British Defense Attache Visits War Battlefield
By J.R. Breen
Contributing Writer
British Defence Attache Matthew O' Hanlon, brigadier of the Royal Ulster Rifles, got his first opportunity last Friday to see where, in 1951, his regiment was massacred by attacking Chinese forces.
Accompanied by Korean War expert and author, Andrew Salmon, and this reporter, we relived the past in search of the Korean War battlefield "Happy Valley."
"I know and have met many of the men who took part in (Happy Valley)," said O' Hanlon, who is in his fourth year in Korea. "It is very meaningful for me to come back and see where many of my older friends fought."
Happy Valley, ironically named by the soldiers who fought in it, is known for the bloody retreat made there by the British in January 1951.
After being overwhelmed by Chinese forces, all U.N. forces had pulled out, heading south, and the British were the last to go.
They had planned a night-time retreat through a valley surrounded by Chinese, near Goyang, 12 miles north of Seoul.
On the night, all was going according to plan until U.S. pilots mistakenly dropped flares into the area, and despite desperate efforts to get this stopped, the British were illuminated.
The Chinese, seeing the retreating mass, attacked, and the ensuing battle saw 175 killed or captured.
The site has never been marked or especially noted for posterity, and for both men, it was their first trip to the site. Therefore, the visit became an exploration, a search for the scenes of the battle depicted in old photographs and outdated maps.
Eventually the pivotal point of the battle was located -- the extraction route taken by the retreating forces, which followed the banks of a frozen stream running through the valley.
This was where they were ambushed and in constant combat with attacking Chinese forces.
O'Hanlon, for 30 years a member of the Royal Ulster Rifles regiment -- one of the most heavily-affected during Happy Valley, with losses of 157 -- feels that the Korean War and in particular individual battles tend to be forgotten in the West.
"Many, many battles are forgotten and it's a chance of fate for those that get remembered; this is important for my regiment," he said. "The Korean War was very much at a time when people wanted to forget about war."
"And I think that is an element of why people in the U.K. tend to forget about it. And (Korea) is a very, very long way away."
"It's quite refreshing to hear about a battle which isn't the Imjin (the battle of the Imjin River)," he said in reference to the best known Korean War battle involving British troops.
The trip to the battlefield comes two months before Korean War veterans are set to journey to Korea for events to mark the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the war.
Salmon spoke about the significance of the Korean War and the commemorations set for this year.
"Very few Britons today are aware that the Korean War remains the bloodiest conflict (for Britain) since World War II," he said. "In Afghanistan, you hear reports of one or two soldiers dying, imagine if we lost 157 men in one night."
"Koreans are doing a good job inviting veterans this year," Salmon said.
However, Salmon sees fault in the way Korea is documenting the history of the Korean War.
"The veteran visits are very appropriate this year, but beyond this the government needs to establish a broad research, educational and memorial framework, via which the war can be remembered and studied by future generations," said Salmon, whose book "To the Last Round: The Epic British Stand on the Imjin River" came out last year and who is working on another book about Commonwealth involvement in the war.
"This is the last generation of survivors," he said. "Unless the government collects and centralizes materials into a database, the war will fade into history."