Australia in the Korean War
No. 77 Squadron converted to P-51D Mustang fighters before arriving in Japan in February 1946 to participate in the British Commonwealth Occupation Force. Occupation duties proved uneventful, and No. 77 Squadron was preparing to leave Japan for Australia when the Korean War broke out in June 1950. 77 Sqn was immediately dispatched to Korea, where they became the first UN air unit to enter the war, primarily in ground support, combat air patrol, and escort missions.
Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service
In 1948 the RAAFNS was reformed as a peace-time service. During the Korean War members of the RAAFNS served at the British Commonwealth Mobile Surgical Hospital in Seoul, and the Medical Air Evacuation Unit flew patients to Iwakuni from where they were taken by hospital train to the British Commonwealth General Hospital in Kure. Between 1950 and 1953, 12,762 Commonwealth casualties took this route. RAAFNS members also accompanied 728 patients on flights from Japan to Australia via Guam, Manila, or Port Moresby. All members of the RAAFNS in Korea were trained civilian nurses who enlisted for four years, but served only a one-year tour of duty in Korea or Japan. The last nurses returned home in 1956.