Canberra War Memorial service commemorates 75 years since the Korean War started

Today marks 75 years since the Korean War started, when forces from the north, backed by China and the former Soviet Union, crossed into South Korea.

Transcript

00:00Well, we're expecting a turnout of a few hundred people here in Canberra this morning.

00:07In the very cold and wet conditions, the apparent temperature is minus two right now.

00:13But today is really about remembering what is often dubbed the Forgotten War.

00:18About 18,000 Australians served during the three-year conflict,

00:22which began just five years after the end of World War II.

00:26Of those, 340 Australians lost their lives.

00:31About 1,200 were wounded and 30 were taken prisoner.

00:35And of those Australians killed, 42 have no known grave.

00:40So today's National Commemorative Service is being held on Anzac Parade

00:45in front of the National Korean War Memorial,

00:47which is just down the road from the main war memorial.

00:51And you might be able to see behind me the polls at this memorial

00:55represent the lives lost during the conflict.

00:58Now, the Department of Veterans Affairs estimates

01:01there are about 1,000 Korean War veterans still alive in Australia today.

01:06And most of them are believed to be at least 93 years old.

01:10So today is being seen as the last significant milestone

01:14to honour these veterans, their service and their sacrifice,

01:18while some of them are still living.

01:21Now, we are expecting, we've been told that veterans and their families

01:25have travelled from across Australia to be here today.

01:28I'm told there is at least one veteran who's driven all the way from WA

01:33and he's in his 90s.

01:34So a very significant morning here in Canberra this morning

01:38and the service will kick off at half past 10.

01:43we're going to have to react to that.

01:45So, I'm going to ask you to give us a question.

01:46So we're going to ask you to look forward to this record,

01:48and can we get all the information from the game?

01:49How do we go to our rationale for our time,

01:50how are we, what are we going to do here?

01:52So I'm going to ask you to look forward to this record.

01:53I've been waiting on this record here.

01:54So, we've got the incidence.

01:56If you look forward to the following on of the events.

01:58And then you can see our test he has not been released on the screen.

01:59We have to be looked at the record.

02:01And, and I've been giving up that.

02:03So, we have to see where to weigh down.

02:05So we're going to look forward to that.