From Leicester to Korea, and back again!: H.M.T.S. Empire Fowey

3rd December 2021

8th King's Royal Irish Hussars, From The Archives, The Korean War

Reproduced, with kind permission, from the personal accounts of George Painter, Royal Signals att 8th Hussars.

Part Two. The trip on H.M.T.S. Empire Fowey to Korea.

And so it was, without checking dates, that we were due to leave Southampton towards the end of September 1950 to embark on the troopship Empire Fowey for Korea.

The make up of the regimental personnel changed dramatically from just a few months ago at Leicester. Once the regiment was designated as going to Korea all of the National Servicemen were posted out and replaced by WW2 Reservists. I believe that some National Servicemen remained as volunteers. Later N.S. Men were posted at a point when it seemed that the war had ended, but they did not count on the intervention of the battle trained Chinese Army!

I have to say that the Reservists were not happy about being recalled to fight a war in a country they had never heard of 13,000 miles away! They primarily volunteered, mostly in 1939/40 to fight against Hitler,in doing so they signed for 7 years colours and 5 reserve.in doing so they were available for recall in 1950! They were not happy men, mostly now married and with a family!

So it was the night before embarkation and it was all down to The Ram, Tidworth’s local pub, packed to the brims there was a lot of hefty drinking going on, the theme being we might as well spend all our money as it will be a long time before we get a chance of spending it again. That was to prove a big mistake!

So it was down to Southampton by train, embarking on the Empire Fowey and settling in on the troop decks, pretty crowded I must say! I believe there were 2,000 troops on board including Royal Marine Commandos and Royal Engineers if my memory serves me right. Yes! It was pretty crammed in , I think I managed to get a second bunk, think they were in twos and three’s, didn’t take long for the body odors to hit the the nostrils with fresh air being at a premium!

And so we set off! With the war, as we thought , almost over this was to be a cruise half way around the world taking in much of the Far East!

It was announced that after 3 miles out from Southampton the NAAFI Bar/Shop would be open for Guinness, cigarettes, etc. Guess what nobody had any money!! It would be another two days before we were to be due a Pay Parade!

So it was a pretty mournful couple of days, seemed forever, but the big day eventually arrived ! wow! Wow! BUT the queues around the small NAAFI Hatch stretched around the ship, not only that the Guinness was fraught only ! This resulted in raids on the Galley grabbing any container to the extent that an appeal was made over the tannoy system that most cooking pots had gone and they should be returned if we wanted a meal!

And so it was on around the Bay of Biscay and in to the Mediterranean Sea,great stuff for me a 19 year old Soldier who had not been further than Catterick! A great cruise with the flying fish ,blue skies and hot sunshine! And so it was on to the Suez Canal, not stopping off in the Med so perhaps we would get ashore at Suez!

With the ship tied up we waited to be allowed ashore! But that was not to be! Officers, Nurses, Crew were disembarking but it seemed that we would kept on board. This caused a lot of discontent, especially the Reservists who were bitter about having their lives disrupted! So there was a mini riot on hand, as the Officers, Nurses and Crew went ashore the deck dustbins were emptied on them!

There was a lot of anger about being cooped up on board ship. The ships RSM came to quell the rebellion but he was grabbed by his arms and legs and threatened with being thrown overboard! Eventually things quietened down with the promise of an organised march on the east bank of the canal the following day and a few hours unaccompanied when we arrived at Aden!

This was to prove an absolute disaster as there was no docking facilities at Aden and soldiers would have to be taken ashore by trot boat! It was absolute chaos with the poor old Empire Fowey leaning at a sharp angle with all the troops getting on one side of the ship! I and a couple of pals got off at mid-night the time at which we should have been returning! It was a quick walk around the town, I bought a miniature camera and film, not very welcoming amongst the townspeople but of course by the shopkeepers!

I am going to skip stops at Ceylon, Sri Lanka, and Singapore and head on the the China Sea. The weather was now closing in very cloudy, rain and rough seas, sea sickness soon became an epidemic , as we hit gale force winds, the Mediterranean was now just a distant memory! There were bodies all over the ship, troop decks, stairways bringing their hearts up!

Me ! Not a bit of it I was as bright as I could be, no sickness or headaches whatsoever ever. The Galley continued to churn out the usual amount of food for 2,000 troops! There was a coloured disc system to go to the galley but this was abandoned , it was all discs at one time! Eat as much as you like at the main meals but there was massive wastage still as it was only a handful of chaps turning up! They must have picked up some rabbit meat at Singapore as this was now on the menu, I love rabbit, my mother used to breed them during WW2;to subsidise our meat rations, I became an expert skinner of rabbits!

And so the ship ploughed on , the reality of where we heading was sinking in, small arms practice on the bows was now the order of , the day, Sten gun Lee Enfield rifle and 38 revolver were all given an airing, the reality of our mission and really sunk in, the on board concert parties and Doris Day films a distant memory!

I will close this now, will continue later in the arrival in Pusan, South Korea and the trek into a North Korea!

From Leicester to Korea, and back again!: H.M.T.S. Empire Fowey

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