Photos From Korea to the Falkland Islands - colourised images of conflicts after World War II.

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Private Bryan O'Donnell on a night patrol with 11 Platoon, D Company, 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (5RAR) in December 1966.

The belts of 7.62mm ammunition are being carried as spares for the section's M60 machine gun.

 

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A P2V Neptune U.S. patrol plane flies over a Soviet freighter during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.

 

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Leila Khaled (born April 9, 1944 in Haifa, Palestine) is a Palestinian refugee and member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Khaled came to public attention for her role in the TWA Flight 840 hijacking in 1969 and one of the four simultaneous Dawson's Field hijackings the following year as part of the campaign of Black September in Jordan. The first woman to hijack an airplane, she was later released in a prisoner exchange for civilian hostages kidnapped by other PFLP members.

 

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Polish Navy ORP "Sęp", 1952

 

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Air to air view of three RNZAF No. 75 Squadron Mosquitos in formation. 15/02/1952
L-R: NZ2328, YC-C. NZ2323, YC-J. NZ2308, YC-Z.

RNZAF Official photo

Colourised by Daniel Rarity

 

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Radioman Francis Comer waiting for a chopper, 2d plt, Mike Co, 3d Battalion, 9th Marines, 1968.

 

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It,s Friday Gents!

Yuri Gagarin during a visit to the Carlsberg brewery. September 7, 1962

 

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On the 2nd of May 1969, Australian soldiers in Vietnam concluded their involvement in Operation SURFSIDE, a 3 week operation conducted in the Ho Tram Cape to destroy the Vietnamese D445 Battalion by 5 and 9RAR. The operation saw 5RAR clear an area from Xuyen Moc south to the coast, and 9RAR clear an area in the ‘Light and Long Green’.
Numerous bunker systems were found but in most cases these were very old, although in each system, one or two bunkers had been recently refurbished. In all some three hundred bunkers had been found, most of these were demolished. A number of ambushes were also conducted by both Battalion, inflicting some casualties on small groups of VC forces in the area.
Despite these successes, the Australians were unable to locate the bulk of D445 and engage them in a decisive battle.

Image: PHUOC TUY PROVINCE, SOUTH VIETNAM, 1969-04-18. TWO MEMBERS OF C COMPANY, 9TH BATTALION, THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN REGIMENT (9RAR), FORCING THEIR WAY THROUGH THICK JUNGLE, SUPPORTED BY A CENTURION TANK OF B SQUADRON, 1ST ARMOURED REGIMENT, ROYAL AUSTRALIAN ARMOURED CORPS, SEARCH FOR VIET CONG DURING OPERATION SURFSIDE.

 

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Medal of Honnor Vietnâm
Lieutenant Colonel Charles Kettles

( deployments Korea, 1954, Japan, 1955, Thailand, 1956, France, 1964-1966, Republic of Vietnam, 1967 and 1969)
Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Charles S. Kettles was born in Ypsilanti, Mich., Jan. 9, 1930. The son of a World War I Royal Air Force (Canadian) and World War II Air Transport Command (U.S. Army Air Corps) pilot, Kettles had aviation in his blood. While attending the Edison Institute High School in Dearborn, Michigan, Kettles honed his love of flying on the Ford Motor Company Flight Department simulator.
Following high school graduation, Kettles enrolled in Michigan State Normal College (now Eastern Michigan University), where he studied engineering. Two years later, Kettles was drafted to the Army at age 21. Upon completion of basic training at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky, Kettles attended Officer Candidate School at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and earned his commission as an armor officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, Feb. 28, 1953. Kettles graduated from the Army Aviation School in 1953, before serving active duty tours in Korea, Japan and Thailand.
Kettles returned in 1956 and established a Ford Dealership in Dewitt, Michigan, with his brother, and continued his service with the Army Reserve as a member of the 4th Battalion, 20th Field Artillery.
He answered the call to serve again in 1963, when the United States was engaged in the Vietnam War and needed pilots. Fixed-wing-qualified, Kettles volunteered for Active Duty. He attended Helicopter Transition Training at Fort Wolters, Texas in 1964. During a tour in France the following year, Kettles was cross-trained to fly the famed UH-1D “Huey.”
Kettles reported to Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1966 to join a new helicopter unit. He was assigned as a flight commander with the 176th Assault Helicopter Company, 14th Combat Aviation Battalion, and deployed to Vietnam from February through November 1967. His second tour of duty in Vietnam lasted from October 1969, through October 1970.

