Mike Kelly (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the shadow minister for veterans' affairs for setting the scene and the historical background for these comments. The Korean War has been described as a forgotten war. I would like to address my remarks to a forgotten aspect of the forgotten war, which it was my great privilege to work to resolve and remediate during the period of trying to establish the Defence Honours and Awards Appeal Tribunal when Labor was last in government. We dealt with a lot of outstanding issues over a long historical period for various veterans and groups.

One of those groups was the veterans who had served during the so-called Korean War armistice period. When we think back on the conflict, it is poorly understood in the historical context. This was one of the very first of the hot phases of the so-called Cold War period. Aggressive international communism was on the march, and we would be confronting that again in Vietnam. The extra dimension that was at play in the Korean War was, of course, the potential for that conflict to escalate into a nuclear confrontation. There were discussions during that war about getting nuclear weapons used during that conflict, and General Macarthur was quite forward leaning in attempting to do that, so there was a real risk of an escalated nuclear conflict. We have to look at the service of our veterans in the context of having averted that catastrophe and having staunched the tide of international communism as it flowed through the Korean peninsula. There has been a lot of focus on that hot phase of the war, through to 1953, as if it were all that was involved in the conflict. But the period of the armistice, beginning in July 1953 and going through to 19 April 1956, was a very difficult one for our forces serving there, and it went completely unrecognised. We lost up to 18 soldiers during that period of time.

Some of the veterans have laboured long and hard to try to redress that lack of recognition, in particular Shoalhaven resident Bob Morris, who became the president of the Korean War Veterans Recognition Committee. He described the Korean War as 'one of the dirtiest, bloodiest and coldest conflicts of the 20th century'. We have to understand the extremes they had to survive while dealing with the threats they were facing during that static phase of the Korean War period.

Bob Morris was one of those dynamic, wonderful Australians who really put body and soul into achieving recognition at the same time as many of these veterans were passing on. He wanted to make sure that there were enough of them and their families who understood that that mission had been accomplished, that recognition would be achieved. When Bob first came to see me he estimated that there were about only 3,000 of these veterans left.

A Korean post-armistice service review was established in 2005 to investigate and recommend appropriate recognition. The panel comprised Rear Admiral Ian Crawford AO, AM; Gary Nehl AM; Ms Colleen Thurgar AM; and Brigadier Gordon Jones AM. They went through the whole process of analysing the campaign and the period and came up with a couple of recommendations with regard to general service medal recognition and returned from active service recognition.

Of course there was some degree of antipathy and opposition to doing this. The matter tended to atrophy for a while, but Bob Morris, Rod Coupland, their wives and supporters never gave up on the cause. It was my privilege to work closely with them. In spite of some of the advice that I received, I was determined that they would get their recognition. I was delighted in October 2008 that we did manage to get approval to issue a Returned from Active Service Badge. It was my call to make that decision, even though we did not get the review of the conditions of service at the time that we were looking for. I did have the ability to make that determination and I did. We also sought royal assent to create a new medal recognising those who had served during that period. That assent was given and those proud veterans did receive that award.

It was wonderful to see the sheer gratitude and difference that that made to those very proud veterans and their families. Afterwards we were trying to get the message across that all the Korean War memorials really needed their inscription changed to 1950-56 rather than to 1953. We should be enormously grateful for what those proud veterans endured, what they put up with, and what they achieved in fending off what could have become a much more dire situation for not only our country but the world. I pay tribute today to Bob Morris and the team who achieved that outcome.

Also talking on the Korean War gives me the opportunity to pay tribute to one particular great soldier who passed away on 13 January this year—Thomas Lloyd Muggleton MBE. Tom Muggleton was a legend in the Australian Army. He had an amazing career. He was one of those soldiers who were the definition of all the values of soldering that we would hope to emulate. He had an amazing career. At the age of 19, as part of the 2nd AIF, he fought at the end of the Second World War in Wewak-Aitape campaigns with the 2nd/5th Infantry Battalion. He then carved out a career in the Army, serving right through the postwar period into the early 1950s, when the Korean War broke out. He was in the Japanese occupation forces when he met his future wife, Thelma, who was Australian Army nurse. What a wonderful woman Thelma was as well.

Tommy Muggleton went back to Korea and fought the Battle of Broken Bridge on the Taeryong River. He was also involved very intimately in the Kapyong Battle—and we heard details of that referred to—as part of 3RAR as a company sergeant major. He did become quite legendary for his efforts during that battle. He brought a lot of the learnings from those experiences to future recruits and future soldiers. He was also at Maryang San in October 1951. This man endured a great deal through the dying phases of World War Two through the major confrontations and battles of the Korean War.

Tom went on to fulfil many postings and duties in his illustrious Army career. He was the RSM of the Royal Military College Duntroon. And he also went on to serve in 5RAR in Vietnam to finish his period of active service. Later, he was also the OC of Headquarter Company at Duntroon as a major on promotion, and at the same time his son was a cadet at RMC, Paul Muggleton—I will come back to him. But when Tom left the Army, he actually worked in the House of Representatives tabling office here in this very building before ultimately retiring to the Gold Coast.

What a great couple they were, Tommy and Thelma, and their children were very special too and imbibed all the values of this great pair. In particular, my closest friend, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Muggleton, was the son of Tommy and, unfortunately, he passed away in December 2013 from bowel cancer and it was a great tragedy to the family. Thelma passed away in 2015. But Tommy Muggleton will never be forgotten. The Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove was at his funeral and delivered an eulogy and said, 'On behalf of all Australians, I have to say, Australia has lost one of its finest.' And no truer words were spoken. Tommy and Thelma left behind some surviving children, daughters MaryRose, Denise and Alison. They also have obviously done their parents proud and I know their parents were very proud of them.

Today, my thoughts turn to not only those wonderful veterans who finally got recognition after so many years of neglect but also a truly great soldier who built the Army, shaped the Army that I ended up joining, and that we salute and pay tribute to today; and also a very fine man whom I will never forget, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Muggleton, who was also in his own right a fine man and a fine soldier.

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