Hill 235, where the 1st Battalion, the Gloucestershire Regiment was ordered to "Hold on where you are", is remembered as "Gloster Hill". The hill is south of the Imjin River and west of the Seolmacheon stream at in Jeokseong-myeon, Paju City, Gyeonggi-do Province, South Korea.
Memorial
The memorial stands at the foot of Gloster Hill beside the Seolmacheon stream, the initial location of the Gloucestershire Regiment's headquarters during the battle at Imjin River. It was built by units of the British and South Korean armed forces as a memorial to the Gloucestershire Regiment and C Troop, 170th Mortar Battery, Royal Artillery. The British Embassy in Seoul organises services for veterans on every anniversary of the battle, in April. Information on and artifacts from the battle are held by the Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum in Gloucester, England. The memorial was first unveiled on 29 June 1957. The memorial park was expanded and reopened in 2014. There is a memorial garden on the east side of the stream containing a large sculpture of the Gloucester's beret, a set of life sized Gloucester soldiers patrolling away from the Imjin River and a memorial wall. The stream is crossed by Gloucester Bridge and a path leads round to a flight of steps that takes you to the memorial stones set into a wall built into the side of the hill. Four plaques on the original memorial still show the crest of the United Nations, the badges of the Gloucestershire Regiment and of the Royal Artillery, plus inscriptions in English and Korean which read:
Battle of Solma-RiApril 21 to 25, 1951 This memorial on Gloster Hill commemorates The heroic stand of the 1st Battalion the Gloucestershire Regiment and 'C' Troop, 170 Light Mortar Battery, Royal Artillery. Surrounded and greatly outnumbered they Fought valiantly for four days in the Defence of freedom.
This is a popular park for local Koreans. According to Lee In-jae, the mayor of Paju who raised money among local citizens to expand the park, "Freedom is not freeit is earned with blood". 1.7 kilometers away from the memorial and situated on Gamak mountain is a rope bridge known as The Gloucester Heroes Bridge. The insignia of the regiment is also on a marble effect wall towards the beginning/end of the bridge, depending on which sidethe walk is started.
