Radschool Association Magazine - Vol 39

Page 10

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ANZAC Day.

ANZAC Day, 25^th April, is arguably Australia's most important national day. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.

In 1915, Australian and New Zealander soldiers formed part of an Allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli Peninsula in accordance to a plan by Winston Churchill to open the way to the Black Sea for the Allied navies. The objective was to capture Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, which was an ally of Germany during the war. The ANZAC force landed at Gallipoli on 25 April, meeting fierce resistance from the Ottoman Army commanded by Mustafa Kemal (later known as Atatürk). What had been planned as a bold strike to knock the Ottomans out of the war quickly became a stalemate and the campaign dragged on for eight months. At the end of 1915, the Allied forces were evacuated after both sides had suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships. The Allied casualties included 21,255 from the United Kingdom, an estimated 10,000 dead soldiers from France, 8,709 from Australia, 2,721 from New Zealand, and 1,358 from British India. A dreadful waste of nearly 23,000 young men. News of the landing at Gallipoli made a profound impact on Australians and New Zealanders.

In Brisbane, on the 10 January 1916, a mass meeting of people formed the ANZAC Day Commemoration Committee to make arrangements for, and carry out, the celebration of ANZAC Day as a gift of the people to commemorate the fallen, remember the wounded and recognise the courage of Australia’s servicemen. Similar events happened in the other States.

In Australia at the 1921 State Premiers' Conference, it was decided that ANZAC Day would be observed on 25 April each year.

The Brisbane ANZAC Day Parade, together with dawn vigils, memorial services and veterans reunions have been a feature of the commemoration of ANZAC Day by the Citizens of Brisbane since its earliest days. The Brisbane Parade has always been organised by the Citizens of Brisbane, not by Municipal or Government authorities. The ANZAC Day Combined Parade Committee has proudly provided the planning and coordination role, with support from the ANZAC Day Commemoration Committee and the Returned and Services League of Australia. The South Eastern District of the RSL has provided the Secretariat for the ADCPC continuously since 1928.

While the Brisbane ANZAC Day Parade was initially a commemoration of the sacrifice of WWI veterans and then WWII veterans, in keeping with the changing focus of ANZAC Day nationally, it is today a commemoration of the sacrifices of those who have ‘defended’ our Australian way of life in all conflicts and military commitments by Australian Forces since WWI.

The Brisbane ANZAC Day Parade remains a significant commemorative event on one of Australia’s most important national days. It complements the Dawn and Memorial Services, as well as regional parades.

You can see a wonderful commemorative Video HERE.

For reasons known only to themselves, the Gov’t spend a considerable sum of money trying to determine whether ANZAC Day should be commemorated as it currently is – Susan Ley, MP for Farrah didn’t agree with the investigation and shot out a Press Release – you can read it HERE

Why don't you ever see the headline 'Psychic Wins Lottery'

Brisbane March 2012.

The Gods were pleased with the way Brisbane had organised the march for 2012, and turned on a warm, dry but overcast day for the participants. It wasn’t too hot, there was no sun belting down turning all the marchers into sweat balls and the thousands of wonderful people of Brisbane who made the huge effort and turned out to watch a bunch of greying old men and women weren’t cooked as they stood for more than two hours in respect of those passing by.

And there were thousands, the numbers seem to increase every year, there were the elderly, some in wheel chairs, some with walkers, there were a lot of middle aged people, still more young couples with their children and the pride you feel while marching with your group, in front of all those cheering, happy people, is really something – very emotional.

You can click some of the pics for a better view.

More of the wonderful Brisbane crowd. It seems the 5^th Battalion also follow Australia’s best and most popular AFL team - according to Ted Mac anyway!!!.

9 Squadron

On 6 June 1966, the first eight Iroquois helicopters from 9 Squadron landed at Vung Tau, Vietnam. For the next five and a half years 9 Squadron’s Hueys provided invaluable support for the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF). The Squadron flew its last mission in Vietnam on the 19 November 1971. In December their 16 Iroquois took off from Vung Tau for the last time and landed on the deck of the Sydney for the return trip back to Australia.

