TWO North-East soldiers have returned after representing the region's regiments in a ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the Korean War.

Corporal Michael Gibbons, of Salgrave, in Washington,Wearside, and Corporal Craig Hepburn, of Jarrow, South Tyneside, were among 14 soldiers chosen to represent the regiments that fought in the conflict.

They travelled to Seoul, in South Korea, for a ceremony commemorating those who died in what has become known as the Forgotten War.

Cpl Gibbons, 24, of the 2nd Battalion Light Infantry, based in Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, and Cpl Hepburn, 30, of the 1st Battalion, based in Germany, represented the former Durham Light Infantry.

Cpl Hepburn, who played a 300-year-old silver bugle at the ceremony, said: "I found it very moving, being on the battlefields and hearing from the men who had actually fought there.

"It was hot and humid for most of the time and not the easiest temperature to play in. I hope that my calls helped them to remember their friends and comrades who did not return to England with them."

Cpl Gibbons said: "To see the battlefields - and hear men who fought there tell it as it was - was truly amazing."