NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2023

                                                      BRANCH MEETINGS      BRUNCHES 2^nd SATURDAY 10.30 AT BARRINGTON CENTRE CAFÉ         MONTHLY LUNCHES 4^TH TUESDAY 12.30AM  SAME PLACE 

 

Newsletter for  October 2023   Please note any news or information for the newsletter to be sent to Jan Bridle anytime; also if anyone has changed their email address or set up any new addresses could they please let Jan know. 

 

Branch subs    Subscriptions for 2023 remain at £17 and are due now. Please support the branch by paying the £17 either by internet banking or cheque made out to REA Bournemouth.  For bank account details please contact John Cusack by phone or by email, numbers above. 

 

Branch monthly Lunches and Brunches  

These are informal, social meetings where any news etc. can be passed on to those attending, and added to the newsletter for others to read. 

The brunches are now held at the Barrington Centre Café in Penny's Walk, Ferndown BH22 9TH - Wives and children and guests are also very welcome. You can park in Tesco’s car park free and the centre is just past Tesco’s on the other side of Penny’s Walk, and this month it is on Saturday the 14^th October. 

The lunches are now also held at the Barrington Centre Café, following the closure of the RBL kitchen, and will be on Tuesday the 24^th October.  As with the brunches, wives and children and guests also welcome. We all enjoyed the lunch we had on 26^th September, all freshly made and delicious. There are however not the choices we had at the RBL and Octobers’ lunch will be a roast dinner followed by Lemon Drizzle cake with custard or ice-cream., and at a cost of only £7 a head. Please contact John Cusack to book your place.

 

Korean Veterans Revisit 2023     AMAZING70  - Report by John Carter

AMAZING 70 was the name given to a programme arranged by the South Korean Ministry for Patriots and Veterans Affairs to commemorate the 70^th Anniversary of the ending of the Korean War on 27th July 1953, to which veterans from the United Nations who participated in the war were invited.

I was fortunate in being one of the thirteen UK veterans and another fifty one veterans from seventeen other countries who were invited by the South Korea Government to take part in this week- long series of events and enjoy business class travel to get there and back. Veterans were allowed and encouraged to be accompanied by wives, family or carers making up a group of one hundred and sixty four around which the programme of expressions of gratitude and appreciation was built.

The manner in which we were greeted on our arrival at Seoul Airport was an indication of  things to come, and our accommodation in the best and newest hotels in Seoul and Busan showed their determination to make our visit special. 

The first full day started with an Appreciation Breakfast. In the afternoon we set off in eight coaches with a police escort to go North through the demilitarised zone to Panmunjon to stand on the border of North Korea, visit the Museum and have more photographs taken with hosts from many nations. The yellow line is the border!

The next day was an early start to board the 300kph train to Busan, formerly Pusan, in the South of Korea, and to spend the evening at a Thank You Banquet. More speeches, more choirs, presentation of Ambassador for Peace Medals, more exotic food, more gifts and more photographs. Day four started with a visit to the huge and beautiful United Nations Cemetery. It was a hot humid morning, but a chance to take in the enormity and tragedy of the loss of so many young lives The British losses were over one thousand killed but only eight hundred plus are buried in the cemetery the rest are still missing or died in prison camps in North Korea. The American losses were very large, over thirty thousand, but most repatriated to the States. We joined a very moving Remembrance Service at the Australian Memorial. 

The highlight of the week took place that evening on 27^th July, in a huge arena where the sixty four veterans took part in a grand ceremony hosted by the President of South Korea, to commemorate the ending of the Korean War, seventy years ago.. They were introduced individually to the enthusiastic audience of thousands. Each veteran was accompanied onto the huge stage by a military escort

More speeches, more photographs, more presentations, more choirs, but this time accompanied by the National Orchestra. It was a very grand affair, and the President shook hands with all the veterans and their families.

There was another early start next day to take the train back to Seoul to pay floral tributes at the Wall of Remembrance at the National War Museum. 

There was just time for a group photograph then back to the hotel to change and to be taken to a reception at the British Embassy, for the UK veterans and their families. This very British evening was a very fitting end to a most poignant, impressive and memorable week.

National Events 2023

15-17 September Corps Freedom of Medway and Memorial Parade (Chatham Weekend)  

10 November Field of Remembrance, Westminster Abbey 

13 November Remembrance Sunday 

26 November Chilwell Winter Ball