3 RAR ASSOCIATION NEWS

• Application forms for joining the association can be obtained by sending an email to the President, Ron Perkins <ronjuneperkins@powerup.com.au>.  Annual subs are now $22. I know that most of us joined in 1992, but if you are like me and let your membership lapse ... then it is about time we got behind the Association. The Korean Vets were almost as badly done by as us. They may not have copped the abuse ... they were just forgotten.
• Pat Cannard requested an article on the 10th Anniversary Rededication ... I have sent her my ramblings, how much of that will see the light of day, I don't know ... I'm no writer.
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10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEDICATION OF THE VIETNAM MEMORIAL

The Advance Party arrived on Thursday, with Garry "Davo" Davis (Brisbane), Bill "Crowie" Crowe with his wife Penny and mate Al (Mt. Gambier), Trevor "Darky" Elemes and wife Marene (Sydney) and Ian “Bones” Herbele (West Australia) meeting up with Bob “Woody Wood (Canberra). The first reunion was at the Tigers Football Club in Queanbeyan. Darky and Crowie hadn’t seen each other since 1971, a theme that was to be repeated throughout the weekend. For the first time in 30 years we found out that Bones had a satchel bomb thrown at him and Lt Dennis Tyson. After the blast he lost 95% of his hearing in Vietnam.

Friday’s saw a visit to Floriade. Woody took Darky to a new age sandwich shop in the morning and we are yet to hear the end of the $10 sandwich. The skys were overcast and there was a threat of rain in the air. One shower forced us inside for a brew, however, a $3.30 coffee was added to the $10 sandwich, leading to much good natured bantering for the rest of the day. Then a recce to the War Memorial which was cut short as the emotion started to take hold. At the model of Nui Dat some 3 RAR First Tour blokes were pointing out their lines, explaining that “they were in a virgin banana plantation”. Woody endeared himself to the civilians by exclaiming “You must have used them all up. There were no virgins left when we got there.” Bones helped out by adding “But we had plenty of rubber ”. A tactical withdrawal was made to the coffee shop. Frenchy was sitting in a corner with his wife trying to pretend that he didn’t know these blokes from Charlie Company ... we soon fixed that. The banter continued between groups of Vets on the walk down Anzac Parade to the Vietnam Memorial. The mood changed significantly at the Vietnam Memorial, especially when the Hueys began practising for the next day’s ceremony. The constant sound of Hueys flying at tree top level got too much and another tactical withdrawal was made. Communications were established with the Main Party and a rendezvous was made for Olim’s Hotel that night.

The storm finally hit on Friday night as the Charlie Company group gathered at Olim’s. Bob “Dogs” Kearney and his 5 RAR mate Mick Deakes had stopped off at Kapooka, where Dogs gave a talk to the Graduating Class. Frank “Pappy” Papworth and his good wife Elwyne had also arrived. Old stories were told and retold and it was determined that 3 RAR was the most couth.

Saturday dawned clear and fresh as the veterans gathered for Stand To at The Stone Of Remembrance. Although the ceremony was moving, the emotion really began as the faint whoop whoop of Hueys was heard behind the low hills to the South East. The two Hueys broke through the low mist to the South, turned on their spot lights and flew up Anzac Parade at tree top level. The sounds of emotions being let go could be plainly heard throughout the gathered crowd. Fists were raised into the air in a power salute as the Hueys flew overhead and a few Diggers had both arms raised to guide the choppers into the LZ. At the conclusion of the Stand To a wag on the hill yelled out “Up the old Red Rooster” and was answered by a thousand responses of “And more piss!”. Contact was made with Bob “Wheels” Whelan who had arrived during the night from Adelaide.

The queues were huge at the breakfast at Reid Oval. Woody went on a recce and returned with a plate ladened with sausages, eggs and bread to guide the rest of the party through to the front of the line. Charlie Company finished breakfast and were heading back to Olim’s while most of the crowd were still waiting in line. With four hours to kill until the Parade, most of the crew headed off to find an early opener. The Tradesman’s club at Dickson was the venue. We were asked to move tables because we were at Stan’s table. Stan turned out to be a Second World War POW, who had been in Changi, on the Burma Railway and was used as slave labour in the coal mines in Japan. Stan had some interesting tales, but like the rest of Australia remains convinced that Gough Whitlam and the Labour Party withdrew us from Vietnam.

