Page 298 - They Also Served

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Alberic Stacpoole 1951.
Humphrey Adam John Stacpoole was born in Belfast on 19th April 1931. From a military family, his father was a lieutenant-colonel in the West Yorkshire Regiment, one uncle commanded the Royal Ulster Rifles when they were part of the glider- borne force on D-Day, and another won the MC and Bar with the SBS. Educated at Ampleforth, Stacpoole was a junior under-officer at Sandhurst and commissioned into the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment in 1951.
In the spring of 1953, he was commanding the Assault Pioneer Platoon of the 1st Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, as it entrenched on a ridge in Korea known as the Hook. The platoon’s tasks included laying wire and booby traps, often only a few hundred metres from the enemy and under mortar fire that, although severe and accurate, occurred at exactly 15-minute intervals. Over the next three weeks, they created a web of fortifications reminiscent of the Western Front. When the Chinese finally attacked, they were held up by the obstacles and, thoroughly entangled, fell victim to withering defensive fire. The line held and Stacpoole, wounded by shrapnel in the closing stages of the battle, was awarded the MC.
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