Lieutenant Colonel Charles Hercules GreenPrint Page

The cairn commemorates Lieutenant Colonel Charles Hercules Green (1919 - 1950).

Charles Hercules Green was given command of the 2nd / 11th Battalion and at the age of 25 he was probably the youngest officer to command an Australian battalion in World War Two.

Between May and July the 2nd / 11th participated in the attack on Wewak and in operations around Boram. Green was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (1947). When the government committed the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR), to the conflict in Korea, Army Headquarters decided that it should be led by an officer with a distinguished record in World War Two. Green was plucked from the course at the Staff College, Queenscliff, Victoria, and sent to Japan on 8 September 1950 to take command. In Korea, the Australian unit formed part of the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade. 3 RAR advanced northwards, defeating enemy forces at Yongju on 22 October, at Pakch`on, Democratic People`s Republic of (North) Korea, on the 25th-26th, and at Chongju on the 28th.

On the 30th October, an enemy shell exploded near Green`s tent severely wounding him in the abdomen. His died on 1 November 1950 and was buried in the United Nations memorial cemetery, Pusan, South Korea.

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