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 not continuous rain. We were very grateful for the relatively good crowd who watched the march, considering the cold and wet weather.

I noticed on the TV that in one of the WW2 units, the veterans from HMAS Arunta were led by a George Joubert. He was described as having worked in the engine room, but I recollect that his actual job on the ship was as a stoker. Coal fired ships are now as ancient as dinosaurs. George was my parent’s next door neighbour in East Malvern. He used to regularly go to the pub on a Saturday night and then walk home in the early hours of the morning home singing loudly. My pious mother would always exclaim “There’s George again and drunk as usual”. It was great to see him today in good enough health to lead his unit, even though he was perhaps a little stooped.

I looked up my Vietnam War diary to see what I was doing on Anzac Day while I was in Vietnam. Anzac Day occurred only a couple of weeks after I had arrived there as a twenty year old in 1969. My day began with a dawn service on the helicopter pad. I remember thinking that I would return home as a real Anzac with all the acclaim and respect that Australian returned servicemen were given. However, as we later found out, the treatment of Vietnam Veterans by the public was nothing like this – often one of rejection and criticism.

During that Anzac Day, I was tasked as Duty Driver. My day finished with being rostered for picket (guard) duty in which pairs of soldiers patrolled our work base on a series of overnight shifts – two hours on, and then two hours off. This took place every night between 6:00 pm and 6:00 am.

This was the night when the red trailer reflecter incident occurred. I was rather nervous and a little jumpy on this, my first picket in Vietnam. Somewhere down in the very dark and very back of our transport yard, I noticed a red light that appeared to be blinking on and off. I wasn’t sure whether this was something that I should report, shoot at, or investigate. With a bit of trepidation, I decided to investigate and found that it was only a bright reflection from the tail light of a parked trailer. It was quite a relief to find that it was nothing really sinister.

Today was another good Anzac Day with old mates and one in which I knew that all my family supported me and would be looking out for me on the telecast of the march.

20120425-201944.jpg

I lifted this photo from my friend, Rob Horton’s Facebook page. He saw me in the march while watching two of his children who were marching in school bands. These bands make a great contribution to the march and we are always grateful for their hard work and contribution.

Bruce

Bruce is a keen traveller and photographer. This web site describes his travel and family interests

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Every Day Life

We’ve Seen Works by the World’s Top Selling Female Artist

The National Gallery of Victoria is currently holding an exhibition of the works of a famous Japanese artist. We gained a large dose of ‘culcha’ when we visited her exhibition today. It is so large that it takes up the whole ground floor of the gallery and is presented in two parts. Yayoi Kusama is […]

Read More
Every Day Life

Coffee Encounters

One of my enduring memories of my service in Vietnam is that of being in a convoy way out in the boondocks resupplying a forward operation. There in the middle of nowhere, and in a potentially dangerous location, was an Australian Salvation Army Officer and his Landrover ready to serve us a cup of hot […]

Read More
Every Day Life New Zealand

Over the Haast Pass to NZ’s West Coast

We had about 275 kilometres to travel today but we were not rushed and today’s drive felt very comfortable and relaxed. Perhaps it was the coffee in Wanaka that we waited 20 minutes to get. The young barista in the cafe was working hard and she had our coffees up as fast as she could […]

Read More