The pre-dawn darkness of 25 June 1950 was shattered by the tanks and artillery of the North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) pouring over the 38th parallel. The NKPA attack violated the fragile peace that had been in place since the Korean peninsula had been divided into the Communist north and US-backed south after the fall of the Japanese empire at the end of the Second World War. The invasion sparked a war in which the recently created United Nations (UN) became a major combatant in its first armed conflict.
Through 1950 and 1951 the war raged up and down the Korean peninsula. The North Korean offensive was countered by one led by the UN Command. In October 1950 Communist China entered the war and launched a massive attack that drove the UN troops back down south. An Australian unit, the Third Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), stepped into this seesaw war in September 1950 and by April 1951 they had fought almost to the Chinese frontier and back. As the Anzac Day anniversary approached the battalion was resting from weeks of hard fighting when a renewed Chinese offensive broke through the UN lines to the north. 3RAR were rushed to the Kapyong valley to block the advance.
At a junction of the Kapyong River the road to Seoul runs between a long low ridge and a high mountain (Hill 504) with two spur lines running down toward the road. With 20,000 Chinese troops advancing down the road the hopelessly outnumbered Australians deployed to meet them. Captain Darcy Laughlin’s B Company occupied the ridge between the road and the river. Captain Norm Gravener’s Don Company climbed to the summit of Hill 504 while Temporary Major Ben O’Dowd’s A Company spread out along the forward spur. Temporary Captain Reg Saunders C Company dug in on the second spur, behind A.
Battalion headquarters took up a position in the rear, covering the river crossing. Chinese troops had infiltrated the refugee column moving along the road. As the sun set, they began firing at A and B Company using the crowd as cover. The refugees scattered and the Chinese spread out, launching human wave assaults on the forward companies. The attacks followed one after the other all through the night. B Company was enveloped but fought on. At dawn the Chinese scaled Hill 504 and attacked Don Company. Still 3RAR held.
An ill-considered decision by the battalion commander, Temporary Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Ferguson, ordered B Company off their ridge. The Chinese seized the opportunity and occupied it. The manoeuver allowed them to fire into the flank of the Australian positions. In an attempt to recover from the mistake, Lieutenant Len Montgomery and his men were ordered to retake the position. Their heroic but doomed bayonet charge bought time for the men in the rifle companies, but withdrawal was inevitable.
With the approaching darkness of the second day of battle, O’Dowd organised a covered withdrawal to the ridgeline running south from the Don Company position. In Indian file the battalion fell back. Each company retreating and covering the others in turn until they reached the river and sanctuary in the dark. 3RAR’s stubborn defence against overwhelming odds robbed the enemy offensive of momentum. A similar fighting withdrawal by the nearby Canadian battalion contributed to the Chinese Communist advance in the Kapyong Valley bogging down. 3RAR and the Canadians earned the prestigious US Presidential Unit Citation for bravery.
By the end of the year the UN Command opposed Chinese numbers with sophisticated military technology and, by 1952, the war had dug into a dreadful stalemate. On 27 July 1953 an armistice was finally agreed. The demilitarised zone it created was close to the same demarcation line over which the war had begun. Although an armistice is in place, no peace treaty has been signed. The Korean War has never ended.
This highly significant medal group is one of the treasures in the Anzac Memorial’s collection. It belonged to Alexander James Lavell and it tells the story of almost thirty years of military service spanning the Second World War to Australia’s involvement in Vietnam.
Lavell was just 20 years old when he enlisted for overseas service in May 1941. As a gunner with 2/12th Field Regiment, he saw action in North Africa at El Alamein and in the Pacific theatre. He left the army after the war but was among the first to volunteer for K-Force when the war broke out in Korea in 1950.
As a section commander with 3RAR Lavell took part in the famous battles at Pakchon, Kapyong and Maryang San. Pinned above his Korean War Medal is the blue ribbon brooch with a gold border which is the US Presidential Unit Citation awarded to 3RAR for their gallant defence of the Kapyong Valley on the eve of Anzac Day 1951. Following the armistice on 27 July 1953, 3RAR was tasked with training and border patrols until their return to Australia in November 1954.
Photo: From left to right; The 1939-45 Star; the Africa Star; the Pacific Star; the Defence Medal; the British War Medal; The Australian Service Medal; The Korea Medal; the United Nations Service Medal with bar "KOREA"; the General Service Medal (1918-64) with bar "MALAYA"; the Vietnam Medal and the South Vietnam Government Medal with clasp "1960-". Pinned above the Korean War medal is the US Presidential Unit Citation (PUC). Anzac Memorial Collection.
This highly significant medal group is one of the treasures in the Anzac Memorial’s collection. It belonged to Alexander James Lavell and it tells the story of almost thirty years of military service spanning the Second World War to Australia’s involvement in Vietnam. Lavell was just 20 years old when he enlisted for overseas service in May 1941. As a gunner with 2/12th Field Regiment, he saw action in North Africa at El Alamein and in the Pacific theatre. He left the army after the war but was among the first to volunteer for K-Force when the war broke out in Korea in 1950.
As a section commander with 3RAR Lavell took part in the famous battles at Pakchon, Kapyong and Maryang San. Pinned above his Korean War Medal is the blue ribbon brooch with a gold border which is the US Presidential Unit Citation awarded to 3RAR for their gallant defence of the Kapyong Valley on the eve of Anzac Day 1951. Following the armistice on 27 July 1953, 3RAR was tasked with training and border patrols until their return to Australia in November 1954.
Photo: Alexander Lavell c. 1957-1960, Anzac Memorial Collection.
After the Korean War, Lavell stayed on in the army and was sent to Malaya during the Emergency (1948-1960) to fight communist bandits in the Malayan jungle. A decade later, his experience was put to good use when he embarked for his fourth war as a Warrant Officer Class 2 in the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam where he served until May 1967. Lavell retired with the rank of Warrant Officer, but his long years of service had taken their toll, and he died in a repatriation hospital in December 1969. Today Alexander Lavell’s remarkable medal group is proudly on display in the Memorial's permanent gallery.