Offered is a Korean War pair to Steward John Thomas Kennedy, who served two tours of Korea on HMAS ANZAC, a battle class destroyer.
Korea Medal impressed named 38074. J.T KENNEDY.; United Nationes Korea Medal impressed named 38074. J.T.KENNEDY. Comes with Korea clasp and copy Australian Navy Service papers. This set having come direct from the family.
John Thomas Kennedy was born 16/9/1931 at Hawthorn Victoria. Enlisted Royal Australian Navy 13/2/1950 Melbourne. Discharged29/10/1965. Branch Steward.
Korean WAR SERVICE : Served HMAS ANZAC 1/8/1951-27/8/1953.
HMAS Anzac (II) was laid down at Williamstown Naval Dockyard on 23 September 1946 and launched on 20 August 1948. Anzac commissioned on 14 March 1951 under the command of Commander JohnPlunkett-Cole, RAN, although the ship was not officially accepted by the Royal Australian Navy from the dockyard until 22 March 1951.
At 18:15 on 6 September 1951 the Commonwealth Ensign was broken at the fore and ‘for the first time the guns of Anzac (II) opened fireon the enemy’. Targets included the suspected headquarters of the areaCommunist forces. The operation completed, Anzac (II) returned to Sasebo.
On 12 September Anzac (II) proceeded to Wonsan, easternKorea, where she assumed the duties of Commander Task Element 95.22, the othervessels of the group being US Ships Thompson and Naifeh. Duties of the groupwere ‘blockade of the east coast of Korea from a point 23 miles south of Songjin to latitude 41°50'N’, being some 34 miles south of the Korean/Siberian border. Operations with TE 95.22 continued until 26 September, when afterfiring her one thousandth round of 4.5-inch ammunition against the enemy, Anzac(II) parted company for Kure, ending her first tour of duty in the Korean theatre.
On 30 September Anzac (II) departed Hong Kong escorting HMS Glory for Australia and entered Sydney Harbour on 20 October after an absence of almost three months and some 23,000 miles of operational steaming.
On 1 September 1952 Anzac (II) departed Sydney for Saseboto begin her second tour of duty in Korean waters. Singapore was reached on 10 September and Hong Kong six days later, where she relieved HMAS Bataan onstation, proceeding for Sasebo on 27 September for duty on the west coast ofKorea. The following day Anzac (II) joined HMS Newcastle and HMNZS Rotoiti atPaengyong Do to begin coastal patrol. In this, Anzac (II)’s role was six days with the West Coast Bombardment and Blockade Group followed by nine days on thecarrier screen. The closing hours of the month found Anzac (II) on patrol some 50 miles south south east of the Yalu River, where, in bright moonlight, hercrew witnessed a full scale United Nations air raid on Cholsan.
On 4 October Anzac (II) completed her period of patrol andproceeded to operate on the screen of HMS Ocean, relieving HNMS Piet Hein andjoining HMCS Nootka and USS Vammen. Flying operations ended on 13 October and the entire group then proceeded for Sasebo and thence to Kure.
On 29 October, with Lieutenant Commander WOC Roberts RAN intemporary command, Anzac (II) returned to the eastern Korea patrol as a unit of Task Unit 95.12.1, whose main function was defence of the islands of Sok To and Cho Do, the latter being the site of a radar station and Tactical Air DefenceCentre, a vital point in the operations in South Korea. The task group of mixed Royal Navy, Australian, Canadian and American units comprised Anzac (II), HMCS Crusader, HMS Comus and USS LSMR 412, plus some small vessels of the South Korean Navy. Anzac (II)’s period of patrol and bombardment ceased on 17 November, when the duties of Commander Task Unit 95.12.1 were turned over toCaptain (D) 8th Destroyer Squadron in HMS Cossack.
Active operational duty was resumed on 27 November on the west coast patrol, screening Glory in company with of Piet Hein and USS Hickox. On 7 December Anzac detached, relieved Crusader and resumed bombardment andpatrol duties in the vicinity of Cho Do and Sok To Islands, being relieved inturn on 12 December by Comus. Wearing the flag of Rear Admiral Clifford (Second-in-Command, Far East Station) Anzac (II) entered Sasebo Harbour on 13 December 1952.
On 19 December Anzac (II) departed Kure for her last patrolof the year, the venue switching to the east Korean coast, as a unit of Task Element 95.22 (Anzac (II) and US Ships The Sullivans, McNair and Evansville)relieving HMCS Haida. The base of operations was the island of Yangdo, the defence of which was the unit’s chief mission.
Commenting on this phase of Anzac (II)’s Korean service,which ended on 3 January 1953, her Commanding Officer wrote ‘This tour of duty on the east coast has introduced the ship to a naval aspect of the Korean War greatly differing from that on the west coast. Enemy batteries were numerousand very hostile; navigational worries are few, tides almost non-existent. Moreover, there has been the experience of working in what is almost anentirely American force. The weather alternated between heavy snowfalls and days of bright sunlight.’ Anzac (II) berthed at Kure on 5 January 1953.
