Monday, April 23, 2001

By Franklin Fisher, Taegu bureau chief

Franklin Fisher / Stars and Stripes Emlyn Jones, 76, of Llandudno, Wales, veteran of Britain's Welsh Regiment, visits United Nations Cemetery in Pusan on Friday.

PUSAN, South Korea — It’s been almost 50 years since Idris Evans walked the old lanes and byways of his home in Glan Conway, Wales. Almost 50 years since he looked out on the garden behind the old mill where he’d lived. Almost 50 years since he was buried among the Korean War dead in a neatly tended corner of the United Nations Cemetery here.

Evans’ life ended almost before it began, at about age 20, on a fiercely contested ridge in western Korea known as "the Hook," a place where the British lost the most soldiers in Korea. He was torn by an exploding artillery round in November 1952 and died a short time later.

On Friday, one of the last people Evans spoke to, a fellow Welshman who never forgot him, made his way to Evans’ gravesite and deposited there a handful of soil from the garden behind the old mill.

The friend, Emlyn Jones, 76, of Llandudno, North Wales, was one of hundreds of Korean War veterans who came to the cemetery Friday, a cool, windy day, for wreath-laying ceremonies in honor of those who served under the United Nations.

Jones, wearing his regimental crest and medals, also laid two crosses, each more than a foot long, side by side at the grave. Attached to each cross was a handwritten note covered in a small plastic bag.

One note was from Jones. The other was from Evans’ siblings.

Jones’ graveside note to Evans read, in part: "The years just roll by. I talk to my family about you all the time, and I see Edwina your sister and your brother very often. There are so many ifs and buts, but no real answers. Only God knows. I am sorry it took 49 years for me to come to your final resting place. I know you will understand. Your old pal, Emlyn."

To its right was the note from Evans’ family: "In treasured and loving memories of Idris, son and brother. Always in our thoughts. Will be loved forever."

Jones and Evans were members of Britain’s Welch Regiment, but Evans, a rifleman, was later transferred to another British regiment in Korea, the famed Black Watch. Just days before the Welch Regiment was to pull out of Korea, Jones went to say goodbye to Evans.

"It was always a privilege to be with him because we could talk Welsh with each other," Jones said. "And he had a beautiful voice. A beautiful, harmonious voice.

"He was killed on the Hook. A terrible place. A notorious place. It was under bombardment nearly every day. There were some terrible battles there. Ferocious battles. I went to see him, and an hour later he was dead."

After the war, Jones met Evans’ brother and sister.

"I see his family every other week. His sister never got over it. Never. But maybe now, I’ve been able to give her two or three photos of the grave, she might be able to settle down. She will be happy, I suppose, to see a photograph of his gravestone, and what a beautiful place this is."

Then it was time for Jones and his two companions to head off for another part of the cemetery. As he rushed off to catch up with the other two, his right hand went into his trouser pocket and brought out a handkerchief, which he brought quickly to his eyes.

RELATED STORY:
          Ceremony at Pusan cemetery honors those who served in Korean War

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