Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A scarce ‘Double-issue’ Korea group of three awarded to Private J. E. Mortimer, Dorset Regiment, attached Gloucestershire Regiment, who was wounded in action on 12 April 1951, prior to the Battle of Imjin

Korea 1950-53, 1st issue (4627715 Pte. J. Motimer [sic].Glosters.) with minor official correction to both rank and surname; Korea 1950-53, 1st issue (4627715 Pte. J. E. Mortimer. Dorset.); U.N. Korea 1950-54, unnamed as issued, light contact marks, very fine (3) £400-£500

John Edward Mortimer was born at Risbridge, Essex, on 26 August 1930, and attested for the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment as a boy soldier in 1946. In 1948 the Dukes were the basic training unit of the Yorkshire and Northumberland Brigade, and on turning 18 Mortimer was posted to the 1st Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment. At this time the Battalion was in Austria, and whilst stationed there he transferred to the Dorset Regiment.

Mortimer served attached to the 1st Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment in Korea, and was reported wounded in action on 12 April 1951. With the loss of the Battalion War Diary at the Battle of Imjin the circumstances by which Mortimer was wounded are unclear. During the first week in April 1951 the 29th Brigade left the Yongdungpo area and moved on through Seoul to positions in the line on the left flank of the US 1st Corps. This move forward by the UN Forces to seize more dominant ground on which to establish a new defence line was the prelude to the establishment of ‘Line Kansas’ which brought the 27th Brigade to Kapyong and the 29th on the line of the Imjin. During the first ten days of April the British and their Belgian comrades closed up and settled into the Imjin River line. The Glosters moved up to cover the river on the Brigades left flank. The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers covered the centre leaving the Royal Ulster Rifles to concentrate on the right.

Looking across the river, there was considerable uncertainty as to where the enemy was located. By day each rifle company maintained a number of observation posts and by night standing patrols were active. There were contacts but 29th Brigade casualties were light. Farrar-Hockley notes that two were killed and five wounded in the course of all contacts on and beyond their main positions, principally from mines (The British Part in the Korea War, Volume II refers).

On the 12 April two company groups from the Glosters and a Squadron of 8th Hussars moved across the Imjin to a distance of seven miles in an operation aptly named ‘Cygnet’ (a small ‘swan’ into enemy territory). One officer and ten men from the Glosters, including Mortimer, were wounded (The Times casualty list refers) on this date. It is known that Private Mortimer made a swift recovery (or else his wounds were not too serious), as he was subsequently present at the Battle of Imjin River (Imjin Roll refers).

Mortimer was discharged from the Army on 28 August 1960, after 12 years’ service, and died in Warminster, Wiltshire, in 1980.