Tri-Service

British War Hero Donates Victoria Cross To South Korea

An 87-year-old British recipient of the Victoria Cross has donated his medal to the people of South Korea.

Bill Speakman, from Altrincham, was awarded the honour after holding off waves of Chinese and North Korean attackers in fierce hand-to-hand combat during the Korean War.

“I decided before I died I would do something with this VC,” Mr Speakman told reporters.

“Because it originated in South Korea, I thought it had to come back to South Korea. They [the people of the country] can have my medals so future generations can look and see what it was all about.

"I'm not looking for glory. It's just a sensible thing to do."

The Chelsea Pensioner, 6' 6" in his prime, also announced his wish to have his ashes scattered in the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea after his death, in view of his former battlefield.

It's where on November 4, 1951, he repeatedly counter-charged the enemy until reinforcements arrived, whilst hurling dozens of grenades, after his section of the King’s Own Scottish Borderers had become over-run by a “human wave” infantry assault.

A memorial to the conflict was unveiled In London in December

“It was hand-to-hand; there was no time to pull back the bolt of the rifle,” Mr Speakman was quoted as saying by the Telegraph.

“It was November, the ground was hard, so grenades bounced and did damage.”

Meanwhile Andrew Salmon, author of a book on the Korean War, was quoted as saying by the BBC:

"Bill is a big, tough bloke and even for the Chinese to see this huge man come charging out of the darkness, roaring and throwing grenades right left and centre would have been frightening."

The Korean War of 1950-1953, sometimes known as the Forgotten War, was a conflict between North Korea, aided by China and the Soviet Union, and a United Nations force led by the US, with almost 15,000 British military personnel also involved.

It cost more British lives than the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Falklands combined, with over 1,000 military personnel killed, often fighting in hand-to-hand combat at night and in below-freezing temperatures.

Mr Speakman's VC was one of only four awarded during the conflict. The medal he gave to South Korea is a replica, because he sold the original to a collector after being de-mobbed – “I was 40-odd, and had no trade,” he explained.