A church service to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Korean War armistice, took place at St. Paul’s Church on Sunday, 30th July.
The Korean War started on the 25th June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea following clashes along the border and rebellions in South Korea. This resulted in a United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 83 be declared on the 27th June, 1950, that the actions of North Korea constituted a breach of peace, and recommending UN members, including Britain, provide assistance to South Korea to repel the attack and restore peace on the Korean Peninsula.
The fighting ended with the signing of an armistice on 27 July 1953. Prior to the Church Service, which was attended by the Deputy Lieutenant Major Chris Lawton (retd), Deputy Mayor of Spennymoor Cllr Derek Taylor and members of the public, a parade of military standards, veterans, Sea Cadets and the Army Cadet Force took place outside of the church.
Amongst the veterans contingent were two Korean War veterans and one of those veterans was John Waller, who read out the Exhortation from the Act of Remembrance. Another veteran, David Leak, gave an account of his father’s time in Army from serving in World War II, to the Korean War where he was a Prisoner of War for two and half years.
British Army veteran Pete Molloy said, “It was a great honour to have two Korean War veterans at today’s commemoration service, which gave them an opportunity remember lost comrades. Even though the Korean War is often referred to as the forgotten war, when I was helping other veterans organise this event we didn’t want those that paid the ultimate sacrifice to be forgotten.”
Out of the 81,084 British personnel that served in the theatre of operations, 1,106 British troops died in action. A collection at the end of the service, which was organised by Liz Lewarne of the Spennymoor Branch of the Royal Navy Association, raised £210 for the Spennymoor Detachment of the Army Cadet Force.
Spennymoor's local community newspaper.
