THE last time Grenville Toomey was in Korea he almost lost his life, after being hit by a dozen bullets.

Now the Korean War veteran is to return to the Asian country 60 years on at the invitation of the South Korean government.

Mr Toomey, 79, from Appleton, fought for 10 months as a Rifleman in the Durham Light Infantry before he was seriously wounded in June 1953.

He will be one of 80 veterans setting out on a week-long trip on Saturday.

Mr Toomey says he owes his life to his friend Tom Allen, of Fritwell, who carried him to safety after their unit was ambushed, despite also being wounded himself. Mr Allen died three years ago.

Surgeons removed nine bullets from Mr Toomey’s chest. Others had passed straight through his right arm. Another soldier was killed in the clash.

He said: “It was three of us against about 20 of them, so we had no chance.

“I didn’t know much about it. But I was told the chaplain gave me the Last Rites.”

The former Botley School pupil suffers from arthritis linked to his wounds.

During the all-expenses-paid trip, laid on by the South Koreans to show their gratitude to veterans who saved their country from an invasion by troops from Communist North Korea and China, Mr Toomey, a former Cowley car plant worker, will attend parades, visit British war graves and battle sites and meet the Korean ambassador to Britain.

Mr Toomey and his comrades endured harsh conditions in the front line, with winter temperatures falling to -40C.

He said: “You had good days and you had bad days. You had days when you were told your mates had been killed, but in the end you just took it as it came.”

He added: “I always made the excuse that I didn’t want to go back there, as I didn’t like it the first time. It’s a good thing they do to show they really appreciate it. I don’t think anybody else in the world would even think about doing it.”

Mr Toomey has lived in Appleton for 52 years. His wife Jean died last year.

ENDURING CONFLICT

The Korean War began on June 25, 1950, when the Communist regime in North Korea invaded the South in a bid to seize the whole Korean peninsula.

The United Nations agreed to aid the South, with the US and Britain among those committing troops. After the invaders were thrown back and UN forces entered the North, China and the Soviet Union sent troops and aircraft to back their Communist allies.

The fighting continued until July 1953, when an armistice was signed.

A formal peace treaty has never been agreed and tensions between North and South Korea continue to this day.

More than 1,000 British soldiers lost their lives during the war.