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Andrew Salmon

A hero of the Korean war who presented his medals to the people of South Korea has asked, in return, only for his ashes to be scattered on the soil of the nation.
He also spoke of the amity he feels for his Chinese former foes, and he laid to rest an erroneous controversial nickname.
Briton Bill Speakman, 87, donated his Victoria Cross - the highest medal awarded by the UK and Commonwealth nations for combat bravery - and nine other medals in an emotive ceremony in Seoul on Tuesday.
"Korea holds a lot of memories for me," said Speakman, touring the nation with a group of ageing Commonwealth veterans. "What Korea has done since we finished [the war] is magic."
Under a banner reading, "Korea War Veterans! You Will Always Be Our Heroes," he handed his medals to South Korea's Minister for Patriots and Veterans Affairs, Park Sung-choon, saying: "Because it [the VC] originated in South Korea, I thought it had to come back to South Korea."
Park, moved, responded in English: "Thank you, thank you, thank you." The medals will be displayed in Seoul's National War Memorial.
Speakman also expressed his wish for a permanent home in Korean earth. "I will be here, this is where I want to be," he said. "I want my ashes scattered in no-man's-land."
Like many veterans, Speakman expressed admiration for South Korea's post-war prosperity and development, but his battlefield cannot be visited: it lies silent in the Demilitarised Zone separating South Korea from the North.
Speakman, then a private in the British Army's Kings Own Scottish Borderers, won his VC during close-range fighting in mountains north of Seoul on November 5, 1951. His unit came under artillery bombardment before Chinese forces launched their "human wave" assault.
With positions overrun, Speakman stood up.
"I felt the need to do my little bit," he said.
"We had to get the wounded off the hill: that was big for me, while I was able bodied, I had to get them down."
Speakman - standing six-foot-six-inches tall - launched multiple charges at swarming enemy. Action was so close he could not work his rifle bolt, so instead threw hand grenades, causing massive enemy casualties while covering the evacuation.
Only four VCs were awarded during the Korean war, two posthumously. Speakman is the only living recipient.
However, the VC he presented is a replica. After leaving the army with no marketable skills, he sold the original to fund repairs to the roof of his house.
And the nickname he won after his action - "The Beer Bottle VC" for supposedly hurling empties at attackers - resulted from incorrect reporting, he insisted.
"Take it from me: No beer bottle was thrown - our business was to fight, not drink," he said of the sobriquet. "I can't tell you where it came from, but I can tell you where it is going - nowhere!"
He harbours no ill feelings toward his Chinese foes. "You can't have enmity," he said. "In this day and age you have to get on with people, we are so cosmopolitan now - even in our own country - and it's nice to have them."
The Korean war pitted a US-led UN force, including a Commonwealth division, on the side of South Korea, against Chinese forces allied with North Korea. It is believed to have left 2 million dead, but ended indecisively, leaving the peninsula divided and tense to this day.
Speakman and the other veterans will visit the Imjin River, where a British battalion was annihilated by Chinese forces in April 1951, today.
On a recent visit, an unusual gift lay there. Koreans customarily leave offerings of food and drink at the graves of their ancestors, and at the memorial stood two bottles of Schweppes - a British-branded soft drink - placed there to quench the thirst of the soldiers' ghosts.
 

South Korea is considering a proposed march through the DMZ in bid for reunification
South Korea said it was positively considering supporting a proposed walk across the demilitarised zone between the two Koreas by prominent women including Gloria Steinem in what is planned as a call for the reunification of the two countries.
The government plans to approve the planned walk next month if it confirms North Korea's official support for the event, said Lim Byeong-cheol, a spokesman for the Unification Ministry, which handles affairs related to North Korea. Organisers of the effort called WomenCrossDMZ.org said earlier that they had received permission from Pyongyang.
The South Korean government has yet to confirm whether North Korea sent an official invitation to the women or expressed its support for the event to the UN Command at the DMZ. Organisers plan to have 30 women cross from North Korea to South Korea on May 24, which is the International Women's Day for Disarmament.
A spokesman from the UN Command, who didn't want to be named citing official rules, said it usually approved civilian crossings when they were supported by both Koreas. Five New Zealanders crossed the DMZ with motorbikes in 2013 and a group of 32 Korean-Russians crossed the zone by motorcade last year.
Associated Press


British Korean war hero who fought Chinese donates Victoria Cross medal for valour

Korean War hero Bill Speakman, 87, is greeted by a young South Korean girl during the presentation ceremony for his medals. Speakman said the medal originated in South Korea, so it should be returned there. Photo: Lee Dong-geun

Chinese troops return to celebrations in Beijing after fighting in the Korean War. Photo: Lee Dong-geun

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British ex-serviceman, awarded the Victoria Cross in the Korean War, presents the medal and wants his ashes scattered on the nation


A hero of the Korean war who presented his medals to the people of South Korea has asked, in return, only for his ashes to be scattered on the soil of the nation.
