Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am proud to be speaking to this motion regarding recent commemorations in Korea and I particularly want to acknowledge those who fought at the Battles of Kapyong and Maryan San in 1951. It is 65 years since those battles, as we have just heard. I want to congratulate everyone who was involved with the commemorations. I want to acknowledge my colleague and friend the member for Canberra, Gai Brodtman, who attended the commemorations along with other members from elsewhere. They were very important commemorations for very important battles that were fought by the 3rd Battalion with our UN partners.

As we have heard, it is a very important and sometimes overlooked part of our military history but certainly not for me, not for my brother Daniel and not for any other members of the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment who fought in those particular battles or other members of various regiments that hold those battles and our conduct them in them in high esteem. It is important that we remember. I thought I could shed some more light on some of the veterans and on what that war meant. Korea was the first test of the Australian Army following World War II, particularly for our newly formed Royal Australian Regiment. We fought alongside Commonwealth countries like Canada, Britain, New Zealand and other Commonwealth nations as well as America in that UN deployment. Seventeen thousand Australians served in Korea and 356 were killed in action. That was over three relatively short years of fighting so, when you compare it to other conflicts later on, it was a significant loss of life.

The Australian War Memorial records that there were 11 Territorians who served in Korea: Timothy Angeles, John Cubillo, Clifton French, Francis Gaden, William Hyde, Leonard Sargent, Larry Willaroo, John Wilson, Max Heinrich and Allan Laughton, and current Territorians like my friend Jack. Also of note is that, during the war, Reg Saunders became the first Aboriginal Australian to serve as a commander of an Australian infantry company and he lead Charlie Company during the battle of Kapyong. After the battle, Reg said, 'At last I feel like an ANZAC, and I suspect there were 600 others like me.'

In Darwin, on 24 April, to commemorate the Battle of Kapyong, a small gathering of ex-3rd Battalion Regiment and people who knew Korean veterans gather at the Darwin cenotaph. We do it each year to remember the extraordinary heroism and outstanding performance of the 3rd Battalion and all our Korean war veterans. The 3rd Battalion was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, the blue swimming pool, which is worn still to this day by members of 3rd Battalion.

The Battle of Kapyong was a fierce battle. Thirty-two Australians were killed and 59 were wounded. Just months later, the 3rd Battalion, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Frank Hassett, fought the battle of Maryan San. This time it was advancing not defending but it was again costly with 20 killed and 104 wounded.

The Royal Australian Regiment Association recently held its annual dinner in Canberra where the Hassett Trophy was awarded for outstanding junior leader in the Royal Australian Regiment for that year. This year it was awarded to mortar section commander, Corporal David Day, from 8/9 RAR. Congratulations, mate. Every year, members of the regiment and the wider Australian Defence Force and their families and parliamentarians travel to Korea to attend commemorations and to solemnly reflect on those lost in the Korean War.

One veteran of World War II, who is also a Korean war veteran and a Vietnam war veteran, Brigadier Jim Shelton, told us that he and all Korean War veterans are always very appreciative of the support and assistance they receive from the South Korean people whenever they visit South Korea. They remember as we should always remember the Korean War. Lest we forget.

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Solomon and I welcome him to the 45th Parliament.

Debate adjourned.