Back to 1964 index or Main Index

Makan No. 165
Xmas, 1964

COMMITTEE

Dear Dig,

We seem to have been giving you continuous bad news during the year as many of our members pass on from the ranks whilst others suffer misfortunes of great size. Our run of bad luck is continuing.

Some months ago Alan McNickle was involved in a shocking accident during a return trip to his home at Wagga. Arch Thorburn expresses our feelings & gives full details in this letter which he wrote to the Old Man -

'I have just returned from a trip to Wagga and whilst there visited Alan McNickle and thought you would like to have a first-hand report on his condition. You will remember he was the lad who had accidentally run over one of his children & killed him some years ago in a tractor & in May this year was involved in a car accident which resulted in the death of the other driver and the death of two more of his children.

I telephoned his sister at Wagga shortly after my arrival and she informed me that his leg was being amputated that day. She would keep me informed and would let me know when I could see him. She rang me the following day and I called to see him on the Friday.

He is in a private room at Wagga Base Hospital and is amazingly well both mentally and physically. His jaw had been badly smashed. There are no teeth on one side of his face. He is sitting propped up in bed. He says he has little pain and seems to be concentrating on the fortunate aspects of his affairs. He says he had recently decided to go in more for farming and had the assistance of a part-time employee before the accident. He says he was very lucky to be able to arrange for this man to work full-time for him. This employee is a single man who lives with his parents three miles down the road and he says with the assistance of the neighbours which has been readily available, he has got things under control. He says his doctor is hopeful of being able to get an artificial limb from the Repatriation Limb Factory and he says he may need our assistance at this end. I assured him there was nothing we would not do for him and that you in particular would do everything possible when he contacted us.

I naturally did not discuss the circumstances of his accident with him and he made no reference to his wife nor to his one surviving child. I heard nothing from him as to the circumstances of the accident but I did hear locally that the accident had happened on Alan's incorrect side of the road when he had a head-on collision with the other vehicle and his surviving son is alleged to have said: "Daddy made a swipe at a bat". The locals think perhaps a bat flew into the car or possibly one of the children had a bat which escaped. It is all a terribly sad business.

I had a most enjoyable day with Neil Huntley who drove my family and me to the snow country for a day and during the 300-mile trip I think anybody of any consequence at all who had ever been in the battalion was discussed.'

STOP PRESS

Just as this edition is being printed we have had news that Mrs. McNickle, who was in the car smash, has given birth to a son - Timothy.

We report that Jack Black was badly hurt in a car accident near Gosford while he was returning home from a job at Newcastle where he was temporarily on relief duty for his bank.

Jack's car was a complete write off and he was lucky he wasn't too! Jack appears to have, among other problems, permanently lost the full use of one arm which has been stiffened as a result of smashed bones in the elbow. Jack is still in hospital.

Garry Evans, our big laughing mate, has been seriously ill but is now on the road back to health.

Ernie Parkes and his wife recently returned from a trip to Cairns and from their letter one would think they had been especially commissioned to make the trip on behalf of the Unit. Here is the news:

'My wife & I have just returned from a very pleasant trip to Cairns. We travelled by public transport in Queensland & missed out on the opportunity of calling on any of our chaps in the far north, but on the way south in this State we dropped in on Ernie McNiven at Bangalow. He has the Mobil oil garage there. I had the pleasure of digging him out of his afternoon siesta & must say he looks as fit as a fiddle.

Just a few miles from Mac's garage we had a visit with Ossie Jackson. He is sure living off the fat of the land. He weighs 17 stone & looks every bit of his weight. He said he keeps very well and he is as full of beans as ever.

Russ Mackie of Clunes was another we called on. Russ is doing farming. He has a very charming wife & 6 lovely children, 4 girls & two boys. With five women in the house he reckons he hasn't a chance. Russ isn't as fit as he might be, but like the rest of us, he has learnt to live with his disabilities and is quite cheerful.

We said "good day" to Fred Arnett at Wardell. He had just sold out at the pub but intended staying on there for the time being. He didn't have a clue where he would go from there, but he intended staying in the North somewhere.

