In spite of what Napoleon said, an army marches on its feet, and if the army happens to be in ...

In spite of what Napoleon said, an army marches on its feet, and if the army happens to be in Korea, it finds that marching is very hard on boots. A unit's bootmaker is a very important soldier in a land where sodden paddy fields and rocky mountain tracks wear through a sole in a matter of weeks. In the 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR), the job of boot repairing falls to 28 year old Corporal (Cpl) Charles Smith (probably 210322 Cpl Charles Alfred Smith), of Gepps Cross, SA. Cpl Smith learned his trade on leaving school, and before he joined up, ran his own business at Gepps Cross. But with the wear and tear on boots in Korea, he finds the job of unit cobbler too much for one man, so he has co-opted a Korean, Jo Bai Ok, as assistant, and is teaching him the trade. Here Cpl Smith is giving Jo his first lesson. Cpl Smith has been in the army four years, and arrived in Korea three months ago. He is centre-half in the Battalion soccer team, and has high hopes that the 1st Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR) will win the 1st Commonwealth Division Cup Final in September. (Original British Commonwealth Forces Korea (BCFK) Public Relations caption).