An 89-year-old war veteran has been presented with a Korean War Medal for his service during the conflict.

Les Garrett received the award on Tuesday evening at Ramsey Town Hall, presented to him by the Lieutenant Governor, Sir Richard Gozney with the Royal British Legion and Royal Naval Association in attendance.

The Korean War began in June 1950 between North Korea and South Korea, after North Korea invaded South Korea following clashes along the border and insurrections in the south.

Nearly 60,000 British combat troops saw action during the war in Korea, who came from both the regular army and national servicemen. It saw heavy casualties - 1,100 British soldiers were killed and 37,000 Americans lost their lives. Korean casualties were much higher.

The war ended unofficially on July 27, 1953 in an armistice.

Les’s son, Juan Garrett said of his father: ’He enlisted in the national service in Wales, in 1950/51, and then was sent to Hong Kong to join the training camp there. He was eventually assigned to the 20th regiment of the Royal Artillery.

’He would roll the wheels for 25-pound guns, the ’layer of the gun’, at the Battle of the Hook. He was in quite a few places on guard duty before he went to the frontline but it was quite a lot to experience for a 20-year-old man from the Isle of Man.’

Juan said he believes there were a lot of Korean War veterans from here but he’s unsure how many are still alive.

’There were certainly a handful of veterans who were enlisted around the same time,’ he said.

’In order for my dad to get given this medal, we had to prove that he was genuinely in the Korean War and had to hand over his discharge papers. Between myself and the Korean Embassy, they were able to prove that he was where he had said he was [back then].

’He always wanted to go back to Korea after the war, but unfortunately he had a stroke in 2016 and so he’s not been able to travel back since.’

Juan said that Korean War veterans were forgotten about initially after the war ended.

’It’s very important that people remember - it was a short time after the Second World War and I think people just didn’t want to hear about it.

’The veterans are extremely proud of what they did and the peace keeping they helped with, although it’s a conflict that’s never been resolved, they’ve not been forgotten in South Korea and they were sent Christmas cards and letters of thanks.’

Les is very grateful for his medal and formed strong friendships with those he fought alongside.

Juan said: ’It’s something he’s always been proud of and the camaraderie and friendship that’s endured and overrides the horrors they went through and those will last a lifetime.

’He would go back to Korea tomorrow if he could.’