I was very grieved to learn from Fred of the passing away of my old platoon pal, Jimmy Morgan, who also lived in that end of the world. He died suddenly about 3 months ago.

There is a bloke on the toll gate just beyond the Clarence who, someone told me, was one of our fellows. He wasn't on duty when we came through aid for the life of me I can't recall his name.

At Maclean my wife was having her hair set & while chatting with the hairdresser, whose name was Miss Hazel Marsh, we learned that she was the sister of the late Stan Marsh, "C" Coy. Miss Marsh would very much like to get in touch with anyone who could give her information about her brother's death & where he was buried.

When we called on Bob Newman at Woolgoolga he was away on his plantation and his good wife drove us out to round him up. He took a lot of running to earth but eventually found him, on the side of a hill amongst his hundreds of trees. He must be the fittest of us all. Mrs. Newman tells us he has never had a day off colour.

I dug up Bruce Campbell at Port Macquarie. Bruce lives in town, has 10 acres on which he runs a couple of house cows and a lot more vegetable garden than I would care to look after. He takes a very active part in local R.S.L. activities besides holding down a full-time job in a timber mill and still finds time to raise a family of 4 fine sons, so I reckon he is doing alright.

While at the Port I went to a P.O.W. reunion at Kempsey with Bruce. There were two other 8 Div. chaps, not of our Unit, who went up with us. The occasion was the 19th Anniversary of the end of the war and 50 ex-P.O.W's gathered at the Kempsey R.S.L. There was a wreath-laying ceremony at the local War Memorial followed by a very abundant & enjoyable dinner. There were ten of our Unit present including Bruce and myself, the others being Claude North (Wauchope), Jack Conn (Kempsey), Darby Young (Coff’s Harbour), Scotty Wallace (Kempsey), Bill Newton (Taree), Harry Griffis (Taree), Tommy Dare (Gloucester), Doug Hicks (Tamworth) and Doug Leathart was the guest speaker.  Doug is now a resident of the North Coast; he has a home at Sawtell.

After the Dinner we were all entertained by the Club at the usual Saturday Night Dance and every one had a very enjoyable evening.

All the chaps I have mentioned asked to be remembered to the rest of the boys and sent their kind regards, and those of them who can get away will try hard to make Sydney for the next reunion or the Anzac Day March.'

Mrs. Max Ross dropped a pleasant little note from Krambach. The Ross’s are still storekeeping and managing to make a sufficiently reasonable crust to keep their family of three decently clothed and well fed. Their daughter, Kay, is working in the shop with them, Greg is in second year at Taree High School while the baby goes to High School next year.

Ray Godbolt dropped in to visit the Ross's recently. Ray is toiling hard at the State Dockyards, Newcastle. Incidentally, Max Ross has now become a Life Member.

LAST POST

Les Wade, ex A. Coy, died very suddenly a few days after attending the Annual Reunion.. I was talking to him myself only a few days before that. He told me of his heart condition but did not appear to be unduly worried and was looking forward to the Reunion. Les was one of the identities of A. Coy for his dry humour. He was always closely associated with Sammy Hall, Jack Salisbury and Eric Arps. He was one of the "happy feet" victims in 1942 and suffered indifferent health until his death. Our sympathy to his next-of-kin on the loss of a good man and a good comrade.

'Snowy' Stevens' Mother. Snowy's mother had a special niche in the Unit, everyone loved her and she loved the Unit. Snowy’s mother never missed a picnic, attended every Anzac Day March since 1946 and generally regarded the Battalion as her own. family. She died a few days before the Reunion but insisted that Snowy promise he attend and he kept his promise. Our sympathy to Snowy for the death of this stalwart lady.

CAST BACK YOUR MIND

You may or may not recall a 12 year old Chinese boy who assisted our troops who were at Thompson Road in Singapore. Like other Chinese he had a great affection for the Australians, which affection was returned with our gratitude for his work. This lad is now a married man with three children; a Public Servant no less in Singapore. His address is - Woo Weng Kay, 139 B Mattar Road, Singapore 14, Malaysia.