 

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South Vietnam, September, 1967:

A soldier from the 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry pauses during a 25th Infantry Division, 1st Brigade helicopter assault just south of the Ho Bo Woods. Three companies swept north from the landing zone to clear the area and assess bomb damage from a B-52 raid earlier in the day. One of the companies, trailing as a reaction force, was ambushed and engaged in a 45-minute fire fight.
By John Dittmann for ©Stars and Stripes
© Credit image Stars and Stripes
©Color By Johnny Sirlande for historic photo restored in color

 

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Alpini soldiers, one of them Giuseppe Spada, practising on a shooting range, Avesa, 1961.

Although Alpini are specially known during WWI and WII, after 1945 they were once more tasked with defending Italy's northern borders. Several brigades were created during the 1950s and soldiers were recruited from specific parts of the mountainous areas of Italy thus creating a strong bond with the local populations. But only in 1972 when the Alpine Brigade Taurinense joined the IV Army Corps all Alpini, Alpine and Mountain units of the Italian Army were finally under one command.

 

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Two soldiers comfort each other under the strain of combat in Pleiku, South Vietnam, 26 May 1967.

Pleiku was strategically important during the Vietnam War because it was the primary terminus of the military supply logistics corridor extending westwards along Highway 19 from the coastal population centre and port facilities of Qui Nhơn. Additionally, its central location on the plateau, between Kon Tum in the north, Buôn Ma Thuột to the south, and the North Vietnamese Army's base areas inside Cambodia to the west made Pleiku the main center of defense of the entire highland region of the Republic of Vietnam. This was obvious to both sides; the United States established an armed presence very early in the conflict at Camp Holloway, and the Việt Cộng attack on this base in early 1965 was one of the key escalating events that brought U.S. troops into the conflict. On 15 June 1972, Cathay Pacific Flight 700Z, operating a Convair 880 from Bangkok to Hong Kong, disintegrated and crashed while the aircraft was flying at 8,800 m. over Pleiku, Vietnam after a bomb exploded in a suitcase placed under a seat in the cabin, killing all 81 people on board.

 

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A U.S. Navy SEAL team boards a fire team boat for transportation to the site of an operation in October 1968.

Photo National Archives.

 

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“Commando Kivu,” a mercenary unit fighting Simba rebels in the area along the west side of Lake Kivu, just across from Rwanda, 1964.

The Simba rebellion of 1963–65, also known as the Orientale Revolt, was a rebellion in Congo-Léopoldville which took place within the wider context of the Congo Crisis and the Cold War. The rebellion, located in the east of the country, was led by the followers of Patrice Lumumba, who had been ousted from power in 1960 by Joseph Kasa-Vubu and Joseph-Désiré Mobutu and subsequently killed in January 1961 in Katanga. The rebellion was contemporaneous with the Kwilu Rebellion led by fellow Lumumbist Pierre Mulele in central Congo. The rebels were initially successful and captured much of eastern Congo, proclaiming a People's Republic in Stanleyville. However, the insurgency suffered from a lack of organization and coherence, as well as tensions between the rebel leadership and its international allies of the Eastern Bloc. When the Congolese government launched a number of major counter-offensives from late 1964, spearheaded by battle-hardened mercenaries and backed by Western powers, the rebels suffered several major defeats and disintegrated. By November 1965, the Simba rebellion was effectively defeated, though holdouts of the rebels continued their insurgency until the 1990s.

 

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'Staff Sergeant Reckless' - Decorated warhorse who held official rank in the United States military.

