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Poets Corner

CONTACT Editor Brian Hartigan (not a Nasho) on the bayonet assault course with SLR, 1990.
Poets Corner 

Just a Nasho

10/01/202131/01/2021 Jim Veryard 2110 Views 0 Comments By Jim Veryard

We trained for a war that never came We never left our native shores We never fired a shot in

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Australian Defence Force personnel from Australia’s Federation Guard carry the coffins of the 33 Australian service personnel and dependants repatriated from SE Asia from a Royal Australian Air Force C-17A Globemaster at RAAF Base Richmond on 2 June 2016. Original photo by Corporal David Gibbs, digitally stylised by CONTACT.
Poets Corner 

Mates and Comrades

09/01/202110/01/2021 Posted by Brian Hartigan 1653 Views 0 Comments By Tomas 'Paddy' Hamilton

We’re the parents who watched with pride, the day that you marched out But the ideals for which you stood,

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Passchendaele
Poets Corner 

Tread gently

07/01/2021 Posted by Brian Hartigan 1500 Views 0 Comments By Tomas 'Paddy' Hamilton

Tread gently on this foreign field, for it lies soaked in blood, that flowed across this battlefield, a tragic crimson flood

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A Vultee Vengeance MkIV general-purpose dive bomber at RAAF Base Williamtown, NSW, circa 1943. AWMP00448.191
Poets Corner Royal Australian Air Force Veterans 

ANGELS WITH BROKEN WINGS

02/01/202107/01/2021 Posted by Brian Hartigan 2211 Views 0 Comments By Tomas 'Paddy' Hamilton

A poem dedicated to 300 RAAF aircrew killed during training at flying schools and conversion units in Australia during World War II.

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Aircrew from No. 36 Squadron, RAAF Base Amberley, enjoy a semi-traditional Christmas lunch onboard a C-17A Globemaster in transit to the Middle East. Photo by Sergeant W Guthrie.
Poets Corner 

Another Christmas

30/12/202030/12/2020 Posted by Brian Hartigan 2091 Views 0 Comments By Tomas 'Paddy' Hamilton

You see it on greeting cards – frost, fur, sleigh – As I recall when I was young that was the Irish way, But mum and dad saw better times and took me by the hand, And journeyed far upon the tide to a new and distant land

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Original photo by Sergeant Murray Staff – digitally altered by CONTACT.
Poets Corner 

THE LEG OF HAM

28/12/2020 Posted by Brian Hartigan 1571 Views 0 Comments By Tomas 'Paddy' Hamilton

OUR FAMILY’S HAD ITS PROBLEMS, ON WHAT TO BUY AND EAT CATERING FOR OUR CREW, IS REALLY QUITE A FEAT, THE PROBLEM COMES UP EVERY YEAR

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Australia Day, 2000, Dili, East Timor, watching backyard cricket. Photo by Corporal Brian Hartigan.
Poets Corner 

The Christmas Turkey

21/12/2020 Posted by Brian Hartigan 2550 Views 0 Comments By Tomas 'Paddy' Hamilton

Husbands can’t be perfect, concessions must be made But my one has a habit, that leaves others in the shade

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Australian Army Lance Corporal Ella Jones enjoying Christmas festivities at Taji Military Complex, Iraq. Photo by Corporal Steve Duncan.
Poets Corner 

Christmas Eve in the Sand Pit

09/12/202009/12/2020 Posted by Brian Hartigan 2060 Views 0 Comments By Tomas 'Paddy' Hamilton

She sees the parting transport jet and hears its fading whine It’ll touch down in Australia, in about twelve hours

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Among some 450 guns captured by the Australians in the Battle of Amiens was this 11-inch artillery piece mounted on a railway carriage, now on display in the grounds of the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.
Poets Corner 

The guns are silent now – by Richard Davies

08/12/202008/12/2020 Posted by Brian Hartigan 2109 Views 0 Comments By Richard Davies

The Guns are silent now, The landscape tortured beyond belief, The quiet broken by a lone bird singing a sorrowful

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Poets Corner 

The Mechanic

28/11/2020 Posted by Brian Hartigan 2261 Views 0 Comments By Tomas 'Paddy' Hamilton

I first met Benny years ago, we went to the same school, Loyalty, Trust and Friendship was our motto’s rule.

