Korean War veteran Ron Roberts of Westbury spent the weekend of 11th and 12th July in the Tower of London as a guest of the Royal Fusiliers, City of London Regiment with whom he served for nearly four years in the early 1950s.
Ron had commenced his National Service as an experienced member of the TA and expected to have to endure some hardships as a front line soldier with a history of being a champion rifle shot. However, he commented today that he never imagined for a moment he would have to fight for his life in hand to hand combat nor engage the Chinese in a machine gun skirmish with the enemy less than ten metres away.
On Friday 11th July this year Ron’s fondest recollections were mixed with the saddest of memories when he attended the annual ‘Korean Vets’ dinner in the fortress where monarchs were beheaded, traitors tortured and the most dreadful excesses of the developing, British nation state were played out for centuries. As a Bermondsey boy born and bred he believes it was his destiny to carry forward the memory of those friends and comrades who did not make it.
On the front page of the Tooting and Balham Gazette of 5th June 1953 there is an extraordinary account given by Ron’s commanding officer of how the young sergeant was ordered to lead his patrol across No Man’s Land only to be confronted by their Chinese adversaries. In total darkness Ron is quoted as saying, “I froze as I heard a gun being cocked.”
As the man ‘out front’ Ron responded to where the sound seemed to be coming from and he called to his patrol to take cover. In the 30 minutes of confusion that followed three waves of attack were resisted and each of Ron’s men survived against considerable odds.
Tragically Ron’s comrades were less fortunate in a succeeding action named Operation Pimlico a report of which figured in the national press from the Korean Front. The company commander, Major Mike Chard, described that action as being “like Custer’s Last Stand” when his men found themselves “completely surrounded” by Chinese soldiers.
Again the “Cockney Regiment” resorted to hand to hand combat but this time suffered heavy casualties as they were seriously outnumbered. Of Ron’s five closest friends that day, two died and one was taken prisoner. When Ron sat down with his friends recently he shared thoughts that run deep and are shared increasingly rarely.
Incredibly this ‘phoney’ war is in international law still taking place. In honour of brave men lost on both sides of the Korean conflict Ron and his fellow Vets would have the politicians come to their senses as soon as possible saying “Spare a thought for those young men who gave their lives a long, long way from home and are oftentimes overlooked in the season of commemorations.”
