Posted by: Hannah Giles  |  Posted on: March 12th, 2021

“The Unworthy, Worthwhile War: Korea 1950 – 1953”

The National Army Museum will hold a series of talks about the Korean War entitled “The Unworthy, Worthwhile War: Korea 1950 – 1953”. The museum has kindly agreed to allow BKS members, as invited guests, to take part. The full details of the talks are below.

This series of three talks provides a rare opportunity to hear about personal experiences of the Korean War set against the strategic context of the conflict.

Please note that these talks are not open to the public: Members and Guests of the museum only.

If you wish to know more about membership of the National Army Museum, please go to https://www.nam.ac.uk/support-us.

“Korea: the Half-remembered, Half-forgotten War”

Tuesday 23rd March, 18:30

Dr Chris Parry will outline the geo-strategic background to the Korean War, the reasons for British  involvement and the scale of the British military contribution. He will review the lessons from the war  and the difficulties of operating as a junior partner in a US-led coalition. He will describe how the war  was reported in Britain, the effects of the intervention on political attitudes and its influence on  subsequent events. And in doing so, he will show how echoes from the war persist right up to the present  day and into the future.

“In Conversation: Hong Kong to Korea”

Wednesday 14th April, 18:30

Col (retd) Rex Cain OBE, Middlesex Regiment in conversation with Lt Gen Doug Chalmers DSO OBE.

Col (retd) Rex Cain OBE joined the Battalion in Korea. This talk will enable the audience to get a feel for  what it was like to be a young subaltern joining his unit in the middle of a war. It will bring out the    human experiences, such as the steadying influence of seasoned senior NCO’s and the reality of winter,  that most history books overlook.

“The Bloody Battles of the Hook”

Tuesday 11th May, 18:30

As a young subaltern, Brig (retd) Brian Parritt CBE fought at the Battle of Hook. This talk covers the final phase when the possibility of a Cease Fire appeared imminent and the Chinese were determined to improve their Forward Defence Line by capturing important opposing United Nations tactical positions. Actions against the US Forces at Pork Chop Hill and Commonwealth Forces on a feature known as The Hook were indeed savage and bloody. The Artillery fired more rounds in these Battles than had been fired at the crossing of The Rhine at the end of World War Two.

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