Ken Jones provides a thorough account of his service as an Artificer Sergeant and tank engineer for the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) during the Korean War.

Fours years after being in the Army Cadet force, he began his military career at the early age of seventeen and three quarters. It was his ambition to join the REME as an engineer and after six weeks training with the South Wales Borderers, he would make the transition. Some time after serving in Germany during the aftermath of the war, he was summoned to Hanover where a Sergeant told him that he was going to Korea with the A Platoon.

Arriving in Korea, Ken was assigned to Tac HQ ( 2 miles behind the front line) where he was placed in charge of tank repairs and preserving them in preparation for battle in no man’s land. Based near the reservoir, the tanks would move across various hills into their battle positions.

He shares memories of narrowly avoiding destruction from six mortars while crossing a ridge to Korean troops who would remain elusive by hiding inside a camouflaged cave, only travelling at night to deliver supplies before scrambling back to the sanctity of the cave. He also reveals the cruelty inflicted by some of their own men towards local Koreans who resisted them.

In Korea, the terrain was just as much an enemy as the north Korean forces, proven when Ken describes a near miss involving a tank which ran out of control down a hill, crushing everything in its path. Tanks themselves could be death traps and this was no more apparent when operating a Churchill from WWII, Ken believing that anyone who managed to survive in such a machine should have been awarded a medal.

He details the effectiveness of tanks and how despite their versatility, they were perhaps less mobile and more static during times of war than younger generations may believe.

Ken’s interview captures the intricacies of tank warfare and the contributions of the engineers who ensured their efficacy during the Korean War.