Korean War casualty – Royal Fusiliers – Wounded (The Hook)

Description Korean War casualty – Royal Fusiliers (The Hook) Korea War medal , 22622159 Fus M S A Taylor RF ; UN Korea medal. Taylor is listed on the printed casualty roll as being wounded and listed in the Times on the 20th June 1953. This roll only has his first initial and no service number. However records held by the Royal Fusiliers museum in London contain a hand written list of the regiments casualties , which include service numbers, and this confirms Taylor as being Wounded in Action. Given the dates it is most likely he was wounded at “The Hook” in May 1953 “The battalion was placed under the command of 29th Brigade and, for a while, left it’s reserve area each night to occupy a position behind the Hook, returning at dawn to Area 3. The storm duly broke on the night of the 28*h May and the Hook was very heavily shelled and assaulted. But this attack was held ,at a cost by the 1s Bn The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. Early the following morning, 1”.Bn Royal Fusiliers was ordered to relieve the ‘Dukes’, the relief was completed by noon – a tall order, requiring the telescoping of all normal deployment of drill into a few hours. And so the battalion moved on to the Hook, with ‘A’ Company on the Hook itself, ‘D’ Company on Point 121 to the left, and ‘B’ Company on the Sausage, a feature on the right. On our left flank was unit of the Turkish Brigade, with whom a liaison was established. The whole of the Hook had been pulverized and an enormous amount of rebuilding was required in the course of the next fortnight. But all went well; the Chinaman had been given a bloody nose, and, although there was considerable shelling and mortaring with constant patrol activity, some small actions and occasional alerts for larger actions, nothing more developed. It is interesting to note that the Hook battle coincided with the ascent on Everest and the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth Il, and so received little media coverage in spite of the massive losses incurred. The Battle for The Hook was arguably a major factor in contributing to the Armistice which followed two months later. Coronation Day was just another day as far as the Royal Fusiliers were concerned, and any plans for a celebration fell through. Thus life went on until Mid-June, when we were relieved and went into reserve again in Area 3. At the end of June we took over Hill 355, a prominent feature on the extreme right and dominating the whole Divisional Area. Here too, things were fairly quiet, although the South Koreans to our right were attacked in force on several occasions. While in this position the weather broke again into torrential rain, breaking up roads, collapsing trenches, pouring into bunkers and making life generally miserable. Life on Hill 355 was like life on the Hook. A struggle ensued to have everything rebuilt and ready for the next onslaught. In Mid-July the Royal Fusiliers were relieved by the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry and went into reserve, and we hoped here we would stay. We moved on to the position where we had started eleven months ago – Samichon, and it was here we learned of a Truce, and passed from the fog of war, to the greater confusion of Peace.” Condition – NEF