2 Sqn.

Eight of 2 Squadron’s Canberras landed at Phan Rang in South Vietnam in April 1967. The Squadron had been in Butterworth since July 1958 when it relieved 1 Squadron so it was already ‘tropicalised’. Phan Rang is about 250 klms north-east of Saigon and the base had only recently been completed when they arrived. It was the home of the United States Air Force’s 35th Tactical Fighter Wing. 2 Sqn flew their first mission on the 23 April and left for home in June 1971.

For the first few months the squadron mostly few “combat sky spot” missions, where aircraft were guided by ground radar to a target and told when to drop their bombs. Most of the flights were flown at night and tended to be routine and boring. In September the squadron began low-level daylight bombing, hitting targets from low altitude, between 370 and 915 metres. The squadron had conducted similar bombing missions in Malaya but refined its accuracy in Vietnam to such an extent it consistently out-performed all other units of the 35th Tactical Fighter Wing.

This high proficiency was not limited to just aircrew, but applied to the ground crew as well. The maintenance staff worked 24 hours a day on a two-shift roster, achieving the noteworthy rate of 97 per cent serviceability. In total, the squadron flew over 11,900 combat missions. It also lost two aircraft during the conflict, one disappearing on a night bombing mission in 1970, with its crew listed as “missing in action”, while the other was shot down by a surface-to-air missile near the demilitarised zone in 1971.

After four years and two months in Vietnam 2 Squadron returned to Australia in, the first RAAF squadron to do so. Upon its return 2 Squadron was awarded two foreign unit citations: the Cross of Gallantry with Palm, from the Republic of Vietnam; and a United States Air Force Outstanding Unit Award.

The WRAAF.

In July 1950, The Australian Government approved the re-establishment of a Women's Air Force and in August it was finally recognised that women were essential components of the Armed Forces, in peace and in war however, they never really got the recognition they deserved. Initially known as the WAAF, in November of 1950 the Minister for Air announced that a further honour had been paid to Australian servicewomen by His Majesty, King George VI, who had approved the adoption of the title ' Women's Royal Australian Air Force'.

Initially the girls were treated as less than equal to their male counterparts with the Allison committee in 1958 determining WRAAF rates of pay as equal to 75% of the male wage. This disgusting principal was dumped in 1972 and from then on, both males and females were paid equally for equal work.

Another disgusting rule forced the girls to discharge from the Air Force if and when they got married. This law was eased a little in 1969 when they were allowed to continue serving after marriage if they:

(a)        elected before marriage, to so do;

(b)        undertook to meet in full the normal service requirements expected of unmarried members; and

(c)        continued to meet in full those requirements.

The blokes, of course, could marry and divorce as often as they wished without any penalty, but thankfully, this stupid law was completely dumped in 1971 and girls were allowed to continue to serve after marriage and by 1973, the percentage of married girls in the RAAF reached 21%.

In 1977, it was decided to integrate the WRAAF girls and the Nursing Sisters into the RAAF.

The Jeeps.

Old Codgers and blokes and blokettes who found it a bit difficult to complete the full march were catered for by the ANZAC Day Committee who provided a number of wonderfully restored Jeeps and golf buggies for the journey.

The Good guys.

As 2012 was the 40th anniversary of RTFV/35 Squadron's leaving Vietnam, the RSL were kind enough to present them with an anniversary banner under which the Good Guys could march. As can be seen from the pic below, the Good Guys were ecstatic and found it very difficult to control their avid enthusiasm. There were rumblings and considerable disquiet amongst the troops, followed by much shoving and jostling to see upon whom the honour of carrying the much deserved tribute would fall and once Graham "Ng"  Brown and Eric Evans managed to wrestle the icon from the unruly throng they very smartly separated from the group to an unthreatened position from whence they could secure and maintain their prize.

Griffo was horrified and pretended he didn't know any of them!!

