S T A N D FA S T

The Official Voice of the Tea Tree Gully

R S L Sub Branch

Welcome to your Sub - Branch

A place for meeting & socialising for

Veterans, Family, Friends & Community Together

PO Box 171, St Agnes, SA, 5097 Issue: 2 - August 2014

Welcome to all our new members. Anzac Day planning for 2015 has begun with a delegation from RSL Headquarters meeting with our council in August. Any input will be valued. Kokoda Day and Re-memberance Day planning is also under way. Our last dinner/dance in June with Alan Roberts and Darren Mannix was well attended. I didn't know so many people could dance. Our next dinner dance on

August 30 with Linda should also be a sell out. Our Thursday night dinners have been down a bit on num-bers but we attribute winter for that, plus the caravan group also heading out of town. Thanks to all those who chip in and help with the clean up after the supper. Our 1st and 3rd Sunday a la carte lunch/entertainment is wait and see. We hope you can attend. On Thursday November 6, Fred Smith (Diplomat to Afghani-stan, singer/songwriter) will be attending our RSL. Our Pa-tron Pat Trainer, himself being an Afghanistan vet, will be attending, along with his comrades. Come to the club and meet them. The caravan group is going strong, although I wish they would stop taking my vice-president away. Our volunteer base is growing, including but not limited to Leanne (chef) Trevor (editor) Jeff (advertising executive) and all those other volunteers who I can't remember on a Mon-day morning. Last but not least of my family and grandkids who are always willing to help at our functions. Malcolm is settling in as our new treasurer and we thank him for his efforts.

Robert

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PRESIDENTS REPORT

HANDY PHONE NUMBERS

Club: 08 8263 2083 (Bar hours only)

President: 08 8289 9981

Secretary: 0432711657

Treasurer: 08 8263 8189

Chaplain: 08 8360 6444

Womens Aux: 08 8263 9298

Stand Fast Editor: 08 8263 3516

RSL State HQ: 08 8100 7300

Welfare Officer 08 8265 4000 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BAR TRADING HOURS

Monday: Closed

Tuesday: 4pm to 11.30pm*

Wednesday: 7pm to 11.30pm

Thursday: 4pm to 8pm

Friday: 4pm to 11.30pm*

Saturday: Closed

Sunday: 3pm to 8pm

*Subject to patronage after 8pm

COMMITTEE

President: - Robert Lotstra

Secretary: - Peter Ford

Treasurer: - Malcolm Love

V / President: - Tony Callus - Keith Horne

Committee: - Di Sisson

Brian Kerin Terry Nicholas Con Moustrides Peter Wooton Mark Fulcher Michael Sherlock Malcolm St Clair-Dixon

T E A M Together, Everyone, Accomplishes, More

ANZAC DAY— TEA TREE GULLY Starting well before the 25th April, the orders for food, sandwiches, drinks, milk, coffee & not forgetting the mandatory rum. The hall & out-side tents to be erected. Seats & dais put into place. Bollards & bunting erected to keep the hoards of spectators in the correct area. Public address system put in place. 3.30am the Women’s Auxiliary with the volunteers are up preparing the hall & heating the milk for coffee. The snags are soon after, being thrown onto the barbeque by another band of volunteers form the local CFS. They donate their time in lure of using the club room facilities for a meeting. As the crowd built up & congregates at the Memorial Garden the troops are gathering to form up ready in lines to

march down to the Dawn Service. This years parade saw about 148 personnel lined up & march into the Gardens with approximately 3000 onlookers braving the chill of the morning air. The Club President, Robert Lotstra opened the Service with a short ad-dress. Robert them handed the proceed-ings across to Major Howard Trendell of the Salvation Army who performed the bulk of the service.

Wreaths where laid by the Mayor Pat Trainer, President TTG RSL, TTG RSL Ladies Auxiliary, Major Howard Trendell, Legacy Widows, Red Cross, Royal Australian Navy, Royal Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Force, Members of Parliament, (Tony Zappia, Tom Kenyon, Francis Bedford), Korea, Malaya and Bor-neo, Gulf War, Timor Leste and Afghanistan, New Zealand and Allied Nations, Country Fire Service, South Australian Police, Redbacks Band and Choir, Scout Groups, Banksia Park High School, Modbury High School, Tea Tree Gully Primary and Kindergarden. Closure of proceed-ings was after the cataphaulte party exited & the New Zealand & Austra-lian National Anthems sung. The parade was dismissed with everyone being invited back to the hall & Clubrooms for a hearty breakfast. The

hall & Clurooms where a buzz, queues where quickly created for the coffee & sausage on bread. Rum was flowing freely by those who required a small heart start to assist in cutting out the chill from the outside air. The Women’s Auxiliary held a small raffle which was extremely well patronised. Memorabilla sales where about even with last year although the bar takings were well down from 2013 due to less people coming back into the Clubrooms for a beverage.

Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea was held at Hope Valley in the back yard of Trevor and Colleen Harvey. They have been fund raising for the Cancer Council as participants of Australia’s Biggest Cuppa Tea for over 12 years, only missing a couple of times due to not being home during May. With the assistance of participation by friends, neighbours & Veterans with wife, a great afternoon was had by all in attendance. Almost 50 people graced

their back garden with most bringing a small plate of food & their favourite tea cup. As with most gatherings the girls all congregated together to discuss family issues & share recipes leaving the blokes feeling left out, so they where forced to bunch together in a corner to veg out. The Morning Tea started in the afternoon at 2.30. The guys had to drag their spouses home, some not leaving until about 5pm all because there was still a piece of cake or two sitting on a plate uneaten. The grand afternoon resulted in a magnificent $516 being raised and forwarded to the Cancer Council. The Harvey’s wish to thank all who made a donation & for helping to make the afternoon a most memorable occasion on behalf of the Cancer Council. / 3

Thank You

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Returned Services League TTea Tree Gully Sub Branch

C o m i n g E v e n t s

Please keep for future reference and check the notice board regularly for any change of event.

RECURRING EVENTS

�� Bar Opens at 4pm. Every Thursday evening Suppers from 6pm onwards. Arrive early as �� numbers are on the increase. Raffles will be run throughout the evening.

�� Jazz - 1st Sunday of the Month. A La Carte lunch 12—2pm music from 3pm — 5pm.

�� Music - 3rd Sunday of the Month. A La Carte lunch 12—2pm music from 3pm — 5pm. Free entry when a meal purchased or $5 cover charge at Door. All Meals $10.00

�� “OLDIES” Entertainment Day - 2nd Tuesday of each month at 1.30pm. Bingo - 4th Tuesday of each month at 1.30pm.

FUTURE EVENTS TO BE NOTED ON YOUR CALENDAR.

Dinner Dance

Saturday August 30th Music by Linda McCarthy

Annual Dinner

Sunday October 12th

Golf War 7 or Walk the Course Veterans Health Week

Monday October 20th at TTG Golf Club Breakfast and lunch supplied and drinks on course

Kokoda Day Service

Sunday November 2nd at Doxiadis Reserve from 10.45 am with Finger food back at the RSL Club

SPECIAL Thursday Evening Dinner

Sunday November 6th Reception /entertainment to encourage veterans of recent conflicts including Afghanistan. Fred Smith Diplomat to Afghanistan / singer / songwriter will be appearing at our RSL.

Remembrance Day. Saturday 11th November at Memorial Gardens from 10.45am then Finger Food back at the R S L Club

Annual General Meeting December 5th commencing 7.30pm.

Xmas Dinner Saturday 6th December

The RSL Newsletter STAND FAST is printed as a community service by Tom Kenyon MP - JP. Member of Newland. 4/ 1257 North East Road Ridgehaven. Ph 8264 4482

Tom is a member of the TTG Sub Branch

The office is open for ALL State Government Matters and Justice of the Peace service is available.

Our first a la carte lunch with entertainment.

Sunday 20 July was our first a la carte lunch with entertainment. Our food was very well received as was Linda McCarthy. Con had a particularly good time as the photograph shows.

There will be a la carte lunch with entertainment on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month. The first Sunday will be Jazz/Swing with Chico's Swing Combo while the 3rd Sunday will be not Jazz/Swing. The 3rd Sunday in August (the 17th) will be Steve Simon (Jumping Jive) accompanied by Colin Kay. The 3rd Sunday in September (the 21st) will be, once again our own Linda McCarthy.

All meals are priced at $10 which includes free entry to the show, otherwise a $5 cover charge will apply.

WWomen’s Auxi l iary

Tomorrow is not promised to us, so take today and make the most of it.

