London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

The War Veterans’ Annual Report 2007

One of the things I want to do this year is to start to provide a little coverage of the activities and stories of the veterans from the Korean War. Where better to start than a report of the activities of the British Korean Veterans Association over the past year, presented last week to the AGM of the Anglo-Korean Society by their National Chairman, Colonel GM Gadd OBE. The text is reproduced with his permission.

Chairman’s Report to the Annual General meeting of the Anglo-Korean Society held at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, London, on Wednesday 23rd January 2008

Introduction

1. I am pleased, after an absence of three years, that I am able to attend this AGM to present the BKVA report personally. I am indebted to Peter Poole who has kindly presented the report in my absence.

Membership

2. At the BKVA AGM held in Blackpool on 6th October 2007 our membership stood at 4,007. We are a finite organisation and we do expect our numbers to decrease year by year… the youngest of our members are approaching their mid-seventies and we have to accept that age will take its toll.

3. Regrettably, I have to report that on 27th April this year our Cumbria Branch will be holding its disbandment service at the Kendal Parish Church where they will lay-up their colours. The branch membership has dwindled to a level where to retain a branch is no longer a feasible option… The members remaining will join another branch where they will be able to keep in touch with the membership and still benefit from the comradeship which exists throughout the Association and from our welfare organisation and funds should the need arise.

Executive Committee

4. There have been two changes in the Executive Committee… the first changes other than the President, for a number of years:

(a) Jim Wilkinson retired as National Treasurer because of ill health; he had been treasurer since the BKVA was formed in 1981, a total of 26 years. His place has been taken by Tony Stevens of the Leicester Branch.

(b) The other change was the Welfare Adviser; Richard Clementson of the Red Rose Branch (Preston) has replaced David St J. Griffiths who has become a Trustee. Richard’s appointment is most appropriate as he has a background in social services with a particular emphasis on the older generation.

Samsung / BKVA / RBL Scholarship

5. This year’s scholarship (2008) has been awarded to Miss Jennifer Frost LL.B a graduate of the University of the West of England. She is the granddaughter of George Newhouse who served in Korea with the GLOSTERS where he was taken prisoner at the Battle of the Imjin. He is a member of our Gloucester Branch.

6. Miss Frost is currently doing a language course and will start her studies at Yonsei University in Seoul, in March; her subject will be International Law.

7. We have again this year (2008) awarded 5 bursaries to students to be selected by the Bursary Committee of the British Association for Korean Studies (BAKS) headed by Professor James Grayson PhD, the Professor of Modern Korean Studies at the University of Sheffield.

Events of Interest

8. We have had a full year with many events taking place at National, Area and Branch levels. Among them have been:

(a) 25 June Annual Wreath Laying Ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral organised by the Korean Embassy followed by a lunch very generously hosted by H.E. do Cho Yoon-je, the Ambassador. I had hoped to attend and set off in plenty of time but was thwarted by the floods at that time.
(b) 30 June The Korean festival held at Kingston-upon-Thames; organised and hosted by the Korean Residents Association
(c) 27 July The BKVA Korean War Commemoration Dat at the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas. The attendance was very good and we were honoured to have as our guests:
a. His Excellency the Korean Ambassador Dr Cho and Mrs Cho.
b. The President of the International Federation of the Korean War Veterans Association (IFKWVA) Brigadier General J.E. Lello, of South Africa, and Mrs Lello, and
c. The Korean Defence Attaché, Captain (Navy) J.K. Lee and Mrs Lee.
Dr Cho gave the address at the service and then took the salute at the march past of veterans… some 500 in all. The band “on parade” was that of the RAF Regiment and very good they were too.
(d) 12 Oct Dedication of the Armed Forces Memorial, Post World War II, by Her Majesty The Queen. Dr Cho and his Defence Attaché were present. It was significant that Dr Cho was the only Ambassador in attendance. A number of Korean War Veterans were present, as was Bert Deavey, who is not a war veteran, but who lost a brother in Korea. He is a member of the Swindon Branch; he and his wife were presented to Her Majesty. It is worthy to note that the Government of the Republic of Korea made an extremely generous donation to the Armed Forces Memorial Appeal.
(e) 28 Dec The Ambassador arranged for senior officials of the BKVA to meet the Vice Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, Mr Kim Heung-Keol. We had a most pleasant and enjoyable dinner at the Arang Restaurant in Golden Square, near Piccadilly Circus.

Conclusion

9. I am sure you have heard enough about the BKVA but in closing I would just like to say we may be ageing but we are still looking to our future. Our AGMs for the next three years are at

2008 Torquay
2009 Llandudno
2010 Scarborough

10. I would be pleased to take any questions

GM Gadd OBE
Colonel
National Chairman BKVA
23 January 2008

Links:

6 thoughts on “The War Veterans’ Annual Report 2007

  1. I’ll bet you didn’t know that I was a Samsung/BKVA scholar myself,
    the millenial scholar to be precise. My mum has a photo of me accepting a
    certificate from the Colonel….

    btw, sorry for the odd format but text is not wrapping on to a new line, so
    I’m having to do carriage returns….

  2. I am a member of K.V.A. Canada unit #26 I have been searching the B.K.V.A. web for information if possible to find out how many National Servicemen were K.I.A in Korea 1950–1955 I have been asked if I could by a comrade who served in R.A.S.C who is fellow member of our unit. It would be greatly appreciated if you could
    In comradeship Doug Bailey e-mail [email protected]

  3. I have spend a lot of time on your B.K.VA. web site and I find it
    very informitive and enjoy surfing it. I served with THE 3rd FLD
    AMB in Korea.

  4. @ Mr Bailey:
    I hope you have now received an email from a fellow vet, which was forwarded to me.
    The answer I received was this:
    “I can only give you the listed KIA during the Korean War which includes regulars. They are 1,078 KIA, 2,674 wounded and 1,060 missing. Please have a look at http://www.thekoreanwar.co.uk there is a lot of information there and could be helpful to you.”

  5. Hello. My name is Dr. Roland Wilson. I am a Marine Veteran and professor of Conflict Resolution at George Mason University’s Korean Campus.
    My colleagues and I here in Korea are doing some important research on the Korean War and are looking for articles, stories and interviews (both paper and video) of British Veterans of the Korean War.
    I was wondering if you could possibly put me in the right directions please?
    In addition, we hear you have a great journal titled: THE MORNING CALM: JOURNAL OF THE BRITISH KOREAN VETERANS ASSOCIATION. However, we can’t find any detailed information on it including number of issues that have been published or how to access them. Could you help us with this as well?

    Thank you very much for the support and we will look forward to hearing back from you.

    Best Regards,

    Roland Wilson, USMC Retired

    Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Mathew 5:9

    A Veteran – whether active duty, retired, national guard, or reserve – is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to “the United States of America,” for an amount of up to and including their life. “Author Unknown”

    Roland B. Wilson, PhD
    George Mason University, Korea Campus
    Songdo Incheon Global Campus, Room 4035
    119 Songdomunhwa-ro, Yeonsu-gu
    Incheon, Korea 406-840

    E-mail: [email protected]
    Korean Cell: 010 9115-1349
    Twitter: @rbwilson82
    Skype: roland_wilson82
    Kakao Talk: RolandWilson

Leave a Reply to Philip Gowman Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.