"I went out right at the end, just before the truce in 1953," explained Warren from Llanfairfechan, who has been back to South Korea this year.
"People tend to forget that the last UK troops didn't leave Korea until 1957. And really, the war still hasn't ended, even today," he said.
The war began on 25 June 1950 when the Soviet-backed North Korean army invaded the American-backed south.
Soon British and Commonwealth armed forces were sent over to help fight for the democratic south, and Chinese troops were sent in to bolster the Communist army to the north.
Warren had left Friars Grammar School, Bangor, to start his National Service when he found himself facing the formidable Chinese army.
"I joined the Royal Artillery and most of the time I was a wireless officer, operating in front of the guns," he said.
"It really was a dangerous theatre of war, wherever you were sent.
A peace treaty was never signed: the two Koreas remain technically at war
"One of the most difficult factors was the climate. The summers were very hot, like it must be for the boys out in Afghanistan now.
"Then the winters were very cold, and temperatures could dip to 40 degrees below. You had to melt the ice for water to wash and shave and starting up the tanks was a problem because sometimes the diesel would freeze.
"We were living in a hole in the ground - something which doesn't happen anymore in the army, except for maybe special forces. But it was back to being in trenches which could get very wet and muddy and in certain sectors compared to World War I."
Warren remembers hemorrhagic fever hitting the troops - a disease with symptoms similar to malaria which cause the skin to split and bleed.
"If it wasn't treated within three days, you were dead," he said.
While the American forces were lectured about their duty to fight for freedom against the Communists, Warren only remembers the British forces being told to get on with it.
"I was very conscious about what could happen, because I was an only child, and I wouldn't say I enjoyed it, but I definitely had a taste for it.
Over 1000 British troops were killed, 2000 injured and 1000 taken prisoner
"I had many friends who tried to be based in RAF Valley during their National Service, so they could go home at weekends, but many have said they regret not taking the opportunity to do something different."
It definitely gave Warren a taste for travel because afterwards he enlisted with the Colonial Police Force and travelled the Commonwealth.
Earlier this year he was invited to visit Korea for the 60th anniversary commemorations.
"It was a very humbling experience, because people of all ages would come up to us, grasp our hands and thank us," he said.
"It's known as the Forgotten War here, but in South Korean schools British soldiers who won the Victoria Cross for their bravery are held up as heroes. Their vice president said they owed everything to us and our comrades."
While the five mile-wide no man's land between north and south reminded him of the continuing hostility, Warren was amazed at the changes in Seoul which was just piles of rubble last time he was there.
"It's a beautiful city now," he said. "And it was good to be with other veterans who you could talk to openly about the war, sometimes with humour. It was black humour, but at least it was there."
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