Memories of Service 1 - Les Hughes

Web (Full Length) – 2015

in this interview, Les Hughes recalls serving in the Korean War. Hughes was an artillery gunner in 161 Battery of the Royal New Zealand Artillery. He was involved in the Battle of Kapyong, where UN troops withstood a massive Chinese attack, helping to prevent the capture of Seoul, the South Korean capital. Then aged 86, Hughes reminisces about that battle and his training back in New Zealand, the Kiwi troop’s lack of equipment, and the journey home at war's end. Some 31 Kiwi soldiers were killed in action in Korea. Hughes himself passed away on 19 February 2016.

We came to this big American dump … and in the dump were tyres and petrol, but there were a whole lot of cartons of Hershey’s chocolates and tins of orange juice. So we spotted this and the whole lot of us stopped. Typical Kiwis. And of course as you’re going along your gun barrels are sticking up. So we loaded the gun barrels up with these tins of fruit juice.
– Les Hughes