The final salute to a truly heroic soldier
AS A former soldier, I get rather annoyed at modern use of the word ‘hero’. Not everyone is a hero just because they have worn a uniform. The true heroes are those such as Sergeant William (Bill) Speakman, the last surviving recipient of the Victoria Cross from the Korean War, who recently passed away, aged 90, in the royal hospital Chelsea. The son of a servant, he joined up underage at the end of World War II. The Black Watch soldier arrived in Korea in 1951 and was attached to the 1st Battalion The King’s Own Scottish Borderers, with whom he became a signaller and ‘runner’ for B Company headquarters under Major Philip harrison. The battalion were defending a tactically important hill, known as United, from Chinese attacks. On November 4, a 6,000-strong force of Chinese soldiers descended on them. The 25-year-old Bill, on his own initiative, gathered a group of six other soldiers and, in a hugely outnumbered position over more than four hours, hurled a series of grenades at wave after wave of the enemy, holding them back despite being injured himself. As the company was finally ordered to retire with its wounded, Bill threw a final volley of smoke grenades to give them cover. later, in 1953 he joined the Special Air Service during the Malayan emergency, volunteering to find and bring back the bodies of two friends killed in a terrorist ambush in the jungle. he carried the bodies out one by one on his back, even though his feet were cut to shreds because he had been issued with the wrong-sized jungle boots. Bravery: Bill Speakman, who died recently. Inset: With his VC in 1952 For my part, I was called up for National Service in 1950 at the age of 18 and, following basic training and radio training, I volunteered to serve overseas, finding myself in the middle of a war as intense as any in World War II. My position in Korea was Observation Post Signaller, spending my time on the crests of hills seeking targets for our mortars to fire on. Bill was widely known among his fellow Korean War veterans, and those of us who fought in the same battle in November 1951 (which led to him being decorated with the Victoria Cross) know precisely what Bill did to become our hero. he always said that his mates performed equally as well. however, as it was not ‘medals all round’, their actions went mostly unrecognised. his funeral service is to be held on July 19 at 2pm in the Wren Chapel at the royal hospital Chelsea in the presence of his fellow in-pensioners, and I hope that old comrades from Bill’s regiment will also attend. he was a true hero who was presented with our nation’s highest bravery decoration in the first investiture of Queen elizabeth II. So please don’t refer to everyone who served in the Falklands, Iraq or Afghanistan as a hero. They volunteered to wear their uniform to serve their sovereign and their country to the best of their ability, and I thank them for that. But that does not make them a hero.