A Vote of Thanks to the 8th Hussars.
By David Grove,
MBE
The year 2000 will mark the 50th
anniversary of the Korean War. I was there in 1951-52. Age 23 years. 14474163
Sgt. D. G. Grove, 1 platoon, "A" company, 1st Battalion, The Royal
Leicestershire Regiment. The British Korean Veterans Association will remember
those they left behind and celebrate with those who, happily, have survived. The
coming anniversary causes me to recall incidents, from those furious battles
which could not, all, be recorded in The Regimental History.
At first light on the morning of
the 5th November The Kings Own Scottish Borderers had been forced back under
pressure from the ridge line PT 317. The 1st Battalion The Royal Leicestershire
Regiment was ordered to retake the hill feature. The Battalion went into attack
at 1400 hours and immediately came under heavy artillery and mortar fire. It was
a Guy Fawkes Day to forget! "A"
company closed the objective and became engaged in close quarter battle with a
zealous enemy, well prepared and in superior numbers. Despite the odds the
attack pressed forward and the objective, a hill feature known as
"United" on point 317 was reached. "A" company sustained
heavy casualties and it became obvious that it would be unable to hold its
objective that day. At last light the order was given to withdraw.
My platoon commander had been
wounded earlier and I received the order to take the wounded off the hill. As
darkness fell we searched and cleared the ground of wounded survivors. Still
under fire as we did so, more casualties occurred. It was a difficult
withdrawal!
It seemed, almost, to be a
miracle when, at the base of the spur, we met two Centurion tanks of the 8th
Hussars, withdrawing from their support positions. The tank commanders were
pressed to wait and take our severely wounded on board. The tanks now came under
fire and received hits, some of the injured took secondary wounds and as he
helped us to load up, one of the tank commanders was wounded! We pulled slowly
back to, what had been, that mornings "Start line" and the wounded
were transferred to the Regimental Aid Post.
On the morning, 6th November, I
called the full platoon roll, 37 names. 17 men stood to answer! We re-grouped
and went back into the line.
I never saw the tank commanders
again, or knew their names, or thanked them for their gallant help to my
platoon. If any former 8th Hussars Tank crew should read this today and if he is
one of those who, at last light on the 5th November 1951, was in a pretty nasty
situation in the vicinity of the hill feature Kojankari Saemel, and delayed his
withdrawal to help "some chaps from The Leicesters", I thank you now.
David
Grove, a friend of Tom Ashmore, was relating
one of his experiences of active service in the Korean War and how he was
anxious to get news of two gallant tank crews of the 8th Hussars. Tom suggested
that he wrote his story as an article for In
Touch
and offered to circulate it on the Legion Electronic Mailing List to see
if anyone had knowledge of the action he described or could suggest how he might
find out what became of those who risked their lives to save his
wounded comrades.
Within
a few days Tom received the following e-mail:-
“Dear
Tom,
Hope this helps -
In
1958 the 8th Hussars were amalgamated with the 4th to become the Queens Royal
Irish Hussars and our Regimental Association including all who served in the 8th
and 4th is thriving.
I
have faxed a copy of your email to our Regt Secretary for info - suggesting he
put it in the next Newsletter. I am
hopeful the Regt History
will
shed more light and/or some people may recollect the event.
Should
Mr Grove wish to ring the Regt Association they can be contacted on 0171-387-3471
asking for Major Timmy Timmons. Timmy has access to all the
Regimental
Histories so would be a good starting point.
He is a great chap.
Regards
Guy
Voice,
ex-QRIH 1981-1986”
Footnote
20/0799
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