THE ILL and INJURED LIST

Leslie Alexander has a shoulder problem. He is not impressed that Gary Ablett Jnr is receiving more attention than he is.

Nick Gogillis Leg troubles

Bill O'Donnell had some bleeding

Bill Daddow the other half of Judy had a mild stroke just a few days before their son Stuart was married. The daughters family who drove across from Melbourne made a beeline to visit Bill Thursday 10th April who was still in hos-pital. Bill lost his vision for about 18hours which was very worrying for all. Luckily it returned about 18 hours later. Bill was allowed a day leave pass to attend Stuarts wedding. Now out of hospital he is about 95% back to normal although feeling fatigued quickly.

Malcolm Love also had a minor stroke a few months back. Fortunately all is OK except for some lethargy.

Jeff Langton toppled from a ladder while pruning a tree. Wrecked a knee & tore a tendon. Had a overnight stay in Parkwyn Hospital for the knee repair operation. His is slowing recovering & becoming more mobile each week.

THANK YOU I would like to thank Bill O’Donnell for his work as Treasurer for the first 6 Months of this year and leaving us in a good situation, financially Bill has also been a great help in teaching me the procedures of the job since I reluctantly took over. Thanks Bill for everything and good health

Service members and Affiliates membership is still the same as last years numbers with a lot more Community Members joining our Sub Branch.

Malcolm Love Membership Officer and Treasure

A huge THANK YOU to the committee & volunteer helpers who braved the cold, starting at 3.30am to set up for the ANZAC DAY Dawn Service. The day went off extremely well as we fed & provided Irish coffee to the hordes as they returned to the club for a gunfire breakfast. A job well done.

The next meeting of the Women's Auxiliary will be on Monday 18th August 2014 at 10.00am in the RSL clubrooms. New members are always welcome. If interested in joining please contact either Presi-dent JJeanette Martin on 8263 9298 or Secretary DDonna Crouch on 8261 9298

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You are now reading the 2nd edition of “STAND FAST” for this year. I took the role of editor on with some trepida-tion after the previous editor resigned the position quite suddenly. With assistance from the President Robert Lostra, Malcolm Love and a few others who went searching for past news-letter content, layout templates etc without success. Nothing could be found so we had to start completely from scratch to recreate all the headings & start a fresh on the front cover. With so many people pitching in to assist, I have been able to achieve publishing my first and now second edition of STAND FAST. Upon completion of the printing of our first edition, did you discover a few omissions of lines in a few pages? Thank goodness they where not very obvious. Came about by the fonts (type face) I had chosen on my PC, where not available on the laser printer at Tom Kenyon’s office. Hence the layout & text altered slightly. I will be more careful in future editions. Our trusty Presi-dent who proof read the newsletter before printing overlooked the misspelling of his own name. My chest & head swelled when I received some positive feedback with one dear lady telling my wife, it’s the best newsletter ever without knowing she was talking to the editors other half. I wish to thank everyone who has contributed content pieces for the newsletter and to others who have offered ideas to hopefully improve OUR Newsletter as my role is only to collect & collate the content, place it into some sort of order & have it printed. It does take considerable time & effort though. Without assistance with content stories it wouldn’t be worthwhile so please assist by offering news and happenings around the club to give us all some interesting reading material. If you have any ideas on how to make this newsletter a better publication please offer your thoughts to me, as we all want some substance and to raise the standard of our sub branch’s very own “STAND FAST”.

Trevor Harvey From the Editors Hand

””OLDIES” GROUP Hello to all members young and old. “Oldies are still meeting 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month and we would welcome any new faces. “Oldies” once had over143 members meeting in the Community Hall. So many of our members have passed away or are not well enough to join us now, so we only require the RSL Hall.

It is with great sadness we remember Jack Bowman a member from 1946 up until his death. Jack was the President when we moved into the “new” RSL in 1964. Jack and his wife Laurel who passed away a few years ago were great workers for the RSL. Jack had a large funeral and it was nice to see “Oldies” mem-bers and RSL members at his funeral along with Lions, TTG Early Settlers and retired Bowmans bus driv-ers. Jack and Laurel were at the first meeting of “Oldies” 21 years ago. We also had the sad news that Lorna Green passed away on the 20th July. Lorna used to play the piano for sing-a-longs on some enter-tainment days in the big hall. Lorna joins Ted, her husband a WWII vet who has also passed on.

