A VETERAN of the Gloucestershire Regiment’s famous stand at the Battle of Imjin River has told of his escape under fire.
Reg Portlock was an Army truck driver ferrying ammunition to and from the front line during the Korean War battle, which took place from April 22 to 25, 1951.
The Bristol-based infantry regiment helped save the city of Seoul from invasion by a huge force of Chinese soldiers.
But it came at a heavy cost, with 622 casualties among the Glosters’ 1st Battalion, including 59 men killed in action. Some 522 Glosters were taken prisoner, with 34 of them dying in captivity before war ended in 1953.
Last month’s Voice told the story of the battle to mark its 75th anniversary – and asked readers if they had any relatives who fought there.
Reg’s son John and daughter-in-law Ann, of Chipping Sodbury, saw the article and Reg, aged 94, agreed to share his memories.
Born and bred in Berkeley, Reg had worked as a driver at Sharpness docks from leaving school at 14 until he was called up for National Service at the age of 18, in 1950, and was drafted into the regiment’s motor transport section.
He said: “Just a few months in, we were told we were going to Korea.
“We were all saying, ‘where’s that?’ Nobody had heard of it.
After arriving in Korea on the troopship Empire Windrush, Reg started making daily ammunition runs to the positions where different companies of soldiers were dug in.
He didn’t think about it at the time, but Reg’s job was highly dangerous.
Reg said: “The lorry was full of ammunition, grenades and mortar bombs, and right at the back I had 45 gallons of napalm – any little spark and it was goodnight!”
Every day Reg drove for miles along dirt tracks from the stores, known as B Echelon, to the front lines, where his truck would be unloaded at the bottom of the hills.
Part of the United Nations force defending South Korea from the North and its Chinese allies, the Glosters were part of the larger 29th Infantry Brigade, guarding a ford over the Imjin River.
On April 22 the Chinese 63rd People’s Volunteer Army attacked and the 750 men of the 1st Battalion fought a defensive battle against more than 10,000 Chinese troops, eventually becoming surrounded on Hill 235, which would later be known as Gloster Hill.
Reg said: “When the Chinese first encircled the Glosters, we didn’t know.
“We were coming back and there was this stream we had to go through. There was an American-type ambulance, with the driver laid out of the door – he was dead.”
Reg said he and the corporal riding with him saw some people they thought were Koreans but were actually Chinese troops, who opened fire.
He said: “The corporal stood up on the passenger side and was shooting back, and I gave it some welly, so we rushed out.”
Reg believes he was the last ammunition truck driver to make it out from the battlefield.
After the battle he waited with the rest of 1st Battalion in the rear, as survivors made it out on foot.
Reg recognised himself standing next to his truck in a photo showing a roll-call of survivors, published by the Voice last month.
Soon afterwards he was sent back to the UK, where he finished his National Service and moved back to Berkeley, driving lorries for Western Transport.
He married Joyce, who died earlier this year, in 1952. They had two sons, five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Reg still has his Glosters beret, the Queen’s Korea Medal, United Nations Service Medal Korea, National Service Medal and the blue ribbon of the US Presidential Unit Citation, the highest American award for heroism and collective gallantry, awarded to the 1st Battalion after the battle.
‘Four days of hell on earth’
ALEXANDER Cormack, the father of Voice reader Viv Edwards, was a Company Sergeant Major in the Glosters who fought at Imjin.
Born in the Dings and living in Bedminster after he left the Army, he died in 1995, aged 82.
He wrote an account of the battle which Viv, from Downend, has shared.
Known to his comrades as Mac, he was awaiting discharge after 22 years’ service when he was ordered to rejoin his unit and sent to Korea.
He described the battle as “four days of hell on earth”, where “the motto was kill or be killed”.
Defending a large hill from mortars, waves of Chinese infantry and even a mistaken air raid by the Americans, the key moment came when US forces withdrew from a hill to the Glosters’ left, leaving their flank exposed.
Mr Cormack wrote: “Every round of ammunition was fired until we were overrun.
“The lads fought them hand to hand and never gave up, until the order came from Battalion HQ that it was every man for himself.
“By then the Chinese were through us, leaving us not a chance or a round between the lot of us.
“There were casualties piled up in Battalion HQ and many more lying around.”
Expecting to be taken prisoner, around 80 survivors found they had a chance to escape and started walking back towards UN lines.
After around two miles they were spotted by the Chinese and came under fire.
Mr Cormack wrote: “They all went to ground for a long time, without moving, and many were either killed or wounded. But whoever had opened up on the men must have thought they had killed the lot.
“After a very long time they found they were able to move on again and, helping their wounded, eventually got back to Yankee lines.”