"A mare of Mongolian horse breeding. Out of a race horse dam, she was purchased in October 1952 for $250 from a Korean stableboy at the Seoul racetrack who needed money to buy an artificial leg for his sister. Reckless was bought by members of the United States Marine Corps and trained to be a pack horse for the Recoilless Rifle Platoon, Anti-Tank Company, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.[1] She quickly became part of the unit and was allowed to roam freely through camp, entering the Marines' tents, where she would sleep on cold nights, and was known for her willingness to eat nearly anything, including scrambled eggs, beer, Coca-Cola and, once, about $30 worth of poker chips.

She served in numerous combat actions during the Korean War, carrying supplies and ammunition, and was also used to evacuate wounded. Learning each supply route after only a couple of trips, she often traveled to deliver supplies to the troops on her own, without benefit of a handler. The highlight of her nine-month military career came in late March 1953 during the Battle for Outpost Vegas when, in a single day, she made 51 solo trips to resupply multiple front line units. She was wounded in combat twice, given the battlefield rank of corporal in 1953, and then a battlefield promotion to sergeant in 1954, several months after the war ended. She also became the first horse in the Marine Corps known to have participated in an amphibious landing, and following the war was awarded two Purple Hearts, a Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, was included in her unit's Presidential Unit Citations from two countries, as well as other military honors.

Her wartime service record was featured in The Saturday Evening Post, and LIFE magazine recognized her as one of America's 100 all-time heroes. She was retired and brought to the United States after the war, where she made appearances on television and participated in the United States Marine Corps birthday ball. She was officially promoted to staff sergeant in 1959 by the Commandant of the Marine Corps. She gave birth to four foals in America and died in May 1968. A plaque and photo were dedicated in her honor at the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton stables and a statue of her was dedicated on July 26, 2013 at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia. On May 12, 2018, a bronze statue of Sergeant Reckless was placed and dedicated in the Kentucky Horse Park, Lexington Kentucky." - wikipedia

(Color by Jecinci)

 

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Three F9F-2 Panthers of Fighter Squadron 721, fly over the carrier USS 'Boxer' (CV-21) underway off Korea ca. August 1951

 

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M4A3E8 "Easy Eight" Sherman tank named "RICE'S RED DEVILS" - Nº61938 is stencilled on the side. 12 March 1951
(possibly the 89th Medium Tank Battalion at the Han River, Korea.)

A Medic gives Smallpox jabs to the tank crew.
There was a smallpox re-vaccination of front-line soldiers done at the height of the smallpox epidemic of Jan-April 1951, which occurred during a major US offensive.

March 1951 was in the midst of the great US counter-attack which began 7 March 1951, and ended in early April with Seoul liberated on 22March and the 38th parallel reached on 9 April.

(Colourised by Royston Leonard UK)

 

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A U.S. Navy Grumman F9F-2 Panther (BuNo 123469, nicknamed "Papasan") attached to fighter squadron VF-71, Carrier Air Group Seven (CVG-7), on the USS Bon Homme Richard (CV-31) flies over Task Force 77 engaged operations against North Korean targets on 1 August 1952.
The carriers were USS Bon Homme Richard (CV-31), USS Essex (CV-9) (right) and the USS Princeton (CV-37).

"Papasan," 101/L, was usually flown by LCDR J. M. Hill, commander of VF-71 off the USS Bon Homme Richard.

(Source - U.S. www.defenseimagery.mil photo no. HN-SN-98-07207; NARA file no. 80-G-480645)

 

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Blackburn Buccaneer of 208 Sqn seen at RAF Luqa, Malta mid 1970's.

 

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Four U.S. Air Force North American F-86E Sabre fighters of the 51st Fighter Interceptor Wing over Korea on 22 May 1953.

The aircraft "FU-649" (s/n 50-649) and "FU-653" (50-653) are F-86E-5-NA models, "FU-793" (51-2793) is a F-86E-10-NA, whereas "FU-882" (52-2882) is a F-86E-6-CAN that was originally built by Canadair (ex-RCAF 19351), but delivered to the USAF.
50-653 is today on display at Hickam Air Force Base (Honululu International Airport), Oahu, Hawaii (USA).

(Source - National Archives and Records Administration - 542186)

(Colourised by Mike Gepp from Australia)