N e w C h e f

Leanne has been our volunteer chef since Anzac Day 2014. She was born in 1971 and lived at Woodville with her parents and younger brother until secondary schooling at Woodville High, which then led to her working life. Three years in the army as a signals store person was followed by seven years at the Tea Tree Gully Hotel where she gained invaluable experience and began study for TAFE Certificate 3 in commercial cookery. It was a hard road to success, but it led to her present qualification as a Certified Chef. Six years as an agency chef added to Leanne's wealth of experience so that she was more than qualified for her present full time position at Wiltja Boarding House for indigenous youth. These children come from N.T. and W.A. lands to study at secondary schools around Adelaide. Leanne says that she loves both the cooking & the 70 young children. Among her interests are seeking Coca Cola memorabilia and antique glassware which she collects. Leanne calls herself a "crazy cat lady" and loves playing with her family of cats. Sharon has been her partner for twenty years and while working as a qualified printer, also assists with catering for functions. They are a great team. Leanne is passionate about cooking, the environment and native animals. She likes to participate in community life and that is why she volunteers to be our chef at the Tea Tree Gully RSL for which we are truly thankful.

A little silver-haired lady calls her neighbour and says, "Please come over here and help me. I have a killer jigsaw puzzle, and I can't figure out how to get started."

Her neighbour asks, "What is it supposed to be when it's finished?"

The little silver haired lady says, "According to the picture on the box, it's a rooster."

Her neighbour decides to go over and help with the puzzle.

She lets him in and shows him where she has the puzzle, spread all over the table.

He studies the pieces for a moment, then looks at the box, then turns to her and says,

First of all, no matter what we do, we're not going to be able to assemble these pieces into anything resembling a rooster."

He takes her hand and says, "Secondly, I want you to relax. Let's have a nice cup of tea, and then," he said with a deep sigh ................ "Let's put all the Corn Flakes back in the box."

For your information.

Telephone 0809 Area Code

Do not dial Area Codes 0809, 0284, and 0876 From Australia

In each case, you are told to call the 0809 number right away. Since there are so many new area codes these days, people unknowingly return these calls.

If you call from the UK, U.S, Australia or Canada, you will apparently be charged a minimum of $2425 per minute. And you'll also get a long recorded message. The point is, they will try to keep you on the phone as long as possible to increase the charges.

WHY IT WORKS:

The 0809 area code is located in the Dominican Republic .......

The charges afterwards can become a real nightmare. That's because you did actually make the call. If you complain, both your local phone company and your long distance carrier will not want to get in-volved and will most likely tell you that they are simply providing the billing for the foreign company. You'll end up dealing with a foreign company that argues they have done nothing wrong.

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As far as I know, Nell Meakins and I are the only members still at TTG who were also members in the tin shed. I was 37 when I started working for the TTG RSL. “Oldies” still has some WWII members, 2 AWAS, 1 WRAAF. 3 Sailors, 1 English Army and 1 RAF. Rev. George Townend comes from Brighton to our meetings and George was the first Anglican RAAF Padre to go to Vietnam. We also have a few “army” boys of various ages.

I would like to pass best wishes onto Nick who has not been well. Nick has been my right hand man for nearly ten years and has been such a help since Mick passed away nearly 10 years ago.

Recent world events make us realise how lucky we are to live in Australia. Hope to see some of you at “Oldies” one day soon

Lois Ramage Life Member

FITNESS & EXERCISE CLASS Don't forget our exercise classes are still continuing. 9am, 10 am for the men and 11am for the ladies. $5.00 per class. This time of the year, the classes are always quite a bit smaller than usual, with so many participants migrat-ing north or travelling overseas. (Poor things). Those of us left behind still continue to workout with " plenty of energy" and still with lots of laughter. Did you know: If you attend classes for 2 weeks and then miss a week, you are then back to where you were originally.

Did you know: It does not matter how fit you are, if you break an arm, leg or whatever, all the muscle- tone disap-pears in 1 week, so if you have been working out in a gym solidly for a few weeks, 6 months, 2 yrs or even 5 yrs it does not matter, the muscle just goes. The body is definitely an absolutely wonderful piece of "machinery". Summer is not far away, so hopefully all the regulars are back with us soon. New members are welcome anytime.

