AUSTRALIA DAY 2007
BY KOREAN WAR VETERAN VIC DEY

First photo from the left; Elaine Steacy; Jim Farmer (Secretary) Edna Dey; Vic Dey, Coral Farmer.

Second Photo from the left; Gerry Steacy (Treasurer) Jim Farmer; Edna Dey; Vic Dey ; Coral Farmer.

Elaine was born in England; Gerry in Canada; Jim, Coral; Edna and I were all born here in Melbourne Australia. Jim Farmer was on the Aircraft Carrier HMAS Syney in Korea.

And Gerry Steacy was in the Canadian Army in Korea, Gerry is now an Australian.

Vic Dey Australian Korean War Veteran

Australians in Korea. About 17,000 Australians served in Korea during the period 1950 t0 1956. From the very start of the War until the cease fire; 9 ships of the Royal Australian Navy served in the Korean Campaign on a rotation basis. During the same period the Royal Australian Air Force were represented by the No 77 Squadron. Our Army contingent consisted of the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment. (RAR) which was stationed in Japan at the start of the Korean War. The 3rd Battalion served in Korea for the duration of the War, personal were rotated as the Aussie soldier signed on for a 12 months tour of duty in Korea. The 1st Battalion of the (RAR) arrived in Korea in March 1952 and was replaced in March 1953 by the 2nd Battalion of the (RAR). There were also Australian Army and Air Force Nursing Sisters involved in the Korean War.

On a personal basis I joined the Army in June 1948 for a period of 6 years, at the outbreak of the Korean War our Government called for Volunteers to make the 3rd Battalion (which was under strength) fully operational. At this time I was serving in the Service Corps (supply and transport) and as the army were recruiting only infantrymen for Korea I applied for a transfer. This procedure took until March 1952 before my transfer finally came through. On leaving Australia in a draft of 22 diggers our flight took us to Labuan in North Borneo for an overnight stop, on to Hong Kong for another overnight stop then onto Japan. Most Australian Camps were around the Kure / Hiro area, we trained in the Bull Ring, Route Marched and spent time at Haramura which was once an old Japanese Army Training Camp during World War Two. Finally on the 6th June 1952 I was posted to Korea where I joined 1 Ptn A Coy of the 3rd Battalion which at that time was in reserve. Toward the end of June we were sent into the front line, taking over from a Canadian Battalion, this part of the line was called the Jamestown Line, we were to remain in this position for over 3 months. All this time we lived on American C Rations. During this period in the front line and on a daily basis, we Australians did Picket Duty, 8 man Ambush Patrols and 15 man Fighting Patrols. On the night of July 12th 1952 1Ptn were chosen to raid the Chinese position directly opposite us and snatch a prisoner, a Lieutenant and 25 men were directed to attack hill 115, this raid turned extremely sour for we Australians, the afternoon strafing by the Air Force, the late afternoon Artillery barrage and just before we actually attacked there was heavy machine gun fire directed onto our target. In hindsight it appears that the enemy were reinforced and waiting for us. The enemy were much stronger than we anticipated, we were engaged by heavy machine gun and sub-machine gun (burp) fire, when the Lieutenant was hit and went down and with the patrol taking heavy casualties it was decided to withdraw. At this point we realized that the Lieutenant was missing along with two other diggers, the continued machine gun / sub-machine gun and mortar fire coming in on us made it extremely difficult for the non wounded to get the wounded down the hill and back across the valley. So in actual fact we lost three men that night (they have never ever been accounted for) 15 were wounded leaving 8 able-bodied men to fight the rear guard action and get the wounded to safety. Although life went on after that, to me it put a whole different Scenario on my views of War, by the 11th of September I guess you could say we were really seasoned Diggers, on the morning of the 11th the Chinese decided to give us an Artillery Barrage, the Velocity of this barrage was unbelievable in it’s intensity, it went on for most of the day and it caused my mate, Larry Francisco to say “ I don’t think I will reach 22” his birthday being the 12th. We survived. Some months later, in fact in February 1953 we came off hill 355 (often called Little Gibraltar ) for a rest, we were sent to an American Camp called Camp Casey, even though the temperature was sub-zero the facilities were first class to a weary bunch of diggers, I was lucky enough to make it through to the 6th of June 1953 without a scratch, with my allotted time in Korea up I took a reposting to Ebisu Camp in Tokyo Japan. Finally arriving back home here in Australia in April 1954, many sad memories, many good memories to share with comrades on days of reunions. God bless all Veterans.

Victor A Dey. A proud Korea War Veteran