Returning to the War Memorial we lined up for the 11:00 Parade. Pappy was one of the standard bearers. There appeared to be about 100 3 RAR members on Parade. There were Red Devils (Delta Coy 2nd Tour)and Bravo Company (2nd Tour). The Bravo blokes had taken the brunt of the early fighting during the Battle of Long Khan. We then spent some time practising shambling 20 metres and stopping, until we finally got to stand in one spot for an hour in the sun. We had been joined by Tony “TC” Cox (Dapto), Maurie “Mozza” Doran (Townsville) and Lt. Paul Green. Just after noon the Parade eventually began. Just before we stepped off, Major Peter “Spot” Tilley (the OC Charlie Company) came hurrying along the lines. Spot had already marched but wanted to come back and march with his 3 RAR diggers. The effort was appreciated by his diggers. The real meaning of this Parade was shown as the waiting units clapped the other units marching past. We picked up a Navy band and started to step out properly, the pride in The Battalion was shown as chests swelled, shoulders squared and arms started to swing. A couple of shuffles and The Battalion was now marching in step and looked the real deal as they did the “Eyes Right” past the saluting dais. A left wheel across the gravel, another left wheel back on the tar and we had lost the band. The march became a bit ragged. Another left wheel back onto the gravel and the banner was furled and we fell out on the march. The speeches had begun, but the diggers were already melting away into the distance. The general feeling was that the whole organisation had been fairly ordinary.

Dogs was signing books at the War Memorial with Peter Haran. We toured the War Memorial in small groups keeping in contact via mobile phones. The Huey and Centurion tank were must sees by all the group. Then it was back to the Ainslie Football Club for a liquid lunch and the telling and retelling of old stories. By late afternoon the group split up, with Tony Cox heading back to Dapto, Pappy heading back to his motel, and Dogs already back at Olim’s. Wheels, Davo and Crowie were left at Ainslie to carry the flag for Charlie Coy. The lead story on the news that night was about an anti-war protest, which took us back 30 years. The Parade was buried down in the middle of the news, with 5,000 Vietnam Veterans attending.

Sunday began with a long goodbye to Crowie, Penny and Al. Dogs was back at the War Memorial with other authors, Gary McKay and Stephen Lewis. A quick tour of Duntroon followed (we had missed the morning church service). Another long goodbye at Duntroon as Dogs and Mick Deakes headed back to Adelaide. Dogs presented Woody with a skinning knife. The emotion was starting to flow again.

After Dogs departed Woody, Bones and Davo headed for Darky’s daughter’s place at Queanbeyan for a BBQ. Wheels was going to the concert but ended up at Darky’s. Most of us were unaware that the concert was happening. As Darky was leaving at 0700 hours the next morning it was another long goodbye. As it was when we dropped Wheels and his 4 RAR mate Grahame at their motel. They were leaving early the next morning.

By Monday the Rear Party only consisted of Woody, Bones and Davo. There was a quick tour of Canberra and then it was time for Bones to catch his flight home. We timed our arrival at the airport to minimise the wait as none of us could take too many more long goodbyes. Davo flew out Tuesday morning.

The 10th Anniversary and Rededication was over, but the memories stayed. Crowie called in to see Rooster Hempenstall in Melbourne. Wheels finally mastered the White Man’s Magic and managed to send an email saying thanks. Bones phoned in to say that the flying had buggared up his ears but he wouldn’t have missed it for the world. The next Reunion for Charlie Company 3 RAR 1971 will be in March 2003 in Adelaide for the launch of “Flashback”. This is Dogs new book and deals with our Tour Of Duty in the Nam.
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WE WILL REMEMBER THEM

