AWM Cold War Gallery

The Australian War Memorial reopens its new-look Cold War Gallery today.

Transcript

00:00It's fair to say that Korea can often be regarded, certainly by veterans, as the forgotten rule.

00:11And why is that?

00:12I think Bill Collins from the RAF quite said it beautifully when he said, people didn't

00:17even know I'd come home.

00:19Not that I'd been away, but they didn't know I'd come home.

00:22And in fact, they said, what are those medals for?

00:25In terms of Australians, we have 340 Australians on the Roll of Honour, 30 were POWs, and over

00:321,200 were wounded.

00:33Well, today, we look to change that.

00:35Today, and ongoing, through the development of this new gallery and the presence to all

00:40the Australian people, we commemorate the 74th anniversary of the Korean War.

00:45There's a bit over 17,000 that served in Korea, about 18,500.

00:52There's not many of us left now, of course.

00:57In Canberra, there's only four of us left, and two of us are still on our feet, living

01:05in humpies and shelters made out of old flattened-out beer cans.

01:14But the people were in the most awful plight and starving and dying of starvation.

01:22I think they are the main things that affected me as a young person when I went there, and

01:31how they have recovered themselves now.

01:36The people and the government of Korea will never forget and will still remember that

01:42prestigious sacrifice and support from the United Nations Command and Allies, including Australia.