Judy Daddow (Instructor)

Proud Supporter of our Tea Tree Gully Sub Branch

A small group of 7 vans with one couple be-ing non van owners chose a cabin lifestyle for the duration of their time away. They ventured across our state into New South Wales. Temora was the base for four nights

with the air show over the weekend 19th –20th July. A great event with the travellers viewing Spitfire, Wirraway & de Havilland aircraft performing their stuff. The group moved a small distance to Junee for another 3 night rest.

Each evening the wood fire was stoked up with plenty of wood that keep the evening chill at bay. During the day some visited a liquorice factory, Round House Train Museum and even Wagga received a visit. Thursday the group dispersed to various destinations as they slowly made their way back home to slightly warmer Adelaide suburbs.

If your interested in joining these types of van / cabin trips please contact Peter Crouch for future dates.

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Why didn’t Noah swat those two mosquitoes?

CHUCKLE OF THE DAY

A teenage granddaughter comes downstairs for her date with this see-through blouse on and no bra. Her grandmother just pitched a fit, telling her not to dare go out like that! The teenager tells her 'Loosen up Grams. These are modern times. You gotta let your rose buds show!' And out she goes. The next day the teenager comes down the stairs, and her grandmother is sitting there with no top on. The teenager wants to die. She explains to her grandmother that she has friends coming over and that it is just not appropriate.. The grandmother says, 'Loosen up, Sweetie. If you can show off your rose buds, then I can display my hanging baskets.

Don't mess with a Senior Citizen!

Your mind is like a parachute, it must be open to operate.

Jeff Langton is the master behind the creation of a rolling TV screen that promotes the RSL and highlights “The Coming Events” for the Sub Branch. A new innovation proposed by Malcolm Love and with Jeff using his knowledge to take up the role of creating this mas-terpiece on a regular basis, keeping all the future events showing up on the TV screen. This requires a new disc being produced almost on a weekly basis so not such a simple chore. A job well done Jeff & Malcolm. It is a great way to promote the clubs events. Comments about the rolling screen displaying the clubs events, has been very positive and reaffirms the clubs desire to enter the 21st century.

PProud Supporter of our Tea Tree Gully Sub Branch

Butchers--Retail - Tea Tree Gully

13 Walters St, Tea Tree Gully SA 5091

CARAVAN / TRAVEL GROUP

A simple way you can help our RSL Sub Branch is to become a member and visit the club for a chat, a drink and some socialising.

By attending the functions that are now scrolling across the TV screen and patronising the events your Club promotes. Don’t forget the Thursday night supper is available for all and sundry to attend.

By supporting and attending OUR Sub Branch events this enables us, to help you, the member.

at St Agnes

Please support our Club supporters

REMONDIS has donated to the Tea Tree Gully RSL for 12 months a 3 cubic metre Waste Removal Bin. What a grand gesture by this company, so please support the supporters of our club.

The bins sole purpose will be for the holding of waste paper product and cardboard cartons, mostly refuse from the bar after emptying drinks from the packaging. All other rubbish is to be thrown into the RED roadside Col-lection Wheelie Bins

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WWhy isn’t there, mouse flavoured cat food?

Copy for the next STAND FAST closes 23rd November 2014.

Send all contributions please, before this date to:-

Trevor Harvey

e-mail tjnchavey@adam.com.au

May 1, 2014

Letter from Brendan Nelson to Mr Tim McCombe.

Vietnam veterans have won a significant breakthrough in their battle for acknowl-edgment of the health impacts of war-time exposure to chemicals, including Agent Orange, with the Australian War Memorial agreeing the official history must be rewritten.

Memorial director Brendan Nelson has written to Tim McCombe, president of the Vietnam Veterans Federation of Australia, informing him that the memorial's coun-cil is laying the groundwork for "commissioning an independent single volume history of the post-war medical and health issues affecting Vietnam veterans", in particular with "relation to the impact on veterans' health of exposure to herbicides".

Mr McCombe said veterans were "delighted and grateful".

Win for Vietnam Veterans with Agent Orange war history to be rewritten.

Supporting the Tea Tree Gully RSL

S P O R T S R E P O R T DARTS The season has just come to a close and we had 4 out of 5 teams compete in the finals. Our Premier Division side SURVIVORS and our Division 1 DIGGERS both making it into the Grand Final. Both teams had their chances but unfortunately both teams where defeated. Survivors 11 games to 9 while Diggers lost 11 games to 10. So close but not quite there. The Sub Branch congratulates all playing members from all the participating teams. Our next season commences on AUGUST 6th and hopefully we can go one better.

