Shared spirit that’s more than a memory
Standing on the shore of Anzac Cove on Anzac Day, Flight Lieutenant Vernon Pather, along with other Australian and New
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Ian Cavanough
Who are these ANZACs? – by Ian Cavanough
The speech delivered by CONTACT friend Ian Cavanough at the Dawn Service in Yeppoon, Queensland on ANZAC Day 2021.
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Chapter 59: Australia!
So there we were cruisin’ the high seas. The boys from GHQ put out a newsletter telling us the latest
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Chapter 58: ‘The Sydney’
‘The Sydney’ refers to HMAS Sydney, an Australian aircraft carrier which was used to ferry Australian troops and equipment to
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Chapter 57: 3 and awakie!
I remember it well. You see we were due to come home from our 12 month tour of Vietnam on
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Chapter 56: Am I dreamin’?
We were heading for Chau Luc rubber plantation in the northern part of Phuoc Tuy Province, not far from the Courteney
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Chapter 55: Our time is getting short
You know how your mood changes during the working week? Who likes going to work on Mondays? Isn’t that where
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Chapter 54: The aftermath of the battle of Tan Ru
We survive the night without incident – if you can call a constant artillery barrage with shrapnel whizzing through the trees and
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Fun Fear Frivolity – the paperbook – out now
The long-awaited paper version of Fun, Fear, Frivolity by Ian Cavanough is finally here. Well, not here here – not
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Chapter 53: We sojourn to Tan Ru with 3RAR
It seems 3RAR needed some help, so Alpha Company was placed under operational control of 3RAR’s CO. The callsign of
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Chapter 52: I lied to my mates!
I know you are going to find this hard to believe, but I lied to my mates. I didn’t mean
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Chapter 51: We never go first
Ya know, there’s a distinct disadvantage by being the middle platoon in Alpha Company. At the end of an operation
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Chapter 50: Nursemaiding CHQ
After we left Garth things seemed to quieten down in the province. We were still out there patrolling, patrolling, patrolling but
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Chapter 49: Snakes, spiders, scorpions, wasps, fireflies, mossies, monkeys, ants, fuckoff lizards and woodpeckers
Woodpeckers? Yes I saw my first woodpecker in Vietnam. I knew what they looked like because of the cartoon character.
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Chapter 48: Life Without Killer
I last spoke about Digger and me sitting and sharing a brew after Killer’s death. It took a while for
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Chapter 47: May I be a little self indulgent?
Six months ago I decided to put pen to paper, so to speak, to write about my experiences as a
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Chapter 46: A big day
We lost count of the number of ambushes we set around the Courtenay Rubber, which were all to no avail
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Chapter 45: Ambushing 101
Patrolling in rubber plantations is dead easy. The lack of undergrowth makes it a breeze but there is a downside – you
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Chapter 44: Garth
FSB (Fire Support Base) Garth is located on Courtenay Hill, which is in the far north of Phuoc Tuy Province.
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Chapter 43: Route 2 to the Song Rai River
That thin vertical line in the west is Route 2. The Song Rai is the wriggly blue line to the
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