25th June 1950 – 27th July 1953
Wilcannia born Hughie Woodberry volunteered for this war,
this is his story.
Hughie was born in the Wilcannia hospital in 1932 to Barney and Biddy Woodberry. He grew up when things were very tough for families. He had seen his father go off to the 2nd WW and told he was a prisoner of war for four years in Changi camp. His mum raised him and his older brother on her own in those years.
Dad didn’t talk to us kids much about his time in Korea.
Hugh Jeffrey Woodberry volunteered for the Korean war. 14th August 1952. People did not have to enlist in the Korean War.
Dad was in the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment.
He did his training at the Puckapunyal army base just outside of Seymour in Victoria. Not sure on how long he trained for before he left Australia for Korea.
He was a stretcher bearer whilst in the war. We are guessing he would have seen some horrible things doing this job.
Dad changed the year of his birth date when going to Korea, unsure why he did this. He was only 19 before he went off to war.
He told me once that he got into trouble whilst on R&R and him and another guy were put on toilet/shower cleaning duties. They decided to let this one guy have it with the big water hoses whilst he was on the toilet. He had a good mate from New Zealand whilst he was there and not sure if he was in on this prank. Dad told a Wilcannia fella that the Yanks didn’t treat the Aussie that well over there. Dad wrote to people whilst he was over there and they included the Barradale girls and Mr Cramp from Comala station.
Hughie finished his service on 20th August 1953, 372 days in service.
Returning from Korea a lot of our service men and women were greeted with indifference from the Australian public.
This article appeared in Wilcannia News, 29 April 2025.