Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Private W. J. Donaldson, Gloucestershire Regiment, who was wounded and taken Prisoner of War at the Battle of Imjin River, 25 April 1951, and subsequently died in captivity on 9 June 1951

Korea 1950-53, 1st issue (4468299 Pte. W. J. Donaldson. Glosters.); U.N. Korea 1950-54, unnamed as issued; together with a United States of America Presidential Unit Citation riband bar, extremely fine (2) £500-700

W. J. Donaldson served with the Gloucestershire Regiment in Korea, and was wounded at the Battle of Imjin River, 25 April 1951. Taken Prisoner of War, he died in captivity on 9 June 1951.

The Imjin Battle started on Sunday 22 April 1951 when wave after wave of Chinese infantry attacked the Gloster Battalion position. In the course of a three-day battle, the main thrust of the Chinese 63rd Army was directed against the Gloster’s position and it is estimated that the Chinese suffered over 7000 casualties. After 60 hours of intense hand-to-hand fighting the Battalion was gradually forced back onto Hill 235, later known as Gloster Hill. Air resupply parachutes fell into enemy hands and the attempt at rescue by an armoured column led by the 8th Hussars failed. When the ammunition state was only three rounds per man, the Commanding Officer, Colonel J. P. Carne D.S.O., gave the order- ‘Break Out. Move independently. Make your own way back to the Allied Lines’.
 
It was a daunting task and required great bravery and determination. Many tried and were killed in the attempt. Colonel Carne told the Doctor, Captain R.P. Hickey R.A.M.C.  ’I’m afraid we will have to leave the wounded behind’. There were some 80 casualties lying in an improvised Regimental Aid Post, so Captain Hickey decided he would remain with these wounded men and not try to escape. The Padre, the Reverend S. J. Davies R.A.Ch.D. also decided to remain with the wounded saying to Medical Sergeant S. J Brisland, ‘This looks like a holiday in Peking for some of us’. The men of the Medical Section thus gave up their chance to escape for, as they saw it, ‘It was their duty to remain and look after the wounded’. They were then captured by the Chinese. In the Imjin Battle the Glosters suffered over 600 casualties, killed, wounded and taken prisoner.

For his leadership and gallantry at the Battle of Imjin, Colonel Carne was awarded the Victoria Cross, as was Lieutenant P. F. K. Curtis who was killed leading his platoon in a counter attack. The Battalion were awarded the Battle Honour “IMJIN” and, as a result of their bravery, the President of the United States awarded the Battalion as a whole a Presidential Citation.