Anzac Day falls 75 years after Australian soldiers fought a bloody battle that helped turn the tide of history's 'forgotten war'.

In April 1951, Australian troops joined a United Nations force that had been deployed to South Korea after it was attacked by North Korea and later its ally China, in what became the Korean War.

Weeks later, the Chinese army launched a lightning offensive in the Kapyong Valley with the aim to recapture the strategically vital city of Seoul, just 60 kilometres away.

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But they faced a big obstacle: the hills overlooking a key road was held by soldiers from the 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (RAR) on one side and Canadian infantry on the other.

These units, supported by soldiers from the United States, New Zealand and the UK, bore the brunt of the Chinese attacks for more than two bloody days.

While the UN force of about 2800 troops was well trained and equipped with artillery and tanks, they faced an attacking force of about 20,000 Chinese soldiers.

The Australian and Canadian defenders faced large waves of the attacking enemy during night and day, with much of the fighting involving bloody close-quarter combat.

Commanders later ordered a strategic withdraw, but their heroic actions helped the UN forces achieve a decisive victory. Seoul was saved from falling once again into communist hands, and would not be threatened again for the remainder of the war.

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The Australian and Canadian battalions were each awarded a United States Presidential Unit Citation for their part in the battle.

Australian War Memorial senior historian Craig Tibbitts says the Battle of Kapyong is one of the most famous actions in the country's military history.

"The Allied force (27 Commonwealth Brigade supported by US tanks and air support), held key high ground in the path of the Chinese offensive and managed to hold it against overwhelming numbers long enough to make a difference."

He says it was the most important battle for Australian troops in Korea.

However the battle came at great cost: The Australians had 32 men killed, 59 wounded and three taken prisoner; the Canadians suffered 10 fatalities and 23 wounded; the New Zealanders lost two men and three Americans were also killed.

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Historians calculate Chinese army casualties to be 2000 to 5000 killed during the battle.

Overshadowed by longer, more costly battles waged in Vietnam and the Middle East since the 1950s – Korea is often regarded as the 'forgotten war'.

In all, 17,000 Australian soldiers, sailors and air crew served in the conflict, with 339 killed and 1216 wounded. 

Earlier this year, the Royal Australian Mint issued a special 50-cent coin to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Kapyong.

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A family from Adelaide have been forced to turn to strangers and crowdfund for life-saving cancer treatment abroad for their child.

The solution was meant to be found in Adelaide, with a basement on North Terrace designed for a ground-breaking Proton Therapy Unit, which now is only filled with a decade-old empty promise.

In 2024 Levi was diagnosed with stage-four medulloblastoma, an aggressive and unrelenting brain tumour, which came as a shock to both the then-nine-year-old and his mum Jade Elston.

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"I cry a lot," Elston told 9News.

"It just feels like a dream. You don't know what to do, you just feel helpless as a mum."

After years of some of the strongest chemotherapy and radiation treatments, Levi was in remission – twice.

But now, the 11-year-old's cancer has come back.

"They did say when children relapse with medulloblastoma, especially with this third relapse, they often pass," Elston said.

"He's gone through a lot. He can hardly even walk to the toilet, he gets puffed out walking to the toilet."

The only hope left for the family is a treatment called proton therapy, which is specifically targeted to treat childhood cancers.

"We specifically need that because there's no way to operate," Elston said.

That treatment was promised for South Australia back in 2016, with $500 million spent on the Bragg Centre on North Terrace and its purpose-built bunker.

It was meant to house a machine which never got built.

"Let's not assume that, had there not been a delay, this program would have been in place by now," government spokesperson Tom Koutsantonis told 9News.

SA's Health Research Institute took the machine's developer to court and last month won back $35 million over the failed contract.

But that's cold comfort to the Elston family, who are now forced to crowdfund for an overseas trip to Singapore for the life-saving treatment.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler wasn't available to answer questions, instead telling 9News he's now canvassing other states to potentially host a proton therapy machine.

Whatever happens next, Elston has this message for politicians.

"Pull your head in and get it fixed, children are losing lives," she said.

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