AUSTRALIANS IN KOREA

AUSTRALIANS IN KOREA
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A stone memorial at the Pine Rivers RSL memorial gardens in Kallangur, Queensland was built by my uncle, Ron Armstrong and dedicated at the United Nations Day service on Sunday, 24th October by Major-Gen "Digger" James AO, MBE, MC, OStJ. The meaning behind its design is profound.

The principal enemy in the conflict was the Chinese People's Army, who were regarded as a fierce, brave and formidable enemy and Korea was for centuries considered a tributary nation of China. Ron chose the moongate as an Asian icon compatible to the conflict. To represent the United Nations forces involved, he used the circle to reflect all the religions that served in the war and the aftermath. For the Christians, Jews and Turkish Moslems, the circle with no beginning and no end represents the eternal nature of the creator and for the Indian Medical Unit that served, the circle represents the Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva - the continuous cycle of creation, preservation and destruction.

Ron placed the circle in the middle of the monument to depict the aboriginal flag to acknowledge the veterans of indigenous heritage that served in the war and the circle also represents the Buddhist Wheel of Karma.

But most of all, Ron wanted to create a multi-cultural monument that expressed his own personal view on religion - that all religions are interconnected and stem from the same source.

The memorial plaque reads:

THE KOREA WAR

Australia was one of the first nations to commit forces with navy ships arriving in Korea on 29 Jun 1950 and 77 Sqn RAAF arriving on 1 July. The first Australian Ground Troops, 3 RAR, arrived in Pusan on 27 Sep 1950. Over the three years of war 14,087 Australian personnel were committed including 4784 RAN, 7724 Army and 1579 RAAF. Australians who lost their lives totalled 339, of these 293 were Army, 5 RAN and 41 RAAF.

In Memory

6/997 Private I.P. Bevis
UN Memorial Cemetery, Pusan, Korea

13097 Warrant Officer 2 K G Conway
Kranji War Cemetery, Singapore

15400 Sergeant W J Hoban
Pinnaroo Wall

Queensland Wall of Remembrance

Newspaper article: Memorial for Korean vets, "The Times", Pine Rivers Press of Strathpine 12th October, 1999.

Veterans of the Korean War and peacekeeping operations now have their own memorial in Pine Rivers.

Ron Armstrong built the memorial as a tribute to three mates who served with him in Korea from 1955-1956 as United Nations truce monitors. One died there in a vehicle accident.

Mr Armstrong made the stone memorial over the past two years at his Salisbury home.

It is now at the Pine Rivers RSL memorial gardens in Kallangur waiting to be dedicated at the United Nations Day service at 11 am on Sunday. It will be unveiled by former RSL national president Major-General "Digger" James AO, MBE, MC, OStJ.

"I don’t think they (UN peacekeepers) got the recognition they deserved", Mr Armstrong said.

His job was to patrol the demilitarised zone (DMZ), which separated North and South Korea, and the Kansas line, the UN defensive positions.

This was in the tense period after the Korean War (1950-1953) when thousands of North Korean troops were poised near the DMZ ready to attack. Three hundred and thirty-nine Australians died there between 1950 and 1956.

A special invitation has been extended to veterans of the Korean War and peacekeeping forces to attend Sunday’s United Nations Day service. Pine Rivers RSL sub-branch president Ron Glew said the service, on the 50^th anniversary of the assembly at the first UN force, would be the biggest in Queensland.

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