| Saturday
21 April to Sunday 22 April 2001 |
 The guys started arriving in Adelaide
from Saturday the 21st through to Sunday night
the 22nd. Bob "Woody" Wood and Trevor
"Darky" Elemes drove down and stayed
with Daryl "Dixie" Dicks out at Two
Wells. This was the first time in 30 years that
Darky had any contact with his former
brothers-in-arms. The picture on the left is
Darky and Dixie at Two Wells South Australia,
glad to see each other after 30 years ....
brothers-in-arms again. |
| Charlie
Company Reunion - Old Kent Town Hotel - Monday,
23 April 2001 |
 On Monday 23 April 2001, there was a
Charlie Company Reunion scheduled at The Old Kent
Town Hotel starting at 5:30pm. The Goons started
arriving around lunchtime ... some things don't
change even after 30 years .... if there is a
meeting at a pub, then the Goons will be first to
arrive and last to leave. The picture at the
right shows Jammo, Dixie, Butch, and Langy
catching up on 30 years of memories and drinks. |
 Dennis
Tyson, one of our lieutenants turned up from New
Zealand. The skipper signed himself out of
hospital just to have a few beers with the boys.
Even though Dennis wasn't with us all that long
.... he was the best Lieutenant that we had ...
and we had plenty of them ... we just kept
misplacing them. |
 The bar at
The Old Kent Town Hotel got a big work out ... we
drank them out of light beer on the first night
... Light Beer? .... Oh well it was 30 years ago,
and maybe age has wearied them somewhat. But for
all the drinking, there was no trouble and the
Management and Staff wanted The Goons to come
back again ... we would be! |
 The
Quartermaster - Staff Seargant French - happy? to
see the Goons again. Frenchy used to have the
horrors at what the Goons used to do to his Q
store. Once while we were out bush, Battalion
Headquarters did a snap inspection of the Company
lines ... everything was going all right, until
they got to 7 Platoons lines ... the main tent
was done up like a casino, and there was grog
hidden everywhere. The Headquarters wallers just
shook their heads and ordered Frenchy to take
down all the coloured lights ... they walked away
still shaking their heads ... but Frenchy loved
us ... and looked after us. |
| Kapyong
Day - Tuesday, 24 April 2001 - Woodside Army Base |
 The
Battalion travelled by buses up through the
Adelaide hills to our old Army Camp at Woodside.
The old facilities have gone, and been replaced
by much more modern facilities for the Air
Defence Group, currently occupying the base. We
gathered on our old Parade Ground ... the same
ground that we paraded before the Governor of
South Australia before heading to Viet Nam. The
Commerorative Service paid tribute to our fallen
and those who were injured then and have suffered
since. The picture shows Lt Col Peter Scott
addressing the Battalion. |
 During the Commerorative
Service there was a Huey circling in the
background. Eyes continually searched the sky, as
the whoop, whoop sound could be heard in the
distance. The sound of the Huey brought so many
memories rushing to the surface. Viet Nam will
always be synomous with the sound of a chopper.
At the end of the service the chopper did a
couple of low fly overs and hovers above the
Battalion. The sight and sound of a chopper so
close made the hairs rise on the back of your
neck. |
 After the
Service some of the Goons went to look at our old
lines. On the walk up to the Officers and
Seargants mess for a BBQ, they paused at the
Plaque and Cairn that commerorates 3RAR's time at
Woodside. In the picture are Foxy, Wheels, Darky,
Butch, Woody and Dixie. |
 At the BBQ
Trevor Elemes (right) met up with his old mate
Ray Appo (left). Ray and Trevor were the only two
indigenous soldiers in 3 RAR in 1971. Both could
have avoided National Service, if they wished to
claim exemption through being indigenous ....
both are very proud Australians and chose to
fight for their country. Two very proud and brave
Australians are once again in touch after 30
years. |
 In
the afternoon we left Woodside and travelled back
to Adelaide. Then it was back to the various
Company Reunion venues. Jacko and Darky meet
after 30 years. Darky was the Platoon signaller,
until he got his hook, then he became 2IC of 3
Section 7 Platoon (Dixie's Section). Jacko took
over carrying the radio. Even after 30 years the
bond between two old signallers is still there
.... it looks like they were trying to find their
current LOCSTAT. |
| ANZAC
Day - 25 April 2001 - Adelaide, South Australia |
 Anzac day
started with breakfast at the Torrens Parade
Ground. The diggers there put on a great barbeque
breakfast with lots of coffee. The picture shows
The Goons after breakfast with their coffee cups
... too much celebrating, and they have to resort
to coffee? ... not quite ... the coffee was
liberally laced with rum. After breakfast it was
a short walk up to the War Memorial for the Dawn
Service. It might have been short but it was up a
bloody big hill ... and two old ladies outpaced
Woody. |
 
After the Dawn Service we headed back to
the Torrens Parade Ground for awhile and then off
to The Gateshead Hotel to assemble for the march.
