Beppu, Japan. Informal group portrait of Australian soldiers serving in BCOF on leave at Beppu. ...

Beppu, Japan. Informal group portrait of Australian soldiers serving in BCOF on leave at Beppu. Back row, fourth from left, 2/400186 Private (Pte) Horace William (Slim) Madden, who later served in Korea in the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR). During the Chinese attacks leading up to the battle of Kapyong on 24 April 1951 he was seriously concussed attempting to join a group of 3RAR soldiers sheltering in a shell hole, this group included 2/400030 Private (Pte) Robert (Bob) Parker. Later that day accompanying Major Brown, the battalion 2IC, and a New Zealand Artillery Officer and his batman, Madden stopped to rest, and when asked if he was alright by the batman, he replied, "Yes, just tying up my bootlaces - you go on and I'll catch up". When he finally moved on he was confronted by advancing Chinese troops and surrendered. (Quote from manuscript written by Robert Parker). Private Madden was posthumously awarded the George Cross for gallant and inspirational heroism as a prisoner of war (POW). Sixth from left, 2/400030 (NX204932) Pte Robert (Bob) Parker, Headquarters BCOF Signals, later to serve in Korea as a dispatch rider with 3RAR and who was also captured by the Chinese near Cheryong-Ni during the withdrawal of the 3RARs headquarters during the battle of Kapyong on 24 April 1951. Parker and Madden, although captured in separate actions on the same day, were together as POWs from 24 April 1951 until Madden's death on 6 November 1951. The names of other men known to be in this photograph are: M P Pascoe, Allen, Ericksen, QX31617 Sergeant Murdoch William McRae, T A Underwood, C D Ruppel, K Eastman, A H Jones, S J Ackroyd.