His duties for the whole period were as a Dispatch Rider for the Signals Corps. He wears the medals for Active Service in Korea and is on the Korean Nominal Roll which shows, no unit or number of days service in Korea.

This is a complex investigation as it appears from reliable sources he has been issued with official medals for active service in Korea with his details engraved on the medals by the Directorate of Honours and Awards and Department of Defence.

An investigator contacted the above department to confirm what actual medals he has been issued, when they were issued and on what grounds they were issued. Their response is listed below.

Good morning Mr XXXXXX

I refer to your email concerning medallic recognition for Mr Murray Charles Inwood.

 In accordance with privacy provisions, the Department is unable to release details to you regarding Mr Inwood.

 I am sure you will appreciate our position in this regard.

 Kind Regards,

 XXXX XXXXXXXX

Directorate of Honours and Awards &Department of Defence | T - 4 CANBERRA BC ACT 2610 |

1800 111 321 | 7 02 6266 1065

www.defence.gov.au/medals | honoursandawards@defence.gov.au

They have neither, confirmed or denied issuing the Korean medals, if they have, they will have to look closely at reviewing the issue of the medals after reading this case. Have they made another blunder as in the case regarding Rex Crane, the person who claimed to be a World War 2 Prisoner of War when he was only 15 years old at the time of WW 2 you can read his case here at this link.. http://www.anzmi.net/crane/crane.html

For a soldier to have served on active service in Korea and be entitled to any medals he must have been posted on the strength of a unit in Korea for a minimum of one day.

We will start the case with his service records and other military documentation, newspaper articles and the most damaging evidence of Inwood’s lies of active service in Korea, a transcript of a radio interview between Inwood and Kathy Bowlen of the ABC which the Australian War Memorial had playing until they were advised about the credibility of Inwood being a Korean War Veteran and has since been withdrawn.

Inwood enlisted for service in the Australian Regular Army for a period of six years on 27 July 1950. On 17 July 1951 Inwood left to serve with the BCOF Signal Regiment, Kure Japan, arriving there on the 19 July and employed as a Signals Dispatch Rider. He was then transferred as a Dispatch Rider to Brit Com Base Signal Regiment Kure Japan on 11 December 1951 before being returned to Australia at his own request on compassionate grounds embarking on the ship Devonshire from Kure Japan 10 February 1952 and arriving in Sydney 25 February 1952.

As you can see there is no record of Inwood being posted to a unit in Korea at anytime during his service in Japan.

On his return to Australia Inwood completed his promotion courses for the rank of Corporal and he was promoted to Corporal Clerk Storeman on 9 December 1955. He was discharged on 26 July 1956 and his Discharge Papers indicate he only served in Japan and not Korea and therefore had not been issued any Korean War Service medals.

It would appear in 1954 Inwood must have submitted a request for the issue of the Korean medals. A signal sent from AUSTREC Kure Japan to Central Army Records Office, Melbourne (CENARMYREC) which indicates nothing to support the member’s claim. DON R is another term for Dispatch Rider

Now in 1956 a letter by Captain M.C. Bennett addressed to HQ 3 NS Trg Bde, Puckapunyal, dated 12 June 1956 appears in Inwood’s file.

It would appear that before he was discharged from the Army Inwood has either contacted or met up with Captain Bennett who was the Officer Commanding Headquarters Squadron Brit Com Base Signal Regiment from 1 October 1951 to 1 August 1953. Bennett states that Inwood was under the command of Major F.C. Heweston AHQ Signal Regiment and was the Officer Commanding 1 Squadron and in control of all SDS (Signals Delivery Service) and Signal Office personnel.

So why did not Inwood contact his OC in 1 Sqn to obtain a letter to confirm that he had carried out flights from Japan to Korea  on a C47 Dakota aircraft returning the same day after delivering dispatch cases to waiting Dispatch Riders at the airports in Korea.

The letter only goes to prove that Inwood was posted in Japan and never posted on the strength of a unit in Korea for the minimum of one day as he would return with the aircraft each day. Therefore he did not meet the requirements for Active Service in Korea.

There are a number of errors in the letter by Captain Bennett which for an officer who spent so much time in Japan is inexcusable. The correct spelling for Iwukuni and Seoull is Iwakuni and Seoul.

At the time Inwood served in Japan he was a Private, but he refers to him as Corporal which indicates that Inwood must have seen him to draft the letter.

Inwood was not posted to Brit Com Base Sig Regt till 10 December 1951, but it was 19 July 1951 when Inwood arrived in Japan and as a dispatch rider with BCOF Sig Regt.

The period spent at 1 Sqn Brit Com Base Sig Regt by Inwood was approximately eight weeks from the time he was on their nominal roll on the 11 Decemberr 1951 to 10 February 1952, which if he was doing the Air Courier duties with five other members of the Dispatch Rider Troop (the total strength of that Troop is not known) plus one officer, the most trips he would have done is eight, one per week, not the 12 to 14 trips as mentioned by Captain Bennett.