Keith Edmond Sticewich 1935-2002

Message from Peter Scott <scottpg@senet.com.au>
Keith (OC D Coy) passed away in Canberra on 6 October after a long battle with cancer and finally a stroke a few days ago. I am sure you will all join with me in conveying our deepest sympathies to Mary his wife. I am not exactly sure when Keith retired from the army to go farming at Bendick Murrell but he certainly had  over 30 years commissioned service in the Australian Army. He graduated from OCS in June 1954 into the RA Infantry Corps and served in 12,13, 15 and 16 National Service Training Battalions. He then served in 4RAR, PIR, 3RAR, AATTV, and other units before attending Staff College Queenscliff in 1969. He rejoined 3RAR in 1970 and became OC D Coy for the battalion's second tour of Vietnam in 1971.  He was awarded the US Army Commendation Medal for Valour for his leadership during 1971. Keith would have been 67 years of age next December. At the going down of the sun we will remember him. Mary's address is "Stonie" Bendick Murrel, NSW, 2803 Yours Faithfully Peter Scott 

Phil Golden's <philipgolden@yahoo.com.au> description of Keith's funeral
Here is a short report on the services held for Keith on Friday 11 October.

There was two parts to the proceedings, the first was a service at 0930 in the Young Anglican Church followed by the cremation at the Canberra Crematorium at 1500. At the service in Young there was John Hurlihy, Roman Ulanowics, Ken (Rockets) Rundell, Ian Botfield, David Haebic, John Phillips, John Murphy and myself. At Mary's request we supplied the pallbearers, this was a great honour.

Both Keith's children, Ben and Alexandra, read the eulogy, they were excellent, both showed great courage and control.

At the crematorium in Canberra Frank Grady, Ivan Cahill, Peter Tilly and June Betts, the widow of Brian Betts, joined us.  There were a great number of Training Team members there as well a quite a few from the RSL.

Both services were well attended, showing the high esteem which the community held Keith.

NEWS & MOVEMENTS

1. Tony Cox has been stung by some crooks. He writes " My TRULINK site has been removed by a internet SCAM trick by some crooks who have charged us for the site but run off with the money. Apart from that all is well here.  Not much on the horizon for me for the near future so laying quiet and catching up with house renovations.  Almost finished.
2. Do I have a sign on me ... or what? After a run in with the old signals bloke at my Uncle's funeral, I thought that I would buy a poppy from an old bloke wearing a medal around his neck. That was OK until I decided to have a chat to him ... wrong! I asked him what the medal was ... some sort of Polish Medal from WWII ... he showed me photos of himself in a suit ... he had about a hundred medals ... Polish, Belgium, French, English, American and some countries that I've never even heard of ... so I thought that this bloke must have been some sort of SAS trooper or something, so I asked him about his war time experiences. Turns out he was anti-tank, and spent most of the war running from the Germans ... oh well they did a good job too. Then the big mistake, I mentioned that I was ex-infantry in Viet Nam ... then the lecture about how wrong Viet Nam was and that it was all the American Imperialism ... Oh my God, I thought ... not again ... so I just bailed out of there .... "Yeah Mate", I said "I can see how when a country being invaded by another ideology, it could be wrong for us to go and fight. It was OK for the Yanks, Poms and Aussies to come over and fight the Nazis when they invaded Poland ... but not OK for us to fight against Communists in Viet Nam. Mate I agree with you ... terrible waste of human lives ... as it was in Europe ... next time we'll just let you blokes sink too" .... threw the Poppy away ... buggar it, cost me $2 too. Maybe I should learn to keep my mouth shut ... like I did years ago ...Nah buggar it ... I'm through hiding.
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WEBSITE
http://freepages.military.rootsweb.com/~bobw/index.htm

CONTACTS

• Email from Rooster <hempenstall@bigpond.com >
  Woody,   Great to hear from you, glad you caught up with crowie, he stayed with us a couple of days and we had a good reunion. always good to see some old grunts.ADELAIDE 2003 SOUNDS GOOD see you there. add my email address YOURS FAITHFULLY          ROOSTER
  
