WHEN able seaman Victor Bean took part in the Korean War as gun layer on the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Cockade, little did he imagine his efforts would be rewarded 50 years later.

But in the year of the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, Mr Bean has just received an official 'Letter of Appreciation' from Kim Dae-Jung, the President of South Korea.

Mr Bean will proudly add the letter to his medals received for taking part in the war which has never officially ended.

These include The British Korean Medal, The United Nations Korea Medal, The United Nations 50 year Anniversary Medal, the British Korean Veterans' 40th Anniversary Medal and the Synghman Rhee (president of South Korea during the war) Medal.

The active phase of the Korean War lasted from 1950-53 and led to the deaths of around five million people.

The conflict came to epitomise the Cold War, initially between the forces of the communist Democratic People's Republic of North Korea and the Republic of Korea. By the time a supposedly temporary armistice had been signed, as many as 23 other countries, mostly under the UN flag and led by the United States of America, had joined in.

The North Koreans were actively supported by Chinese troops leading to a fear that the war could escalate to a full-scale nuclear war between the capitalist west and the communist east.

After joining up as a regular sailor, Mr Bean spent his time in Korea in the Yellow Sea escorting American and British aircraft

carriers, bombarding North Korean shore positions and assisting in clandestine

operations.

While trying to prevent a North Korean landing on the Island of Tae Wha Mr Bean's ship took a hit from a shore battery, killing one member of the crew, but the biggest hardship Mr Bean remembers were the harsh winters in the area.

"We did three winters and they were

horrific - the sea actually froze. We were once stuck between an island and the mainland for 26 days because the sea was frozen," said Mr Bean.

Mr Bean returned home in 1954 after serving seven years with the Navy, and met his wife, Joyce.

He became a police constable in Ilkley before serving in the Dales. After leaving the force he worked as chauffeur and assistant to Mr and Mrs Brooksbank, of Heber's Mount, in Ilkley.

Now 67, he lives in retirement in Skipton Road, Ilkley.

In many ways, said Mr Bean the Korean War became something of a 'forgotten war', overshadowed by the larger conflicts that went before.

However, this being the 50th anniversary year, the balance has been redressed to an extent with a new war memorial in Staffordshire and the Korean veterans being given pride of place in this year's march past at the Cenotaph in London.