A closer alliance was desired with the US as a means to achieve direct security.It supported the concept of collective security by aiding the resistance to local aggression in Korea to prevent a wider war between East and West.In entering the Korean War, the Australian government had five primary aims, all of which were intended to achieve security for Australia in the post-war Asian region:

Australia became tied to the fortunes of the US in Asia for the two decades following the Korean War. Although Australia would not have fought in Korea alone, the war confirmed Australia as a small but active member of the United Nations Organization (UN), and it had the long-term result of binding Australia more closely to its new ally and protector, the United States of America (US). The Korean War (1950-1953) was a major factor in defining Australia's place in the post-Second World War world. A weak sun rarely appeared in the leaden sky, vegetation withered and all animal life, with the exception of rats that infested our hoochies in plague proportions, vanished.Ĭorporal Bob Metcalfe, B Company, 3 RAR, looks out from his hoochie at the snow-covered landscape near Changhowon-ni, January 1951. Cold so intense that even the ground was frozen solid and rivers iced up whilst a bone-chilling variable wind swept over the barren landscape. As a brigadier, Daly commanded the 28th British Commonwealth Brigade in Korea in 1952-53, which included battalions of The Royal Australian Regiment.Ĭold! I thought I knew it but Korea taught me otherwise. Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Daly KBE CB DSO. to visit our men, tired but cheerful Aussies returning from patrol, taciturn Geordies from Durham, cheeky Cockneys from London Town. listening to the sounds of battle in the valley, anxiously awaiting reports from units involved in life and death situations and for news of success or failure and of the inevitable cost.īest of all, I remember the lovely spring dawn when the harsh landscape was suddenly transformed walking through wildflowers. I remember long nights in my command post. I remember the dust, the heat, the enervating humidity, the bitter cold of winter when the men slept with their boots on and weapons cradled lest they should be found frozen in an emergency the soldiers on listening post, lying silently on the frozen ground trying desperately to remain alert, knowing they were responsible for the safety of their comrades. The Korean War Alliances and Australia's security

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