From the Imjin to the Hook: A National Service Gunner in the Korean War

The British Army’s considerable contribution to The Korean War 1950 – 1953 was largely composed of ‘conscripts’ or national servicemen. Plucked from civilian life on a ‘lottery’ basis and given a short basic training, some like Jim Jacobs volunteered for overseas duty and suddenly found themselves in the thick of a war as intensive and dangerous as anything the Second World War had had to offer.

As a member of 170 Independent Mortar Battery RA from March 1951 to June 1952 Jim was in the fron...