Community & Business
3 August, 2026
Masterton remembered on Korean Vets’ Day
Pittsworth Returned and Services League (R.S.L.) Sub-branch, with assistance from the 19th Australian Army Cadets Unit (19ACU), held a commemorative service on Korean Veterans’ Day (27 July) at the Soldiers’ Memorial School of Arts. In a moment of quiet reflection as the Last Post was played, the community remembered Pittsworth’s fallen soldier, Bill Masterton.
“This year’s the 71st anniversary when armistice was signed to end the fighting in Korea,” President of the Pittsworth R.S.L. Sub-branch, Allan Petersen OAM, said.
“Today our small Sub-branch pays our respect to all those Australians who served in what was also known as the Forgotten War.”
He also acknowledged all ex-servicemen and women, and those in active service.
A prayer was said by Mal Norris before Cadet Warrant Officer Class II Ashford McEwan gave the address.
“Today, we pause to reflect on the 18,000 Australian soldiers, sailors, airmen and nurses who served in the Korean War, 339 of them would not make it home,” he said.
“One such soldier, was Warrant Officer Class II Allen Bruce “Bill” Masterton, a relative of the Faux family.
“He joined the army at 17, served five years with the AIF in the Middle East and Pacific, and another eight years in Japan and Korea.
“His final post was with the Britcom Postal Unit.”
Cadet McEwan touched on Bill’s life as a comrade, a beloved cousin and nephew, and a friend to many.
He met his untimely end in April 1953, away from the perils of any battle, when he drowned in a lake near Iwakuni in Japan.
Jim and Mabel Faux (Bill’s uncle and aunt) of Allport Street, received a letter from Padre Lieutenant Colonel Laing, who expressed his sympathies to the family.
Padre Laing considered Bill a very good friend and comrade, having served with him in Korea and Japan.
In his address, Cadet McEwan reflected on his own family’s contribution to Australia’s war history.
“My great grandfather, Robert Murdoch, served in the Australian Army from July 1940 to October 1944, in the Middle East, Egypt, and in New Guinea during the Second World War.
“My great grandmother, Annett Murdoch, served in the Royal Australian Air Force from October 1941 to October 1944.
“Their service reflected not only commitment, but quiet strength and resilience in a time when the world was uncertain and fragile.
“Their stories, and Bill’s story too, will be forever remembered if we continue to share our rich history with the next generation, that they would be encouraged to live out the values of mateship, loyalty, respect and courage.
“May these stories never be forgotten,” Cadet McEwan said.
Mr Norris sounded the R.S.L.’s Condamine bell in honour of fallen soldier Bill Masterton.
Sub-branch Secretary Mike Vogler recited the Ode.
The service ended after the Australian, New Zealand and British National Anthems were sung by Cadet McEwan and Tony McEwan.
After the ceremony, the community was invited inside to explore the R.S.L. rooms.
WHY THE ‘FORGOTTEN WAR’?
The Korean War came too close on the heels of World War II, to a world that was weary of fighting, only to be overshadowed in the mid 1950s by the deeply divisive conflict in Vietnam.
It therefore earned its place in the history pages as the ‘Forgotten War’.
United States President Harry S. Truman (1945-53), described it as a ‘police action’, as America never formally declared war on North Korea, and the military fought under the United Nations flag.
Australia was at this time pushed to join the war effort in a move to further cement a firm alliance with the United States.
We became the second nation among 21 others to join the fight against the communist aggression in what was the first open conflict of the Cold War in 1950.
At the Battle of Kapyong, an Australian battalion of approximately 800 soldiers, along with another from Canada, defeated an entire Chinese division (approximately 15,000 men), and prevented it from taking Seoul.
An armistice was signed on 27th July, 1953 which established the heavily fortified border barrier that stands today between North and South Korea, known as the Demilitarised Zone.
It is estimated that four million Korean and Chinese people died in the war, more than half were Korean civilians.