When the Good Guys, competently and ceremoniously led by John “Griffo” Griffiths (who insists he was the only one in step), marched by, the crowd erupted into spontaneous and rapturous applause. Someone said they were shouting “We want DeJonge, We want DeJonge” others that is was “Where is Trackless? Where is Trackless?”  but those rumours have been vigorously denied. It has also been suggested that the two old Queer Traders who acted as ‘string men’ stole the show and put all others to shame by comparison.

It now appears that particular rumour has been confirmed as true!!

Seen out and about after the march..

9 Sqn, 33 Sqn and RTFV/35Sqn had their debrief at the Port Office Hotel.

Some of the pretty 33 Sqn girls who “partied” with the boys at the Port Office Hotel and who brightened up the place with their presence.

Turn your speakers up and listen to THIS.

You would never imagine the possibility of merging the Last Post and Waltzing Matilda. However, this is truly inspiring. Brings out the goose pimples. This version is played by The Australian Army Band and was played at the Anzac service at Robina on the Gold Coast in Queensland

A New Record.

Back in November, 2009, a British Army soldier by the name of Corporal Craig Harrison, of the household Cavalry, set a new record for the longest shot in combat - Twice. Cpl. Harrison fired two shots at Taliban machine gunners in Afghanistan . They were confirmed via GPS to be 8120 feet (2,475 meters) from Cpl Harrison's position. That is nearly 2½ Klms. To make it even more astounding, the range was almost 3,000 feet (915 meters) beyond what is considered the effective range of the weapon. At that range the bullet takes around 3 seconds to reach the target.

The previous record was set in 2002 for a sniper kill at 7,972 feet (2,430 meters). That shot was made by Canadian Corporal Rob Furlong, of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, who was using a .50BMG McMillan TAC-50 rifle.

He accomplished this feat with the above pictured weapon, a L115A3 rifle. The weapon is manufactured by Accuracy International in Britain and is chambered in the .338 Lapua Magnum cartridge. This is significant because the previous two shots that held the world record were with weapons chambered for the .50BMG. The .338 is a cartridge designed for accuracy and power beyond the range of the older 7.62mm rifles. It has a much flatter trajectory, which makes the complex trigonometry problem of finding the right arc to lob the bullet onto the target much easier. It is one of several other "lighter" rifle rounds like the .300 Win Mag , .416 Barrett, and .408 CheyTac that have been designed with extreme long range shooting in mind. Of especial importance is the velocity past 1000 meters, the shape of its trajectory and how long the cartridges stay supersonic.

The Accuracy International Arctic Warfare .338 is a bolt action, detachable magazine-fed, precision rifle. The rifle is about 6.80 kilograms, unloaded and without optics. It can mount a variety of telescopic sights, laser designators, and night vision or thermal sights. In British service, it usually mounts a S&B 5-25x56mm day scope. The extra large objective lens size of 56mm gathers a lot of light, making shots possible in the dawn, dusk, or into the shadows. The L115A3 can also mount a suppressor, helping to reduce the report flash and dust from the powerful rifle. The barrel is free floated for increased accuracy and is fluted for strength and cooling without excessive weight.

You don't get all that performance cheap though. News reports but the rifle at around $25,000. But if you put it in the right hands it can hit a man sized target from 1,370 meters. More importantly, even at extreme range, the bullet retains its power, hitting with more force than a .44 Magnum at 25 feet.

“It was just unlucky for the Taliban that conditions were so good and we could see them so clearly. We saw two insurgents running through its courtyard, one in a black dishdasha, and one in green. They came forward carrying a PKM machine gun, set it up and opened fire on the commander’s wagon. The first round hit a machine gunner in the stomach and killed him outright. He went straight down and didn’t move. The second insurgent grabbed the weapon and turned as my second shot hit him in the side. He went down, too. They were both dead." Cpl. Harrison had a memorable tour of duty, making the two impossible shots, having a bullet deflect off his helmet, and surviving an IED blast that broke both of his arms. He is reportedly healing well, and has returned to duty.

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