Send birthday wishes to war hero Tommy
HE spent two birthdays in isolation behind enemy lines – but a military museum is rallying forces so that Tommy Clough won’t feel like he’s alone on his 90th next week.
The Korean War veteran from Gloucester was a young man when he was captured by the Chinese Communist Army in the early 1950s.
He had been sent to the East Asian peninsula as part of a United Nations force despatched to Korea in 1950 when the Communist North Korea invaded South Korea without warning.
In the ensuing conflict British troops found themselves heavily outnumbered as soldiers from the Chinese Communist Army joined in the conflict.
Tommy was one of those brave boys who served with the Glosters at the Battle of Imjin River in 1951 when they were surrounded by Chinese forces on Hill 235, considered one the most significant military battles since the Second World War.
Hundreds of soldiers, on both sides, died in that action, but Tommy’s ordeal in “The Forgotten War” was yet to come when he was captured and spent two-and-a-half years as a prisoner. Tommy knows first hand how brutal isolation is, having spent months handcuffed in a disused toilet cubicle and six weeks in a cage during this time.
Now Tommy, who lives alone in Staverton, is having to spend his 90th birthday at home because of another enemy – this time one that can’t be seen.
The former gunner had hoped to mark his birthday along with the 70th anniversary, later this year, of the bloody battle he fought in with 170 Mortar Battery attached to the 1st Battalion The Gloucestershire Regiment.
Now the Soldiers of Gloucester Museum, in Gloucester Docks, want to make sure Tommy has a day to remember and hopes the public will come forward with sacks of cards to mark his special day.
It has launched an appeal to help Tommy celebrate his birthday in the manner a hero deserves. His birthday falls on February 24, two months before the battle’s anniversary. Today he is one of barely a handful of survivors alive to tell the story.
Tommy said: “Being isolated during lockdown is obviously very difficult for us all, but having spent more than two years of my life in a prisoner of war camp, I learnt what true isolation was.
“I wasn’t one to do what I was told, and as a result was punished by the Chinese more than once. On one occasion I was locked inside a small wooden crate and held there for over a month. So, although lockdown is clearly very difficult, I recognise that it could be a lot worse. We will get through it together.”
He had originally planned to be in South Korea in April to mark the significant anniversary alongside other veterans, which has been postponed because of the pandemic.
Yet he is hoping there might be an opportunity to participate in a new event later in the year, travel restrictions permitting.
The Battle of Imjin River is especially significant and remembered by the people of South Korea, because
Seoul, the country’s capital, lay only a short distance to its south as the Chinese forces advanced and the stubborn defence of the UN forces and the Glosters in particular played a vital role in halting their speed of advance.
Director of the Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum Vicki Hopson said: “Tommy has been a stalwart friend of the museum and has done so much to help us over the years and we just hope we can rally enough public support to show how much he and other veterans of this war are appreciated.
“We are appealing to all members of the public to send us any messages or cards they might have for Tommy and we will collate and pass them on to him.”
Cards and messages can be sent to the museum at the following address: Mr Tommy Clough, c/o The Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum, Custom House, 31 Commercial Road, Gloucester, GL1 2HE