Every year for the past 64 years, Harry Edmonds remembers.
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For three years, one month and two days, Australian soldiers became “the Frozen Chosen”, fighting in extreme temperatures in what became known as ”The Forgotten War”.
Thursday, July 27, 2017, marks 64 years since an Armistice was signed, and a ceasefire called in 1953, creating the Korean Demilitarised Zone; an area separating North and South Korea.
However, as no peace treaty was signed, North and South Korea are still technically at war.
Ironic, as we once again fear the North.
Harry Edmonds fought in some of the bloodiest and darkest moments of the Korean War. Now as president of the Wagga RSL sub-branch, looking back is still bittersweet.
“Summer time, it was very hot. Extremely hot and in the winter time, is was just the opposite. Just imagine you dampened your hair to comb it. By the time you got your comb out, your hair had turned to ice. Yeah, it was cold. In some cases, 30 below,” he said.
Uniforms were the same as those worn by Australians in World War I and II and were ill-equipped for the extreme conditions.
However, Mr Edmonds said while American soldiers’ hands and feet turned black from frostbite, he never heard it happened to Aussies.
It will be these thoughts that Harry will be turning over in his mind as Wagga is invited to attend a Ceasefire Commemorative Service and wreath-laying ceremony at the Victory Memorial Gardens, Thursday, July 27 from 10.30am.