Nearly 100,000 British troops fought on the Korean Peninsula between 1950 and 1953 – but although four million people lost their lives in the conflict, many veterans see it as “the Forgotten War”. Most of the British soldiers who served in Korea were National Service and many went straight back to work after being demobbed, with little acknowledgement of the sacrifices they’d made.
The UN forces were victorious and South Korea continues to thrive today – so why has the Korean War not been given the recognition it deserves? Fought in the days before television, sandwiched between World War II and Vietnam, and succeeded by many other conflicts, perhaps it was ‘drowned out’. Or perhaps the public, barely out of rationing, were weary of war.
But for four Chelsea Pensioners, who share their different perspectives on the Korean war with journalist Heathcliff O’Malley, the conflict they fought in is far from forgotten…
