Superb WW2 and Korean War Glorious Gloster’s Battle of Imjin River Medal Group of Six – Pte. H. Graham, 1st Bn. Gloucestershire Regiment, who Twice Escaped Captivity

A Glorious Glosters Korean war medal group awarded to 4691280 Private Herbert Graham, 1^st Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment, who twice escaped captivity.

1939-45 Star unnamed as issued
Burma Star unnamed as issued
WW2 Defence Medal unnamed as issued
War Medal 1939-45 unnamed as issued
Queen’s Korea Medal named to 4691280 Pte H Graham Glosters
UN Korea Medal unnamed as issued

The medals are official late issues, only being applied for in 1989, and are framed together with the badges of the regiments he served with.

The group comes with Graham’s original Soldier’s Service and Pay Book, Soldier’s Release book and two telegrams to his wife. Also included is a photocopy of his Regular Army Certificate of Service, a framed picture of Graham in uniform, when serving with the Royal  West Kent Regiment and the book ‘The Edge of the Sword’ by Anthony Farrar-Hockley, in which he is mentioned.

Herbert Graham was born on 29^th October 1920. A coal miner by trade, he enlisted into the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in Sheffield on 7^th March 1939, serving in Burma from March 1940 to May 1942. He was then transferred to the Lincolnshire Regiment, who he served with until May 1946. Then serving with the Royal West Kent Regiment until 30^th January 1947.

Graham then served with the 1^st Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment in Korea, where he served in Captain Herbert ‘Spike’ Pike’s Assault Pioneer Platoon.

During the Battle of Imjin River, Graham had been with the main body of the Battalion which had attempted to break out to the south of Gloster Hill. He was one of twenty men to reach the saddle at the head of the re-entrant 2,000 yards away. Seventeen of which were captured on the saddle but Graham and two others slipped through, scrambled down the steep rocky slope and hid up in a ditch. At dusk they left their cover to get a drink from a nearby stream but walked into a party of Chinese and were captured. They were taken to a nearby village and joined five other Glosters, all of whom were wounded. They were later marched off to the North and Private Graham decided to make a run for it, so broke away and made good his escape. His freedom was short lived though, as after about a mile and a half he ran into a group of North Korean soldiers. He was taken and thrown into a bunker with Private Fox of ‘D’ Company, who had been captured the day before during the breakout on the 25^th April.

The next day their unit started marching south east and were then joined by Captain Anthony Farrar-Hockley, the Adjutant. Farrar-Hockley had been captured with the main body, slipping away from his captors while his column was wading across the Imjin River during the night 25^th/26^th April. He too was picked up by a North Korean unit. At nightfall the unit halted in a village and for the next five days the three Glosters were confined to a hut with three Korean porters who had been attached to the Battalion. Here they were joined by a Puerto Rican soldier from the US 65^th Regiment – Morales.

The UN Artillery carried out harassing fire up and down the length of the valley and on the fifth night, after particularly heavy fire, the unit evacuated the village at short notice and moved west. After two days of marching, anxious to make an escape, Captain Farrar-Hockley had marked a lonely Buddhist monastery on the side of a mountain as a possible hiding place, as they had stopped there for an hour on their march. Memorizing its position, the four prisoners broke out of the hut that night, slipping past the guards and making their way rapidly up the slope. Climbing up through thorn bushes, the prisoners noticed torches flashing below. Hurrying along, Private Fox called our “Sir, Sir; we’ve lost Morales!”. There was no sign of Morales anywhere. The men quietly called out for him in the darkness but with the torches still flashing below, continued to until they reached the wind-swept hilltop just before dawn.

There was a small hut adjacent to the temple and a Korean woman took the three men in. They hid down in a cellar used for wood storage and the woman’s young son brought them food, water and tobacco. Here they remained for two days. Each morning Farrar-Hockley cautiously circled the monastery and the grounds around it to for any sign of the enemy.

On the third morning carried out his normal check and went back to the woman’s hut to leave her a letter addressed to the UN Troops saying how much she had helped them despite the personal danger and recommended she be rewarded. As he was there, four Chinese men walked in. He attempted to hide but was quickly discovered and dragged out. Both Farrar-Hockley and the Korean woman were beaten. As they passed over the cellar in which Fox and Graham were hidden, Farrar-Hockley told the Chinese he was on his own, thus warning the men to be quiet. He was then tied up and led off down the track.

Knowing the Adjutant had been taken and appreciating they could no longer stay in the monastery, Fox and Graham left the following day. They made good progress towards the south, evading capture several times. However, later in the afternoon, they came to a village and while trying to seek food they were fired upon by Korean soldiers and once again became prisoners.

During their interrogation by an English speaking Korean, they said they had been captured previously but were forced to escape due to lack of food and the bad treatment they had received.

To their surprise they were given ample food and allowed to rest. They were told that the majority of the British prisoners had been taken to Pyong-Yang. They were given a shave and taken to a Korean Colonel. The Colonel said it would be too much trouble to send them north and was insistent that they had been well treated. He asked them if any Japanese units were fighting in Korea and Fox said there were two divisions of Japanese (which of course was not true) and this statement caused much consternation. The Colonel left, later to return to say they were lying. After giving them a long lecture on communism he asked why they were fighting in Korea but Fox and Graham gave non commital answers and refused to sign anything against their will. The Colonel then gave them a pass which would give them safe conduct through the North Korean lines.

At 2000 hours on 11^th May they were escorted on the first stage of their journey by two guards, who were changed every five miles until the guards pointed in the direction of the UN lines and told them to keep going which they did. At approximately 1200 hours on the 12^th May they reached the safety of the UN lines, both tired and suffering from mental strain. After debriefing they were sent to Japan for a rest.