Memories
Visiting My Old Army Unit in Brisbane
I flew up to Brisbane yesterday afternoon to visit my old Army unit (85 Transport Troop) after an invitation from the Commander of 26 Transport Squadron to present a copy of my Vietnam diary to the unit. My flight up was non-eventful other than some dumb passenger had not boarded the plane and we were […]
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ANZAC Centenary Commemoration
It is not until April 15th 2015 that we will commemorate the famous landing of the ANZACs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) at Gallipoli on the peninsular of the same name in Turkey. However, August 5th 2014 is very much the start of the Centenary of the Commemoration of WW1 as it was on […]
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Contributing to the Army Museum
During WW2 and into the early 1960’s, the Army had a very large Ordnance centre at Bandiana in northern Victoria. It had its own railway line, sidings and a mass of buildings that housed all sorts of stores and military equipment. In one of the old buildings (around 1940’s vintage) is the Army Museum. It […]
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Puckapunyal Revisited
Puckapunyal is the army base in Central Victoria where I first did my army recruit training and specialist driver training in 1968 when I was called up for National Service. Today, my ‘fellow comrade in arms’, Robert Bruce and I returned there to make a presentation to the Army’s DriverTraining Centre. Robert and I both […]
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Vietnam Veteran Myths
I’m leaving for Albury tomorrow for a reunion of the army unit (85 Transport Platoon) with whom i served in Vietnam. We expect 150 – 160m people to attend. The unit was formed in Brisbane in 1966 especially to serve in Vietnam and it returned to Australia in 1972. My service was from April […]
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Vietnam Veterans Walk
I have just spent a few days in Albury with other members of the team organising the next reunion of our 85 Transport Platoon which will be helped over the Vietnam Veterans Day weekend from August 16 to 18. On our way back to Melbourne, we stopped at the town of Seymour to visit the […]
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Remembrance Day – Canberra
When I came to Canberra for the weekend, I wanted to do three things – see the original Long Tan Cross, catch up with John Snare, my Platoon Commander in Vietnam and attend the Remembrance Day service at the Australian War Memorial. This morning, we attended the Rembrancd Day Service. One of the highlights was […]
Read MoreLong Tan Cross
The Battle of Long Tan was the most significant battle during Australia’s war in Vietnam. It took place late in the day on August 18, 1966 between just over 100 Australian Soldiers of D Company of the 6th Batallion RAR and perhaps 2000 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Regular Army Soldiers. Seventeen Australians died in […]
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Reflections on Anzac Day
Today was the coldest and wettest Anzac Day in Melbourne for many years. I started by attending the dawn service at our local Doncaster RSL and then went on to the Anzac Day March in the city. During the dawn service it was pouring, while during the march itself, we had a few showers but […]
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Kokoda Track Video
Our trip along the Kokoda Track in 2002 coincided with the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Kokoda. This is when a small group of untrained, but exceptionally brave, Australians from several militia units encountered a significantly large force of Japanese soldiers in WW2. Later reinforced by full-time soldiers, their campaign along the Kokoda Track […]
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Table Tops
This news sheet was published for the Australian Troops in WW2 by the 1st Australian Press Unit, AIF. Its significance is clearly in its front page reporting of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1942. I came across it over the weekend when I was rummaging around my study and cleaning out […]
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Road Runner Diary
My diary of my time as a National Serviceman in Vietnam has been published by Lulu.com I called it the ‘Road Runner Diary’ because my platoon (85 Transport Platoon) was, in my time, known as the Road Runners. I prepared it from a small diary that kept while I was serving in Vietnam, along with […]
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