He drove off the enemy while under heavy fire, allowing casualties to be evacuated
Captain Ian Powys, who has died aged 92, was awarded an MC in the Korean War in 1952 for his bravery under heavy fire.
In June 1950, North Korean military forces invaded South Korea, and four months later, Chinese forces of the People’s Volunteer Army entered the war. In November 1951, 1st Battalion the Welch Regiment (1 Welch) disembarked at the South Korean port of Pusan. It was part of 29th British Infantry Brigade, 1st Commonwealth Division, and went straight into the line to relieve 1 Glosters.
One lesson that Powys quickly learnt was that he should never pick up and use an enemy sub-machine gun. Soldiers became used to the different noise that guns made and tended to direct their fire at the sound of enemy weapons. On one occasion he was out of ammunition for his Luger and picked up and used a Chinese “burp” gun which had a distinctive, rapid rate of fire. One of his men fired in his direction but fortunately missed.
In December 1951 Powys was commanding a platoon during a company attack on a hill feature. When the Chinese got behind the company and cut off its line of withdrawal, he armed himself with a rifle and set off with a light machine-gun group to deal with the situation.