Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The Korean War pair awarded to Sergeant W. Thompson, Royal Air Force, who was killed when his Sunderland crashed on Formosa (Taiwan) in January 1951

Korea 1950-53 (1570600 Sgt. W. Thompson, R.A.F.); U.N. Korea 1950-54, extremely fine (2) £800-1000

William Thompson, who was born in July 1922, was killed on 28 January 1951, when Sunderland PP 107 of No. 205 Squadron crashed in poor weather on Mount Yuli in Formosa, Taiwan, at an altitude of around 1600 metres. All the embarked personnel - five regular crew and nine passengers - died.

Owing to the harsh nature of the terrain, it was not possible to recover their bodies and they were interred at the crash site at Chung Ping Shan, near Yuli. They are commemorated by name on the Commonwealth Memorial in the United Nations Cemetery at Pusan. Sunderland PP 107 had been bound for Hong Kong from the R.A.F. base at Iwakuni, Japan, flying a support mission for U.N. Command.

In November 2005, as reported in the Taipei Times, a special memorial was unveiled near the crash site under the auspices of the British Trade and Cultural Office (B.T.C.O.), the ceremony being attended by local Aborigines who had witnessed the crash half a century earlier:

‘The remains of the airmen were never recovered due to the inaccessibility of the site and the mountainous terrain, as the plane crashed high above Chungping village, in Hualien’s Chuohsi Township.

“It crashed into thick jungle on the mountainside and then exploded,” recalled Huang Sheng-he, an 80-year old Aboriginal hunter who witnessed the crash and was involved in the rescue efforts 54 years ago.

Huang, 25 at the time, said he heard a huge explosion as the plane crashed. The local police mobilized the villagers to help with rescue efforts but because of the difficult conditions, the bodies were simply buried under leaves on the side of the mountain. later, many of the aircraft’s components, including twisted pieces of metal and the frame, were taken away and sold by local businessmen.

After the crash, the site became a no-go area for local Aboriginal hunters as they believed it was haunted by the ghosts of the dead servicemen.’

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