Mr. Kay has sent the Old Man a full page article from The Straits Times of the battle of Gemas. The article was printed in November of this year and it is clear that of all the fighting in the Malayan campaign it is this battle that the people of Malaya recall so vividly time and time again in article and story over the years.

TOMPSON TOPICS

Dick Tompson, long settled down in a comfortable home at Balgowlah, has dragged his roots out and flown to Tasmania where he has been promoted by his bank to be Manager of the Hobart office. Here's a note from him:

C/- The Commercial Banking Co. of Sydney Ltd., 56 Elizabeth St., Hobart.

By this time, no doubt, you are well aware that I have been transported for my sins to Van Dieman's Land.

In July last I was appointed to manage the Bank's Hobart Office and so we had the awful upheaval of leaving Manly, selling our home and arranging new schooling for our boys.

I was sorry, Stan, not to see you before I left - there were a lot of other people I should have seen as well, but at the time I was attending the Industrial Mobilisation Course and had very little time to myself.

This course, incidentally, was a most interesting one. As its name implies it is set up by the Defence Dept. to study the problems of mobilising industry in the time of an emergency. Students comprised people from industry, senior officers from the three services and I represented banking. Perhaps the most interesting periods of the course were weeks spent at the R.A.A.F. base at Richmond and at the School of Military Engineering at Liverpool - it was almost like old times.

We have a beautiful. home in Hobart overlooking the Derwent with the city and bridge in the distance. The pace is much slower than Sydney but it is a very pleasant place and we look forward to our stay.

I was, of course, very pleased to see Bruce Upcroft again and renewed acquaintances with several other ex-P.O.W's. John Wyett for one, who you may remember was on 8 Div. H.Q. Also Major Bon Rogers who will be well remembered as a Medical Officer. Tom Pearsall will be well remembered by the occupants of Hut E3 in Changi, but as yet I haven't been able to catch up with him.

Jack Boss will particularly remember Athol Flint who lives here and those of us who were at Caldecott Hill will remember Bob Stabb (Anti-Tanks) who has been very kind to me.

The C.O.'s visit to Tasmania is well remembered - in fact I heard him referred to as a pin-up boy! That's one thing I had never heard him called before!

I have advised change of address for purpose of the Makan which I will look forward to receiving.

Please give my regards to any of the lads you see and tell them if they are in Hobart they will be good for a plate of scallops and a glass or two of Cascade.'

JANUARY 14th GEMAS Anniversary

Another year gone by - more good comrades no longer with us.

It is worth the effort to spare a thought for those who began to slip away from us from 14th January, 1942 until the present day.

Spare a few moments if you're able & assemble on the G.P.O. steps around 6.15 p.m. on the 14th January next.

Bring your wife if possible & after the ceremony we will take a few minutes off for a glass of ale at the Combined Services Club.

ANOTHER 'LIFER'

Doug Blanshard is the latest to become a "Lifer" thus ridding himself of that wretched problem of sending along a 10/- sub. Doug is doing well in his selling. He still plays a good game of golf.

The Old Man Speaks

This past year has been a poignant one for our Battalion.

A lot of our mates for whom we had great respect have answered the Last Post. Whilst we remember them let us never forget that we who still live have duties to perform.

I am sure our dead comrades would want us & our families to enjoy Christmas as before.

I wish you all & your families Season's Greetings & may 1965 bring you happiness, prosperity & peace.

Need I remind you that 1965 is Jubilee Year for our Battalion, therefore the 1965 Reunion, I hope, will be a proper reunion.

Good luck & God bless you all.

The Old Man.

Gentlemen, the President

I have just returned from a visit with Harry Collins to our lads in Concord.

It brought home to me the legacy the war left us with so many of us.

Those of us who are fortunate enough to be in good health should really count our blessings.

I wish you & your families good health & happiness at Christmas & throughout the coming year.

Arch Thorburn.

On behalf of the Committee.......

A Merry Xmas & a Happy New Year

Good luck, Dig!

Stan Arneil

Back to 1964 index or Main Index