The Office Commanding Charlie Company (Spot
Tilley - left) was there to greet us .... as was
one of our lieutenants, Dennis Tyson (right).
It was good to be back in the Army as we hurried
up and waited for about 3 hours before we stepped
off. Luckily the hotel had a plentiful supply of
grog ... and we made good use of it while we
waited. |
 Delta Company (The Red
Devils) got the jump on us, with their marker
balloon. In the 'Nam we had big orange helium
filled balloons, that we were supposed to put up
when we were in a major fire fight. They provided
excellent targets for the Nogs ... so we declined
to use them. There were numerous stories
concerning our CO, Lt Col Peter Scott and his
escapades flying around in his possum looking for
his troops when we were in combat. The orange
balloon with the markings "Here we are
scotty!" and an arrow pointing down ... was
an excellent reminder of those days. Good on yer
Red Devils .... wished we had thought of it first
... although if any of us had blown the balloon
up .... it could have contained a very explosive
mixture, considering how much we had been
drinking. |
 Australian
Flags are carried in Anzac Day Marches to honour
our dead. Each flag represents a fallen warrior,
and each flag pole has a metal plate with the
service details of one fallen member from The
Regiment. The honour of carrying the flag for The
Goon Platoon went to Butch Collins. Butch is
wearing his father's medals on the right side of
his jacket. A little fashion note ... Butch's
suit was bought in Bangkok while he was there on
R&R in 1970 ... but that is another story.
The Colonel walked past and just shook his head
as he saw an ex-digger with a mowhawk carrying
the Australian Flag ... but no man is prouder of
his country and his service, than Arthur
"Butch" Collins. |
 The members
initially splintered over a number of watering
holes, but the bonds remained too strong ... and
it wasn't long before they all ended up at The
Company meeting venue ... The Old Kent Town
Hotel. The Platoon just wanted to spend the day
together, sharing old memories. Here the Moose
holds sway at the table as Mara, Butch, and Foxy
hang off his every word. Butch greeted the Moose
with a big hug and kiss and a "Hello
Dad!" The Moose handed out Charge Sheets and
great amusement was gained from listening to the
Army's versions of our misdemeanours ... and
there were many of them. |
 The afternoon and night
were filled with good cheer as we reminsced about
old battles and how good it felt to march again.
Every man was proud to wear his campaign medals
.... and strangely enough they were all proud of
how well Charlie Company marched ... drill had
never been one of our strong suits in the 1970's,
but in 2001 great pride was gained by how well we
drilled and the fact that we outdrilled the other
Companies. The Moose nearly collapsed half way
through the march ... but when offered
assistance, he growled back "You never had
to carry me 30 years ago, and you won't carry me
now!". Pride and guts got the Moose through
... and made us all march that little bit taller. |
| The
Day After - 26 April 2001 |
  Most of the
guys were heading home today. For those not
flying out immediately the day was spent seeing
the sights of Adelaide. Here Darky, Dixie and
Woody catch up with one of the Goons favourite
drinking holes ... The Botanic Hotel. Below is
another of our watering holes in the '70's The
Austral. We caught up with Butch, Webby, Crossy,
and Gary Davis later on in the morning ...
filling in time before their flights. |
 After the
rest of The Goons had departed, Dixie, Darky and
Woody headed back for Two Wells for a rest ...
they had a big drive in front of them the next
day. Unfortunately they had topless barmaids at
the Two Wells and the rest on the farm was very
short lived. It was even more unfortunate that
the Publican at the Two Wells pub was ex 6 &
7 RAR .... and wanted to shout fellow members of
the Regiment free drinks. The R&R day turned
into the most wasted day of them all ... it was
two very sore, hungover and sorry diggers who
said goodbye to Dixie and completed the 21 hour
drive back to the Eastern States. |
