Memories of The Forgotten War as Dalton man John Shaw is honoured by the President of the Republic of Korea

Oct 16 2010 by Joanne Douglas, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

IT’S been almost 60 years since John Shaw was sent to serve in the Korean War.

A corporal in the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, he served in what is often referred to as The Forgotten War.

The Dalton man was involved in the Battle of the Hook on May 28, 1953, which saw heavy losses of life.

Now, out of the blue, John has received a thank-you letter from the President of the Republic of Korea for his ‘selfless sacrifice’ as the country marks the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War.

A letter landed on his doormat much to his surprise, which John said was a nice gesture from President Lee Myung-bak.

John, 77, was in Korea for 14 months until November 1953 and served in the Dukes from 1951 to 1957.

He described the experience as "horrific" saying: "We were just above 38th Parallel which was in North Korea.

"In one night we had 28 killed, at least 100 wounded and there were about 30 or 40 captured during the Hook.

"One month after the Battle of the Hook they called armistice – we hoped that we did the trick.

"It’s called The Forgotten War and I think it really is. It was four years after the last war and it was so far away from home, but war was still going on for us.

"I know we took some of the headlines from the Queen’s Coronation in 1953 because of what was happening.

"We didn’t leave until November, but they wanted a platoon of Dukes to fly 11,000 miles home to attend the Queen’s Coronation. Unluckily I wasn’t one of them."

He was on rifle duty with D-Company before moving on to the vehicle section transporting rations and ammunition to the front line and bringing back the bodies of those who lost their lives – always at night-time. He’d also help transport materials to re-build the bomb-hit towns.

Now a member of the Korean Veterans Association, he recalled: "The winters were so cold, they really were bitter. The summers were the extreme. After monsoon season in April or May it was very hot.