Badge – Korea

$6.00

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Description

Enamel badge measures 2.5cm diameter.  The information on the back of the card reads, ‘The Korean War began on 25th June 1950, when North Korean forces launched an invasion of South Korea.  Personnel from the Australian Army, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) fought as part of the United Nations (UN) multinational force, defending South Korea from the communist force of North Korea.  The end of the war came with the signing of an armistice on 27th July 1953, three years and one month after the war began.  The ending was so sudden that some soldiers had to be convinced it really was over.  After the war ended, the presence of Australians in Korea continued with a gradually diminishing force charged with assisting to maintain the 1953 armistice until 1957.

The RAN prodided destroyers, corvettes and aircraft carriers on regular rotation from Australia in support of the UN military effort.  The Australian Army provided initially one and then later two infantry battalions and a small support element; major ground actions were fought at Kapyong in April 1951, on the Imjin River (Operation Commando) in October 1951 and on The Hook on the Samichon River in July 1953.  The RAAF provided a fighter squadron, No. 77, originally equipped with the Mustang piston engine fighter and then later the Gloster Meteor jet fighter, and a transport detachment, later increased to a squadron, flying Douglas c-47 Dakota aircraft.

Approximately 17,000 Australian service personnel served in Korea during and after the war; 340 were killed in action or died of other causes and 43 are still listed as missing in action.