• Late apology from Fred Pritchard ... been away from his computer "Sorry I can't join you in Canberra, I've just got back fron 2 weeks abseiling in the Flinders and leave in a couple of weeks for WA. I hope you all have a great time - say hello to the guys for me and I will catch up next time we organise anything. Fred Pritchard"
  
• More feedback from the 10th Anniversary. Peter Tilley wrote in with "Thank you very much for the photos. They're great to see - you obviously all had a very happy time! Sorry I couldn't join you all for more of the activities but seeing everyone at the march/service was wonderful in itself. Take care. Regards, Peter"

• Email from Peter Griffin. <Forcetiger@aol.com> who writes about the poem found at Singleton. "This is the original I wrote it while I was serving with the 101st A Co 1/327th 3rd Plt shortly before the battle for Dak-To in 1966"
  
  Take a man send him 12 thous miles from home empty his heart of all but mud and blood, Make him live in the sweat and mud. This is the life I have to live, While my soul to the devil I give. But you don't mind you don't care there is no real war over here.  Ban the Bomb there is no war in Viet-Nam March at dawn Plant your signs on the White House lawn.Drink your beer and have your fun, then refuse to use a gun. There's one thing you don't know and that's where I think you should go, I'll hate you till the day I die you made me hear my buddy cry, I saw his arm a bloody shred, I heard them say this ones dead, I wish to hell it was you instead.
  You can visit his site at http://www.angelfire.com/nc2/vietnamvet/newbook.html
  
• An email from Cheredamitz@cs.com that says simply "From: <Cheredamitz@cs.com>"why don;t you have dog poems" I presume that is someone looking for poems from Dogs.
  
• Rececieved an email from a Dave Schiller <schil029@umn.edu> who is "doing a project on the Vietnam War. I need to do an interview and I need it in this format. If you would please answer my questions and send back as soon as possible. Please write as much info as possible." The questions are below ... if you feel like sending Dave an email, feel free to do so ... and can anyone remember the answers to these questions?
  1. We’re you in the war and what did you do? If you weren’t where were you when it started?

  2. How old were you when it started?

  3. Can you tell me about how the war went on?

  4. Can you tell me how it started?

  5. Did you have a tv or a radio that you could here news on?

  6. What was a popular movie, music, tv station, car, tv show, store, toy, and restruant?

  7. What kind of technology did you have back in the 60's?

  8. What kind of slang words did you use in the 60's?

  9. What kind of clothes did you wear?

  10. Where was your favorite place to hang out in the 60's?

SEARCHES

• c 4 picture
• boot drink, drink boot, drinking boot - Yep I remember this ceremony - part of becoming a Platoon Member
• hoare & mike hoare - There were rumours that one of those training camps that we passed on our familiarisation tour, was a Mercenary Camp for Made MIke Hoare.
• bang
• issues related to redgum i was only 19, redgum i was only 19
• m60 machine gun, picture and m60 machine gun, picture m60 machine gun
• poems about dogs
• rings
• short timer calendar
  
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PHOTO ALBUM PROJECT

1. Tony Cox is sending up some more photos including those from Derek Hill, Davo has sent me some photos and Bob Lewis is still working on some ... Now it just needs me to get off my bum and do something.
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AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL NEWS
http://www.awm.gov.au/

1. Wartime is the official magazine of the Australian War Memorial. This month's issue features articles on Vietnam. You can read Chris Coulthard-Clark's article,  "Tet turning point"  on the website.
   http://www.awm.gov.au/wartime/

2. SUDAN NOMINAL ROLL
   List details of personnel serving in the NSW Contingent to the Sudan, 1885.  Included are the personal particulars, unit and fate of each person and for some individuals enlistment, embarkation and other details are listed. The information was compiled from a number of different sources including: official records and private records held by the Memorial, Army Lists, and a number of published sources.
   http://www.awm.gov.au/database/sudan.asp

3. REMEMBERING 1942 - THE BATTLE OF EL ALAMEIN
   Transcript and audio recording of a talk presented by Dr Mark Johnston, Head of History at Scotch College, Melbourne, co-author of  Alamein: the Australian Story with Dr Peter Stanley, the Memorial's Principal Historian. The battle of El Alamein was one of the great battles of the Second World War, and is frequently described as a turning point of that conflict.
   http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/remembering1942/alamein23/

