Abbey Marks 60th Anniversary of the Korean War
Wednesday, 10th July 2013
His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester attended a Service of Thanksgiving to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of hostilities in the Korean War at the Abbey on Thursday 11th July.
In his bidding the Dean of Westminster, the very Reverend Dr John Hall, said:
Sixty years after the end of hostilities in Korea, we meet to thank God for the armistice and to pray for a lasting peace on the Korean peninsula.
Many gathered here vividly remember the three-year war. Well-established links between our two nations mean that Korean place names are no longer strange: Seoul, Busan, P’yongyang. But to the soldiers, such places mean much more: for these were the hills over which they fought.
We recall that the Korean War was fought by the United Nations: by the end of the war no fewer than twenty-four nations had taken part. We give thanks for collaboration between the nations.
The Address was given by Major General Mike Swindells CB, National President, British Korean Veterans Association (BKVA).
Colonel George Gadd OBE, National Chairman, BKVA, read Isaiah 25: 1-9 and The Right Honourable Mark Francois MP, Minister of State for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Pensions, read Ephesians 6: 10-18.
HE Sungnam Lim, Korean Ambassador to the Court of St James read a Presidential message from Park Geun-hye, President of the Republic of Korea.
Barry Tunnicliffe, Vice President, BKVA Birmingham Branch, read Absent Veterans by David Lidstone (1920-2004), Private, the Gloucestershire Regiment.
Major General Sir Peter Downward KCVO CB DSO DFC, Patron, BKVA, and HE the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea laid wreaths at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior.
