Bill Speakman
Among the veterans who visited Korea this year was a Brit with a unique honor, the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for military action in the British army.
William Speakman, the first man to receive the VC from Queen Elizabeth II, is one of the few surviving recipients, and the only living veteran of the Korean War to have been given the prestigious medal.
He arrived in Korea last weekend along with some 200 other veterans and relatives here to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War.
``I am glad to be back here, this country is truly a part of me, thank you for inviting me back,'' Speakman said at a press conference last Tuesday, choking back tears. ``It has brought me back to this wonderful place.''
Last week was Speakman's first trip to Korea in nearly six decades, having never returned since the war.
Speakman, originally of the Royal Highland Regiment, or ``The Black Watch'' as they were better known, fought in Korea with the King's Own Scottish Borderers regiment.
He later became a member of the Special Air Service (SAS), Britain's world renowned special forces division. He served with the SAS until he was demobilized in 1969, when he settled in South Africa.
Speakman recalled the events of the Battle of the Imjin River -- a point of the Chinese forces 1951 Spring Offensive -- that would eventually win him the VC.
``Suddenly, 6,000 Chinese were in front of us,'' he said. ``They were very good at getting close to you.
``Just wave, after wave, they just kept coming at us,'' the 82-year-old said. ``We held and we held and we held them,'' describing how, on his own initiative, he led six men on charge after charge against enemy forces causing them heavy casualties, despite wounds to his leg.
With his regiment of approximately 600 men, Speakman and his fellow soldiers held off a Chinese force that outnumbered them nine to one.
Looking from a South Korean Army observation position, Speakman took the opportunity to view where he fought all those years ago, in Samichon Valley, an area now inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the border that separates the North and South.
Despite the rare honor of the Victoria Cross, Speakman sold the award many decades ago in an effort to provide for his family. He now wears a replica.
``It was a necessity. I did it so I could put a roof over my wife and my children,'' he said, adding, ``I felt very guilty at the time.''
A tale that has stuck with Speakman since the Korean War is that of ``the beer bottle private,'' a nickname given to him by a war correspondent for throwing empty beer bottles at enemy soldiers once he had run out of grenades, actions he denies.
``I don't know who wrote that story, but it isn't true,'' said Speakman. ``We didn't have any beer bottles.''