Bill's Belgian Medals

The Korean War

    The medals above are representative of those issued to Belgian servicemen who served during the
    Korean War. 3,500 volunteers served in the Belgian Battalion during the Korean War, between 18th
    December 1950 and 27 July 1953.  A first contingent served in 1951-52, with a second contingent serving
    from 1952-53.  A total of 102 Belgian soldiers were killed and almost 350 were wounded.

    The Korean medal in the centre had three battle bars corresponding with Korean War battle honours -
    Imjin 1951;Haktang-Ni 1951 & Chatkol 1953.  The ribbon could also have the Coree-Korea Bar and the
    medal shown also has a red cross wound badge mounted on the ribbon.

    The Volunteer medal on the right  was primarily used for the Korean War with a bar denoting Korean
    service there, but also as a retroactive award to those entitled to the WW2 medal but who had not
    received it before the application date for it expired on 3 July 1951. In this case a "1940-1945" bar was
    added to the ribbon. The same applied to WW I volunteers and they were entitled to have a 1914-1918  
    bar, although there would only have been very few of those that did not receive the proper WW I medal at
    the time. Volunteers that saw combat action received a bar "Pugnator," originally in bronze and then in
    silver.

    My good friend Kurt Van Camp managed to find
    an exceptional Korean War Group of 11 medals
    complete with all certificates.

    What makes it special is not only that it has a
    range of other service records including
    marksman certificates, is that 1st Sergeant Marcel
    Vermeiren has all of the Korean battle honours on
    his Korean Medal - Imjin 1951;Haktang-Ni 1951 &
    Chatkol 1953.  Of course, he also had the Coree-
    Korea Bar.

    The fact that Sgt Vermeiren served as a Belgian
    Commando might explain this distinction, but I
    wish I could know more about the US Presidential
    and Korean citations he received.   There has to
    be an interesting history there.

    Despite Sgt Vermeiren's awards, shown on his
    uniform ribbon bars, he didn't receive a Croix de
    Guerre - unusual?

    At the left and below is another
    fabulous World War 2 and Korean
    War Group.
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See more on the Belgian Korean War campaign at:
http://belgian-volunteercorps-korea.be/
    I
    A U.S. report on Belgian involvement
    reported:

    "In 1950 Belgium, which is one of
    America’s closest NATO allies, sent a
    battalion of 602 volunteer soldiers,
    including a 44-man detachment from
    Luxembourg, to fight in the Korean War.
    By June 30, 1952, the number grew to
    623 and then to 944 by July 31, 1953. By
    the end of 1953, 101 Belgian and two
    Luxembourg soldiers had died.

    The battalion arrived in Korea in October
    1950 and went through orientation
    training at the U.N. Reception Center in
    Taegu before it was attached to the U.S.
    3rd Infantry Division, I Corps. The
    mission of the division was to neutralize
    the Chinese Communist control of the
    high ground, and to advance I Corps to a
    new defensive line called “Jamestown” in
    order to keep the enemy off-balance. In
    October 1951 the Belgian battalion
    reinforced the 5th Calvary Regiment, U.
    S. 1st Cavalry Division, with the mission
    of taking Hill 346 to advance to Line
    Jamestown. Enemy resistance was
    tenacious, but under heavy ground and
    air assaults by the U.N. Forces, the
    Chinese 47th Army was reduced to half-
    strength losing 21,000 men during the
    Oct. 3-19, 1951 battle.
Last Updated 25 July 2008