Above: RAEME tradesmen attached to 3 RAR take a break while working on a Vickers Machine Gun.

AEME strength at the end of World War II totalled 20,813. However, following demobilisation this strength decreased dramatically. By July 1948, excluding those personnel serving with BCOF, the Corps strength in Australia had dropped to a mere 637 permanent soldiers. 1948 was a signature year for the Corps, for on 10 November King George VI granted the title of ‘Royal’ to a number of Corps of the ARA, including AEME, which from that date became the Royal Corps of Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (RAEME).

When the ‘Royal’ prefix was granted there was some controversy over the correct title for the Corps. It was argued that by positioning the term Corps after the Royal prefix (RAEME Corps) it was being implied that the Corps was an engineering corps, not a corps of engineers. After some consideration, AEME became the Royal Corps of Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, a title that was and remains abbreviated to ‘RAEME’. The title was further amended on 2 December 1971 when the words ‘Corps of’ were dropped and the title became the Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, see p.138 of the Commonwealth Gazette No.113.

Above: 1951 Korea: Australian LAD near Seoul.

In spite of the declaration of peace, the world was still a dangerous place and in 1950 that danger evolved into open conflict on the Korean peninsula. At the end of World War II, the victorious Allies agreed to partition the Korean Peninsula at the 38th parallel. The southern portion became the Republic of Korea (ROK); supported by the United States of America (USA) and its Western allies; while the northern portion became the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), supported by China and the Communist Block. Free elections scheduled for 1948 were not held, thus dramatically increasing tension on the Peninsula. Then, on 25 June 1950, as BCOF operations were winding down in Japan, the DPRK invaded the ROK. Led by the USA, twenty-one member nations of the United Nations provided troops, ships, aircraft and medical teams in support of South Korea. Australia’s contribution to this force was made as a member of the British Commonwealth Force Korea (BCFK). The Army contributed Infantry Battalions of the Royal Australian Regiment (RAR); 1 RAR, 2 RAR and 3 RAR served in rotation. No RAEME field units were deployed to this conflict, but each Battalion included up to twelve RAEME Craftsmen. RAEME tradesmen attached to Australian Infantry battalions were renowned for their enthusiasm and technical skills. Their seemingly boundless energy enabled them to increase the fighting efficiency of the Battalion to which they were posted.

Above: The monsoon turned roads to seas of mud. Here a Scammel and a trailer with water tank are badly bogged.

In addition, RAEME Craftsmen served in an integrated unit, 16 Infantry Workshop (REME). Operational service in Korea attracted many young men keen to ‘do their bit’ and to live up to the reputation of World War II Diggers. In 1954, Sid Cheesmani was nearing the end of his training as an Army Apprentice. Sid eagerly accepted the chance to deploy on operational service and weeks later, on a snow swept night, he jumped from the rear of a British Bedford at 1 Commonwealth Division Infantry Workshop, Korea:

Above: Sid Cheesman at a forward recovery post.

Next morning I fronted the 2IC, an Australian Captain by the name of Don Lloyd, who told me although I was posted as a vehicle mechanic, I was to be employed as a recovery driver and I was to report to the Canadian transport NCO. The Transport NCO introduced me to Marty Fleischer, the senior recovery mechanic, who was British. He was a National Serviceman counting the days to his return to ‘Blighty’. Marty asked me if I had ever driven a Scammel gun tractor or done any recovery, to which I replied ‘Of course’. We walked down to the transport yard where there were 6 diesel Scammel gun tractors and two petrol Scammel trucks fitted with Saracen petrol engines and using air over hydraulics for steering, braking and winch controls. How lucky was I, for over the next weeks the snow increased, and the wind came down from Siberia and there I was in a heated enclosed cabin, not in an open, canvas-topped, Scammel diesel gun tractor.

My first task was to pick up three Bedford 2½ ton trucks and bring them back to the workshop for inspection and, later on, to be back loaded to Inchon, for return to Japan for rebuild. This required me to find my way to HQ Com Div11 through the Gloucester Valley ‘road’, load up and return through the Gloucester Valley back to the workshop by lunchtime.

The Korean War came to an end with the signing of an armistice on 27 July 1953, three years and one month after it began. Australian casualties numbered 1,584, of whom 339 were killed in action. 19 Australians were taken prisoners of war.

The above article is an extract from the Corps History Book 'With Skill and Fighting - Craftsmen of the Australian Army 1942 - 2014'