GOLF The GOLF War is approaching very quickly. 20th October is tee off day. Nominations forms are available from behind the bar as of 1st August. For those who have never participated speak to a past player who will inform you of what a great day it will be. Great golf & better company at an affordable cost. Our advise is for anyone thinking about the day to do so NOW and join in the fun. Your nomination fee provides you with the following goodies package. 1. Breakfast 2. Green Fees 3. BBQ Lunch All inclusive and the event is held at the TTG Golf Club. There will be Special Golf War Shirts & Cap that will be available for purchase, when nominating your team.

Place this event into your Diary.

Monday 13th APRIL 2015 a SPECIAL one off GALLIPOLI CHALLENGE. Also to be held at the TTG Golf Club. More news about this in the next issue.

If you've ever thought that the Vietnam War was basically all over by 1971, despite the fact that our Troops were still there, think again. This intense battle proved otherwise, and it yet again showed that at the platoon level, well-trained and disciplined troops could overcome huge odds. This was the biggest operation 3RAR had been involved in so far on their second tour, and it pitched B Company, (with Tunnel Rats from 1 Fld Sqn attached) against tough and experienced North Vietnamese troops with long years of combat experience behind them. At the centre of the action was 5 Platoon, and to their credit they were able to hold their ground until support from the other platoons of B company arrived.

For Operation Overlord special permission was obtained from the then Prime Minister Mr John Gorton to al-low Australian troops to operate outside Phuoc Tuy province. The Operation, conducted on the Long Khanh and Phuoc Tuy province border, was initiated because the enemy were using the buffer zone between the two prov-inces to train and equip troops before moving them into Phuoc Tuy province to attack and harass the local vil-lages. 1ATF and the Americans decided to conduct an operation aimed at destroying the enemy and their instal-lations in that region.

The plan was for the 2/8 battalion US to block the northeast and east along the Suoi Luc River, 4RAR was to block in the south and A Sqn 3Cav Regiment to block along the Suoi Ran River. 3RAR, with Tunnel Rats from 2 Troop attached was to provide the searching troops and they were tasked with destroying any enemy and any enemy bunker systems found in the area of search. 3RARs plan was to search it’s AO with three rifle companies (A,B,and C) with D coy being held in reserve. Two-man Splinter Teams of Tunnel Rats from 2 Troop were at-tached to each of the rifle companies, as well as to HQ in the Fire Support Base (FSB). Two-man Mini-Teams of Tunnel Rats (the difference being the carrying of a mine detector) were also attached to the tanks and APCs sup-porting 3 RAR on the Operation. The enemy that 5 platoon met on 7June 1971 were battle hardened and were suspected to have linked up with D445 battalion for sapper training in preparation for attacks on military installa-tions in Phuoc Tuy province. As the troops landed into their designated LZs, B Coy was no doubt seen by the VC as they began their search. Captured documents later indicated that the LZ was just 500 metres away from the enemy position. The heavy weapons company of 3/33NVA was able to stall 5 platoon B Coy for almost eight hours as the enemy moved away rapidly along pre-designated escape routes. Colonel Peter Scott, the CO of 3 RAR on their second tour of Vietnam recorded his perspective on the Operation for the “South Australians at War Oral History Project 2002”:

“Once again we were operating as a result of enemy wireless intercept, and we were advised that the 3rd Battal-ion of the 33rd North Vietnamese army regiment was in this location. So this was the first time that we were up against the North Vietnamese. And we found them on the first night (6th June 1971), when 5 Platoon of B Com-pany sighted the bunker system. It was about five o'clock at night and there was no way I was going to get in-volved in a night operation so they were pulled back until the next morning. “It turned out to be the most intensive opera-tional day that we had during the whole pe-riod that we were there. The enemy cer-tainly wasn't running on this occasion. He was sitting in his bunker system, which we found and then advanced against the next morning, and he fought very tenaciously. I had to bring in the tanks on one flank, the artillery, helicopter gunships, everything that I could produce to try and overcome this enemy opposition. “And I think really what happened was that he left a small force there which allowed the rest of the regiment to bug out. We found about thirty bunkers in that area, plus another thirty adjacent to it which had been occupied by D445 battalion. They were obviously assembling there for a major operation against the Task Force in Phouc Tuy Province. “We had a number of early casualties. One of our officers from the field

Editor: Our sincere thanks to the RAR Association for giving their permission to reproduce this article and to Michael Sherlock for requesting, to add some Military history content into our Newsletter for our readers to enjoy.

