(ATTN: UPDATES with more details in last 3 paras)
SEOUL, Sept. 20 (Yonhap) -- The late wife of an Australian veteran killed during the 1950-53 Korean War will be laid to rest in a southeastern city this week alongside her husband, Seoul's veterans ministry said Wednesday.
A burial ceremony for Olwyn Green, the late widow of Lt. Col. Charles Green, will take place at the U.N. Memorial Cemetery in Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Thursday.
The ceremony will be attended by family members and Vice Veterans Minister Yoon Jong-jin as well as Australian Ambassador to Seoul Catherine Raper, U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Paul LaCamera and Lt. Gen. Simon Stuart, chief of the Australian Army.
Green, who died in Australia in 2019 at the age of 96, had expressed a wish to be buried with her husband, who was laid to rest in Busan. But her wish had been put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the ministry.
Lt. Col. Green took part in the Korean War as the commander of the Royal Australian Regiment's 3rd Battalion in September 1950. He was killed in November that year at the age of 30 due to a shrapnel wound in his stomach after shelling by enemy forces.
His wife never remarried and published a biography on his life in 1993 based on personal and historical records. She received the Member of the Order of Australia Medal in 2006 in recognition of her work.
Australia was among the 22 countries that sent troops or gave medical aid to South Korea under the U.N. flag during the Korean War, which ended in a ceasefire, not a peace treaty.
Canberra dispatched a total of 17,164 service members during the war, with 339 of them being killed in action, according to South Korean data.
A total of 2,320 troops, including 281 Australians, are currently buried at the memorial cemetery in Busan, according to its website.
This file photo, taken Oct. 24, 2019, shows Australian service members visiting the U.N. Memorial Cemetery in Korea in Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul. (Yonhap)
yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
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