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Passchendaele
Poets Corner 

The field – by Richard Davies

28/11/202028/11/2020 Posted by Brian Hartigan 2213 Views 0 Comments By Richard Davies

The field now quite, A hazy smoke drifts about, The smell of cordite from exploding shells, mixed with the metallic

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A service to commemorate the sinking of HMAS Vampire at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne. Original photo by Leading Seaman Bonny Gassner, stylised by CONTACT.
Poets Corner 

CHUBBY

27/11/202028/12/2020 Posted by Brian Hartigan 2141 Views 2 Comments By Tomas 'Paddy' Hamilton

Chubby was a Pusser, I’d known for many years We’d catch up every Anzac Day and down too many beers

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File photo by Sergeant Troy Rodgers
Poets Corner 

Why the Poppy is so red

11/11/202029/11/2020 Posted by Brian Hartigan 2642 Views 2 Comments By Tomas 'Paddy' Hamilton

We pray for all our heroes and the blood that they have shed, That’s why my darling grandchild, THE POPPY IS SO RED.”

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Photo by Warrant Officer Class Two Gary Ramage.
Poets Corner 

The Track

08/11/202031/01/2021 Posted by Brian Hartigan 1527 Views 0 Comments By Richard Davies

Their khaki uniforms dyed green, to match the jungle, Soon a mottled colour from the continuous rain These young diggers

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Framed commemorations of Flying Officer Michael Herbert and Pilot Officer Robert Carver positioned in front of a Canberra bomber during a 50th anniversary commemorative service at RAAF Base Williamtown. Photo by Corporal Brett Sherriff.
Poets Corner 

Magpie 91

05/11/202031/01/2021 Posted by Brian Hartigan 2858 Views 1 Comment By Tomas 'Paddy' Hamilton

You’ve lain within your fallen steed, for nearly forty years But decades cannot wipe away, the heartache and the tears

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A Vietnam veteran lays a cross to remember those who died at Long Tan during a parade to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan at Gallipoli Barracks, Brisbane, 18 August 2016. Original photo by Janine Fabre, digitally modified by CONTACT.
Poets Corner 

A Veteran’s Tears

31/10/2020 Posted by Brian Hartigan 2584 Views 0 Comments By Tomas 'Paddy' Hamilton

I recall the day I met him, when I went to read my poem About the Anzac spirit, at the

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A C-130J Hercules overflies a Royal Australian Navy Collins-class submarine off the WA coast. Photo by Corporal David Gibbs.
Poets Corner 

You were never there

24/10/2020 Posted by Brian Hartigan 1893 Views 0 Comments By Tomas 'Paddy' Hamilton

When the government deploys you, to perform some dodgy task You tell your folks. “Secret Squirrel”. In other words. “Don’t

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A Royal Thai Army jungle survival expert demonstrates the bite of a non-venomous snake, to members of the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, during Exercise Chapel Gold 2018 in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand. Base photo by Corporal Matthew Bickerton (digitally altered by CONTACT).
Poets Corner 

The Snake

21/10/2020 Posted by Brian Hartigan 2719 Views 0 Comments By Tomas 'Paddy' Hamilton

I wondered why we settled here, in the land that time forgot When it comes to nasty fauna, this place

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Poets Corner 

Gallipoli

19/10/2020 Posted by Brian Hartigan 1980 Views 0 Comments By Richard Davies

I am woken from my slumber by a thunderous crash that shakes me to my soul, the iron monsters upon

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Australian Army bagpiper Musician Dave Leaders rehearses at the Ari Burnu cemetery, Gallipoli, Turkey, ahead of 2017 Anzac Day commemorations. Photo by Able Seaman Kayla Hayes.
Poets Corner 

Lest We Forget Gallipoli

18/10/2020 Posted by Brian Hartigan 1598 Views 0 Comments By Greeny

  A misty cloud protects the cliffs As boats creep swiftly forward, Sliding through the oily sea, Timings set to

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Contact is an independent veteran owned and operated Australian publishing house that curates this web site and a weekly newsletter – available by subscribing (free) via Patreon.

Write to us via editor@militarycontact.com

 

CONTACT Air Land & Sea plus COMBAT Camera magazines were past publications of this business. Digital copies of both magazines can be viewed or downloaded via our Archives (see menus).

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