Sophie Conlon
Private Robert Newey was an Assault Pioneer in the Australian Amy between 1952 and 1954 and served in the Korean War.
He enlisted with a few mates when he was 21-years-old because he said they all wanted to go.
“I volunteered,” he said.
“It was a bit of experience I suppose.”
Mr Newey remembered the rough and long trip he took from Australia, to Japan and then onto Korea to fight in the war.
“We flew to Port Morseby, then onto Guam, then we landed in Japan,” he said.
When he landed in Japan, Mr Newey had to undergo extra training, which he said included repeatedly running up and down stairs to prepare for the hilly landscape of Korea.
“I was really fit back then,” he said.
On arrival in Korea, Mr Newey said he had to sleep in a dugout because there was no room for him in the camp tent.
“I used to sleep in a dugout, up in my company, the next time I went up it was demolished, I was lucky,” he said.
As an Assault Pioneer, it was Mr Newey’s job to work with mines and explosives.
“We used to have to do everything as the Pioneers,” he said.
“We used to do a lot of explosives, there was a plastic explosive called 808, where every time you handled it, it used to give you a headache.
He recounted his story of the war and remembered the mates who he lost in battle.
“When I just got there our Lieutenant was killed out on patrol, a fella called Jim Bailey carried him back and he was a big big lad, and Lieutenant Wilson took over from then,“ he said.
Mr Newey was serving when the war ended on July 27, 1953 and he remembered the excitement in the air.
“I was in a place called the Hook when it finished… and fireworks went up,” he said.
“We couldn’t get to a big party, but there were a lot of flares going up.”
He soon travelled back to Adelaide where he was met by his proud and happy family.
“We came back on the boat to Australia, it was the first time I seen flying fish,” he said.
“[My parents] caught the train to Adelaide to come and see me and we came back on the train.”
After his return to Australia, Mr Newey re-connected with his childhood neighbour, Margaret, and the couple married on June 12, 1969.
In 2010, he and his family were invited by former South Korean President Lee Myung-bak back to the country as part of its Revisit Korea Program, which was established in 1975.
“You will always remain our true Heroes and we assure you that we will continue to do our best to make you proud. On behalf of the Korean people, I would like to say ’Thank you,’,” the letter read.
However, they declined the invite as Mr Newey did not want to return as he remembered Korea as being too cold.
“It used to snow over there, it would hit the ground and just melt, it was like it was raining for months,” he said.
Now at 91-years-old and believed to be the last Korean War veteran in Mount Gambier, Remembrance Day is an important time for Mr Newey where he can look back and remember his fallen mates.
“It means a lot,” he said.
“The people that lost their lives, you’ve got to acknowledge that.”
A Remembrance Day service will be held on Friday, November 11.