To the best of our knowledge, there are 4 current members of the TTG RSL who participated in Operation Overlord. Some where at the front line as members of 3 & 4 RAR with another supporting with artillery fire from a fire support base. If you have a piece of history you would like to relive, through Stand Fast, please forward it to the editor.

regiment was killed while he was directing artillery fire. A helicopter was shot down that was trying to drop ammunition. It burst into flames, and a few of my soldiers went into the flaming helicopter and rescued the crew, for which they were awarded gallantry decorations.” It turned out that the enemy was waiting in prepared positions for 5 Platoon that morning. At 0600 the Platoon moved off towards the bunker system and had only gone 90metres when all hell broke loose. In the initial burst Pte Hack was wounded and Pte Mitchell was shot through the throat. The Platoon was under fire from the flanks as well as from their front. 5 Platoon engaged the bunkers aggressively with their M60 machine-guns but fire from the enemy continued virtually all day, pinning the platoon down. Any withdrawal would have caused even higher casualties, so they had to hold their position while an Infantry and Armoured as-sault using tanks and APCs was assembled. Mounted on those APCs were to be men from D Company plus the Tunnel Rats from 2 Troop attached to D Company and to the tanks and the APCs.

Meantime 5 Platoon was now receiving fire from rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) which the enemy were skillfully firing into the trees above the men, causing the shrapnel to burst down on them from above. The tanks were edging their way towards 5 Platoon, and were themselves coming under RPG fire. On reaching the contact point they soon realized the bunker system was so large the tanks were outflanked and that they were taking RPG fire from all directions. In response, the tanks let fly with everything, sending a rain of high explosive (HE) and canister rounds into the jungle and into many of the bunkers. RAAF and US gunships were now also flying and firing in support, often dropping rock-ets and gunfire within 15 meters of the troops on the ground. By 0900 CHQ and 6 Platoon had reached 5 Platoon but Pte Manioloff was wounded in the move and Pte Bob Drinnan and Pte Trevor Sharland were wounded shortly after. At this point a chopper dropped much-needed ammunition, but while dis-tributing this to the men, Pte Peter Fyfe was wounded. The artillery support was critical to the survival of the men in contact, and they had lobbed in a total of 1,388 rounds during the day from FSB Pamela, plus further support from FSB Trish and FSB Cherie. The artillery forward observer (FO) Lt. Ian Mathers was moving to a better position to direct his fire, when he was killed by enemy fire, leaving Lance Bombardier Peter Maher to direct the fire. At 1100 another vital ammunition re-supply by heli-copter was taking place when the chopper was hit by enemy ground fire as it hovered over the contact area. The helicopter fell to the ground behind 5 Platoon and burst into flames, igniting the ammunition on-board. Men from B Company rushed to pull the crew from the burning chopper, getting them all out, but two of them were killed and three were wounded. Many of the M60 machine-guns were now jamming because of the over-heating caused by continuous fire.

The mortars back at FSB Pamela were also jamming and misfiring due to over-heating. By mid-afternoon D Company with the tanks and APCs and the attached Tunnel Rats from 2 Troop finally moved into the bunker system in a two up formation in support of B Company. The tanks had only been able to move as fast as the Infanteers and Sappers walking beside and behind them. Each bunker had to be searched as they moved through the massive system, with the Tunnel Rats checking for mines and booby traps. Eventually the system was cleared of enemy and 5 Platoon could be relieved and sent back to a safer area for a well-earned rest. They had been in contact for over eight hours. In the following days, the Tunnel Rats thoroughly searched all the bunkers and the entire camp area be-fore setting charges to blow up the whole system. It was an extensive and well-established enemy camp, with lecture areas, an assault training course, a mine warfare training area, a fresh-water well and a grave yard.

The camp covered an area 1km by 1.5km and comprised over 100 bunkers, many of them with unusu-ally deep overhead protection. This was one of the last major Operations of Australia's involvement in Vietnam, and fittingly, the Sappers of 1 Field Squadron were right amongst it, as they were throughout the war.