4. KEEPING THE PEACE: STORIES OF AUSTRALIAN PEACEKEEPERS
   Keeping the Peace: Stories of Australian Peacekeepers, examines Australia's participation in peacekeeping over the last 54 years, in almost every part of the world. Keeping the peace explores the involvement of Australians in operations in Cambodia and most recently in East Timor and provides an insight into the skills and functions of Australian peacekeepers.
   On display at the Port Pirie Regional Gallery, Port Pirie, SA from 27 October 2002 to 01 December 2002.
   More information: http://www.awm.gov.au/events/travelling/peacekeeping.asp

5. STELLA BOWEN: Art, Love and War
   This exhibition is the first retrospective of the work of the expatriate Australian artist, Stella Bowen. It is the largest single collection of her works in the world. The exhibition includes 73 of Stella Bowen's works including many from the Memorial's collection and supplemented from private and public collections from Australia, Britain and the United States.
   On display at the Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne, VIC from 12 October 2002 to 08 December 2002.
   More information: http://www.awm.gov.au/events/travelling/stella.asp

6. 1918 AUSTRALIANS IN FRANCE (small modified version)
   1918 Australians in France (Modified) focuses on the great courage and sacrifice shown by Australian men and women during the final year of the war on the Western Front. This is a smaller modified version of the highly successful exhibition that opened in Canberra in 1998. Its graphic panel format has been developed specifically for remote and regional venues in a dedicated attempt to reach as many Australians as possible.
   On display at Queen's Hall, Parliament of Victoria, Melbourne VIC from 22 October 2002 to 11 November 2002.
   and Castlemaine Historical Society, Castlemaine VIC from 15 November 2002 to 08 December 2002
   More information: http://www.awm.gov.au/events/travelling/1918modified.asp

7. TWO MEN - TWO WARS
   Two men - two wars, is a combination of two exhibitions; Master of the battlefield - General Sir John Monash and Soldier for a crisis: Field Marshal Sir Thomas Blamey. Combining the two exhibitions brings together the stories and careers of the two commanders. General Sir John Monash led the Australian Corps through a series of victorious battles in the final stages of the First World War. His command, and the achievements of the troops, became a vital ingredient in forging the ANZAC legend.
   On display at the Adelong Alive Museum, Adelong NSW from 10 October 2002 to 17 November 2002.
   and the Peppin Heritage Centre, Deniliquin NSW from 22 November to 15 December 2002
   More information: http://www.awm.gov.au/events/travelling/twomen.asp

RETURN TO VIET NAM

Some good news about this proposed trip. I receive an email from Al & Anh in Vung Tau, they run the Ettamogah Pub there. This sounds like the way to go ... so as soon as we sort ourselves out, we should take up Al's offer on the trip back to 'Nam. Below is the text of Al's email <ettamogah@hcm.vnn.vn>:

G'day Bob Sorry for the selay in response but things have been flat out since I got back from Aussie Depending on how many blokes are coming with you I would suggest mini hotels both here and Saigon (from US$8 in VT and US$12 in Saigon). Tours can be booked in country through reputable tour companies at a lot less that the prices charged in Aussie Tickets for Saigon / Hanoi by train , with breaks along the way (I think 4 breaks) costs about 50 Aussie 3 Day tours of the delta cost about the same We can point you in the right direction when you decide what you want and when you will travel As far as the trips around Vung Tau/Baria you will need transport at 30 to 40 US per day (mini bus) Anh or myself usually go along with the blokes as this cuts down paying tour guide fees and interpretor fees (all bullshit fees) The cost , at this point to visit the Cross at Long Tan is 10 US per person for a "permit" When you decide what you want to do and how long you will be in country let us know and we will be able to plan in more detail A check with some of the deals being offered by Vietnam Airlines (don't be put off they are a very good Airline) there is one I have been told about that is around 800 aussie and gives accom. first 2 and last 2 nights Take care Al & Anh