A Collection of Medals to Casualties from the Battle of Imjin River, 22-25 April 1951

Pair: Private C. C. Armstrong, 26th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, attached 1st Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, who was taken Prisoner of War along with the surviving Glosters on Hill 235 ‘Gloster Hill’ on the final day of the Battle of Imjin River, 25 April 1951

Korea 1950-53, 1st issue (7264990 Pte. C. C. Armstrong. R.A.M.C.); U.N. Korea 1950-54, unnamed as issued; together with the recipient’s card and aluminium identity discs, good very fine (2) £400-£500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to Casualties from the Battle of Imjin River, 22-25 April 1951.

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Charles C. Armstrong, a native of Morpeth, Northumberland, was born in 1920 and attested for the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1940. He saw active service during the Second World War before being posted to 26 Field Ambulance, 29 Infantry Brigade for service in Korea.

Armstrong's role during the Battle of Imjin River was as a Medical Orderly with No. 1 Section in a Dodge Ambulance transporting wounded between the Glosters Regimental Aid Post (R.A.P.) and 26th Field Ambulance. This became an increasingly dangerous job as Chinese troops began infiltrating behind the Glosters positions along the western flank of the 29th Brigade line.

Before midday on 23 April, a Dodge Ambulance of No. 1 section was making its way from the Glosters R.A.P. to 26th Field Ambulance when it was ambushed by Chinese troops. The driver, Private W. J. Carter, R.A.S.C. was wounded and left for dead whilst the Medical Orderly Private J. Webster, R.A.M.C. and seven wounded Glosters were taken prisoner.

In a statement made on 29 September 1953 to assist the War Office in determining the fates of soldiers listed “Missing” during the battle, Armstrong wrote: ‘As I was returning in an ambulance back to the R.A.P. of the Gloucestershire Regiment I met another ambulance which was evacuating wounded men. The ambulance orderly was Private Webster whom I spoke to, also the Driver Carter. This was at the Imjin River the date was 23 April 1951. That was the last I saw of them.’

Armstrong himself would only hours later be cut off by the encroaching Chinese; his Commanding Officer and Company Commander had visited the Glosters R.A.P. at mid-day on 23 April and in view of the tactical situation had decided to withdraw No. 1 Section and leave Dodge Ambulances manned by five men, including Armstrong, to maintain the evacuation as long as possible. By 1530 hours Armstrong and the Glosters were cut off by the Chinese forces.

Two days after being cut off, on 25 April, Armstrong was present at the last stand of the Glosters on Hill 235 ‘Gloster Hill’ before being taken prisoner and along with other British Prisoners of War from the battle was forced to endure a brutal forced march into North Korea. The march took several weeks, and a number of soldiers who fell ill or were wounded and could not keep up were left by the roadside. Armstrong witnessed the fate of one of these soldiers, Private W. J. Donaldson, Glosters, ‘On the march to the Camp this man was taken ill with Dysentery and Beri-Beri. About 15 miles from the Camp two men who were assisting him were ordered by a Chinese Officer to leave Donaldson by the road side. We never heard or saw him again. This happened on 9 June 1951.’

Officially posted as Missing in Action from 23 April 1951, the date that the Glosters were practically cut off from the remainder of 29th Brigade, on 26 September Armstrong's mother wrote to the War Office, ‘We have received a letter from our son Pte. C. C. Armstrong 7264990 that he is a Prisoner of War in a Chinese Camp No. 3. You will find his letter enclosed and hope that it may help. Yours faithfully, C. Armstrong. P.S. I can positively identify the writing as my son's.’

Charlie Armstrong died on 15 October 2002, aged 83, from injuries sustained in a gas explosion which destroyed a block of flats in West Bridgeford, Nottinghamshire twelve days earlier.