This undated photo shows retired Indian general Ashoka Banerjee (right) who donated a collection of rare photos and documents on the Korean War. (Yonhap News)
A retired general in India has presented a collection of rare photographs and news clippings about Indian troops in the Korean War to the Korean Embassy in New Delhi.
Ashoka Banerjee, 86, recently handed over a documentary and photo archive collected by his father during his time in the 1950-53 conflict. The collection includes articles about and pictures of Indian troops in Korea. There are hand-written notes made by his father, Amrita Banerjee, next to some of the clippings and photos.
Ashoka Banerjee, then a lieutenant, worked for a medical unit of the Indian army in Korea that facilitated the withdrawal of the sick and wounded. He was here for three years in the early 1950s helping the wounded in Paju and Munsan of Gyeonggi Province, the embassy said.
The collection reveals photos of Seoul during the war and the Indian unit treating the wounded. It includes images of Korean soldiers trying to break the ice on the North Han River using explosives, the embassy said.
The donated materials will be preserved in the War Memorial of Korea in accordance with Banerjee’s wishes, it added.
By Cho Chung-un (
christory@heraldcorp.com)
