Chinese propaganda photograph taken at Camp 5, Pyoktong, North Korea, on the Yalu River near the ...

Chinese propaganda photograph taken at Camp 5, Pyoktong, North Korea, on the Yalu River near the Manchurian border, of four Australian POWs all captured while serving in Korea with the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR). They are all wearing typical Chinese issue padded uniforms, which offer some protection against the harsh winter temperatures of minus 40 degrees celsius endured at Camp 5, the Chinese POW camp on the Yalu River near the North Korean border with Manchuria.
Left to right: 2/400030 Private (Pte) Robert (Bob) Parker, 3/400024 Pte Keith Roy (Mo) Gwyther, Pte T H J Hollis and 2/400000 Corporal (Cpl) Donald Pattison (Old Man) Buck.
Pte Parker, Lieutenant Colonel Ferguson's personal dispatch rider, was captured on 24 April 1951 after leaving the battalion headquarters near Cheryong-Ni. He was riding his motor cycle down a road to the south, very shortly after leaving, when he was struck in the hip by Chinese machine gun fire and knocked of his motor cycle. Although not wounded he found his hip was paralysed, with some difficulty he managed to crawl to a nearby house from where he engaged the advancing Chinese with his Owen gun. Completely isolated and unable to walk he considered further resistance pointless and surrendered. Now a prisoner of war (POW) he hobbled north to the Chinese rear area. After being forced to carry Chinese wounded for several days he was marched 150 kilometres North West to a camp known from its diet as the "Bean Camp", where he was joined by another 3RAR soldier, Pte Gwyther, who had been captured on Hill 504. Gwyther was accidentally left behind after his company's withdrawal from Hill 504 on 24 April 1951. He was alone in a forward weapon pit at about 5.00pm, the other occupant, a Bren gunner, had gone to find out what was happening when a shell or mortar bomb exploded near by; he was buried and concussed by the blast. When he regained consciousness some hours later he saw Chinese digging in all around him. He was discovered, dug out and made to carry Chinese wounded from the battlefield. He joined a party of 24 Americans POWs and marched 150 kilometres to the "Bean Camp" where he joined Pte Parker. On 16 May 1951 they were marched to a collecting point where they met another 3RAR soldier, Cpl Buck, who had been captured along with Pte Hollis in the Inchon sector on 21 January 1951. Buck and Hollis were part of a reconnaissance patrol led by Lieutenant (Lt) A McDonald to investigate enemy positions in a broad valley north of Inchon. They reached a village on the far side of the valley that had been prepared by the Chinese as a defensive position, but was unoccupied, as the Chinese had left to attack the patrol's company position in Inchon. In the ensuing action A Company was forced to withdraw through Inchon before repulsing the Chinese attack. In the mean time Lt McDonald's patrol was still in no-man's land. They returned across the valley unaware that A Company had withdrawn, only to find 40 Chinese in front of their platoon's previous position. McDonald then led the patrol in a wide arc to a hut some 500 metres from their old position and decided to wait until daylight before attempting to move in. The hut was occupied and the Korean peasant had to be subdued before the patrol could enter. Unfortunately another Korean brought the Chinese to the hut. When Chinese voices were heard around the hut, the patrol dashed out only to encounter a circle of sub-machine guns and were forced to surrender. They were disarmed and marched to the rear area. The next night they were marched a further 30 kilometres to a battalion headquarters where they were interrogated. Lt McDonald, Cpl Buckland and Pte Light were separated from Cpl Buck and Pte Hollis. McDonald's party was marched away for further interrogation and eventually to a POW "education school" where they joined a group of thirty American POWs. On 7 February 1951 this group of POWs was set free near their own lines and after some anxious moments managed to make their way safely across no-man's land to an American position. Buck and Hollis were not so fortunate; they were not released until August 1953. Buck and Hollis were now also separated. Hollis was marched northward on 24 April 1951 with a party of 350 POWs and after a grueling march reached Camp 5, the POW camp on the Yalu River near the North Korean border with Manchuria, on 12 August 1951. Buck was moved to a holding camp where he was joined by Parker and Gwyther, who had marched in from the "Bean Camp". On the night of 5 June they all set off to march to Camp 5. The next night Parker and Buck escaped, dropping out of the column and made for the coast. On the loose for eleven days, they were eventually re-captured by a North Korean patrol and handed back to the Chinese who sent them first to Camp 9 (the Caves) and then along with two American POWs, who had also been re-captured, to indoctrination school (Camp 12). They eventually reached Camp 5, their original destination, in mid December 1951. Pte Gwyther also escaped from the march to Camp 5 with an American, but like Parker and Buck was also re-captured, eventually finding his way to Camp 5 to re-join Parker and Buck and Pte Hollis. The four Australians were slated as "reactionaries" and were subjected to various periods of "corrective discipline". Conditions in the camp were brutal, random beatings were common as was many forms of torture. On 25 June 1952 Cpl Buck organized and led an escape bid by 24 POWs, which also included Parker, Gwyther and Hollis. All the escapees were re-captured, as the Chinese had been informed by a treacherous American POW. All the escapees were subjected to a month in the "Sweet Box" and Buck was removed to the guard's quarters where he was subjected to frequently beatings over a two week period for not confessing to being the leader of the escape. Cpl Buck and Pte Parker were released during Operation Big Switch on 6 August 1953 and Pte Hollis and Pte Gwyther three days later. All four Australians were mentioned in despatches for their outstanding conduct while prisoners of war.