On being posted to Brit Com Base Sig Regt, Inwood would have to report to the Orderly Room at 1 Sqn as he was posted as a Dispatch Rider and carried out administrative procedures before commencing any duties. When he actually started and ceased doing those duties is unknown as he did put in an application to be returned to Australia on 19 January 1952.

The letter also does not have a reference number which would have been dated and stamped when received at the Orderly Room and there is no reference that this letter went any further then HQ 3 NS Trg Bde. There is also no reference in his service record that Inwood applied for any medals or that this letter was sent on to Central Army Records Office. His Proceeding For Discharge show that at the time of discharge Inwood was not issued any medals.

There are three other documents in his record, one is a request from the Repat Department dated 10 December 1956 asking for confirmation of active service, the other two state he did not have any record of active service in Korea, one has no date the other is dated  4 June 1957.

 

So how after all that the Directorate of Honours and Awards & Department of Defence came to the conclusion to issue the medals is a mystery. It may have been an error made by a staff member or some other reason. What clearly shows up is that Inwood was never posted to Korea during the war and therefore the medals should be returned.

Now for the juicy parts to the case as this is all in Inwood’s own words.

BCOF at the time was under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir Horace Clement Hugh ROBERTSON KBE(M), CBE(M), DSO as well as being Mentioned In Despatches twice in WW 1, who had served in WW1, WW2, and the Korean War. His command of the BCOF was from June 1946 to November 1951 and he then became Commander-in-Chief of the British Commonwealth Forces, (BCFK) Korea 28 September 1950 to 25 October 1951. This person is referred to by Inwood in his interview with the ABC in 1997.

Note: Q(15’16) The last sentence Inwood states he was returned to Australia due to frostbite, not that he applied to be returned home from Japan.

Also note the answer to the next question in that he spent seven and a half months in Korea, just slightly longer than what he did in Japan.

 

Note Q(32’04) where he makes reference to three sweptback wing planes. He refers to them as Shooting Stars, in actual fact they were F86 Sabre Fighter jets, the first swept back wing aircraft the US Air Force brought out.

Note Q(43’15) saw one little boy about 14 years executed in Seoul, then goes on to say he saw him there at 7.00 am and still there at 7.00 pm. Did he actually see the boy executed as he makes no reference as to who executed the boy or did he just come across him in this fairy tale story.

In 1999 he appeared with three other real war veterans in the Age newspaper dated 21 April 1999.

Inwood was under investigation by our web site prior to two newspaper articles featuring a story on him in November 2010.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad-application/doubts-over-his-incredible-korea/story-fn6bfm6w-1225966573541 

http://www.theage.com.au/national/veterans-claims-devalue-medals-20101123-185mc.html

Out of all the medals Inwood is displaying, he is according to his service record entitled to only two medals. I will start from left to right as you look at the photo beginning with the top row.

Australian Active Service Medal clasp Korea official- not entitled

Korea Medal official- not entitled

United Nations Service Medal (Korea) official- not entitled

Australian Service Medal clasp Japan official entitled

Australian Defence medal official entitled

The rest of these medals should not be worn on the left breast as they are not official issue.

Noble Peace Medal un-official can be purchased from Denmark- not entitled

Bottom Row

British commonwealth Occupation Force Medal un-official purchased- not entitled

Republic of Korea later renamed Korean War Service Medal This medal is the official South Korean Medal issued to Korean troops by the South Korean government to its troops and the medal was offered to the United Nations for issue to all allied troops who served in Korea, but was knocked back as the UN had already issued a medal. un-official purchased- not entitled

Korean Ambassador for Peace Medal un-official purchased- not entitled

You may soon see some Korean veterans wearing a new un-official medal which they will have to purchase the Korean War 60 year anniversary medal.

 

The Korea Veterans Association Australia Inc, which Inwood belongs to, have actually put out an application form for their member to purchase the Noble Peace Medal. This organization and other Ex-Service Organizations that carry on this practice are bringing disrespect on themselves by encouraging their members to purchase un-official medals and are also showing they have no regard to or respect to the document covering the protocol of wearing medals. All Ex Service Organizations that follow this kind of disregard to medal protocol should be condemned

An investigator from this site phoned Inwood to clarify his claims of active service. The call was cut short after a couple of questions were asked about which unit he was posted to when Inwood said his mobile was about to run out of charge and the phone went dead. An email has been sent to Inwood asking the same questions and as yet we have not received a reply nor do we expect one as Inwood knows he has been caught out. His reply to the posting to Korea is:

“I was not posted to a unit, I was posted there on my own..”

It would appear that Inwood was a one man army unit sent into Korea to deliver messages to himself. All those that have served in the military know that with any posting, movement orders are made out and you are posted from one unit to another and all that is recorded in the person’s service record.

Murray Inwood would have to be one of the biggest liars and conman around. He has brought disrespect upon himself as well as showing a total disrespect to the war veterans who did serve in the Korean War, but mostly to those that paid the highest price by giving their lives in battle.

For this outrageous act Inwood will grace our web site for the world to see.