‘Paludrine Parade’ Official Newsletter of the Royal Australian Army Service Corps Vietnam Supply Platoons Association and the Royal Australian Army Service Corps (RAASC) Association. Patron: MAJGEN David McLachlan AO (Rtd). Web Site: http:/raascsupply.asn.au/ Edition No: 58 Winter 2020 Soldiers of the 29th Battalion near the Western Front. A message from our President Graeme Sherriff. Greetings to everyone. The weather is cold and we’re all still in iso- lation in one way or another. Covid-19 has affected us in many dif- ferent ways and in particular our future planning. Therefore as the future is still an unknown, please refer to my last circular to all members dated Fri 22 nd May 2020 which drew attention to the Covid-19 issues, in particular whether or not to proceed with our coming reunion at Victor Harbor Reunion 8 th – 15 th Nov 2020. In that circular your committee decided to allow a little more time to pass prior to a decision being made. It has now almost been a month and with forward planning etc. it is felt that in the inter- ests of members that a decision now is made. Qld, NT, Tas, SA and WA borders remain closed with re- strictions. SA has just opened borders to NT, Tas and WA for trav- elers, but only where there is a direct flight from that state – there is no direct flight from Tas to SA. If SA travelers leave the state and return then they are currently required to self isolate for 14 days. Restrictions change on a daily basis. For air traveler's, a check on flights from different states shows that reduced price tickets are getting less and less as time passes. The issues relative to the Covid-19 remain, as: age risk to members, social distancing (planes and buses), unknown cost of airfares, unknown future issues relative to border closures particu- larly if a second wave/outbreak occurs, no cure currently exists. It is with regret, but in the best interests of members, the committee has decided to postpone the Victor Harbor Reunion to a date to be determined. The November Reunion will not take place. Graeme Sherriff. Pres. 2020 Reunion Postponed Letters to the Ed. Re the postponement of the 2020 reunion. Well done everyone; Very responsible. Regards, Bob Denner Thanks for the cancellation notice for the reunion. Will wait for further advice for when the next one will occur. Cheers Colin and Cherill Weaver. Thanks for your message. The commit- tee has grappled with many unknowns and done well. I write to thank you and the Committee for their thoughts in arriving at your position. We will meet again when it is easier. Please pass my view and thanks to Graeme when you speak to him next. Best wishes, Bruce Manning. Wise move Guys. Nick Brightman. RAASCVSPA Caps NOW AVAILABLE $15.00 (plus postage of $9.20 = $24.20) Send in your order to David our Treasurer and he will invoice you accordingly and we’ll send one to you.
Transcript
‘Paludrine Parade’ Official Newsletter of the Royal Australian Army Service Corps
Vietnam Supply Platoons Association and the Royal Australian Army Service Corps (RAASC) Association.
Patron: MAJGEN David McLachlan AO (Rtd). Web Site: http:/raascsupply.asn.au/
Edition No: 58
Winter 2020
Soldiers of the 29th Battalion
near the Western Front.
A message from our President Graeme Sherriff.
Greetings to everyone. The weather is cold and we’re all still in iso-lation in one way or another. Covid-19 has affected us in many dif-ferent ways and in particular our future planning. Therefore as the future is still an unknown, please refer to my last circular to all members dated Fri 22nd May 2020 which drew attention to the Covid-19 issues, in particular whether or not to proceed with our coming reunion at Victor Harbor Reunion 8th – 15th Nov 2020. In that circular your committee decided to allow a little more time to pass prior to a decision being made. It has now almost been a month and with forward planning etc. it is felt that in the inter-ests of members that a decision now is made.
Qld, NT, Tas, SA and WA borders remain closed with re-strictions. SA has just opened borders to NT, Tas and WA for trav-elers, but only where there is a direct flight from that state – there is no direct flight from Tas to SA. If SA travelers leave the state and return then they are currently required to self isolate for 14 days. Restrictions change on a daily basis. For air traveler's, a check on flights from different states shows that reduced price tickets are getting less and less as time passes. The issues relative to the Covid-19 remain, as: age risk to members, social distancing (planes and buses), unknown cost of airfares, unknown future issues relative to border closures particu-larly if a second wave/outbreak occurs, no cure currently exists. It is with regret, but in the best interests of members, the committee has decided to postpone the Victor Harbor Reunion to a date to be determined. The November Reunion will not take place. Graeme Sherriff. Pres.
2020 Reunion Postponed
Letters to the Ed.
Re the postponement
of the 2020 reunion.
Well done everyone; Very responsible.
Regards, Bob Denner
Thanks for the cancellation notice for
the reunion. Will wait for further advice
for when the next one will occur. Cheers
Colin and Cherill Weaver.
Thanks for your message. The commit-
tee has grappled with many unknowns
and done well. I write to thank you and
the Committee for their thoughts in
arriving at your position. We will meet
again when it is easier. Please pass my
view and thanks to Graeme when you
speak to him next. Best wishes, Bruce
Manning.
Wise move Guys. Nick Brightman.
RAASCVSPA Caps NOW AVAILABLE
$15.00 (plus postage of $9.20 = $24.20)
Send in your order to David our Treasurer and
he will invoice you accordingly and we’ll
send one to you.
Paludrine Parade Issue No 58: Winter Edition Page 2
Paludrine Parade Issue No 58: Winter Edition Page 3
F rom CONTACT magazine. As COVID-19 restrictions ease across Queensland, 7th Combat Brigade sol-diers in Gallipoli Barracks have started
to return to work and training. Due to social distancing measures, major exercises and non-essential training were paused and units were able to conduct home workouts, interactive computer-based training and opera-tional training scenarios from home on rotating rosters. Commander 7th Combat Brigade BRIG Jason Blain said it is important for soldiers to stay sharp and maintain their readiness, even
during reduced-tempo periods. “Gallipoli Bar-racks is home to a number of Army units with diverse capabilities, many of which have recent-ly assisted the community in response to the pan-demic,” BRIG Blain said. “This year members have been involved in Operation Bushfire Assist and Operation COVID-19 Assist. “The return to modified training ensures high safety standards are main-tained so we can continue supporting the Aus-tralian community when called upon.” While continuing to take precautions, the brigade will now increase its on-base training to ensure its soldiers remain mission ready. “We will ease into training carefully, tak-ing measures to ensure physical distancing and good hygiene is maintained and some members
will continue to operate from home,” BRIG Blain said. “Army’s mission is to prepare forces to de-fend Australia from all threats and we need to make sure we continue to be able to do this.” Commanding Officer of 2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment LTCOL Thomas McDermott was impressed by his soldiers’ initiative during the pan-demic. “This was challenging for an Armoured Reg-iment, but the imagination of our officers and sol-diers won out and it has been really impressive how they’ve kept their edge, including keeping fit,” LTCOL McDermott said. “Like the rest of the Defence Force, we need to return to gradually in-
creasing our tempo for our core role of defending Australia.” LTCOL McDermott also stressed how im-portant the Brigade’s return to training was for the wider Queensland community. “7th Combat Brigade consider ourselves a part of the Queensland community and as soon as it’s right to do so we want to get back out amongst Queenslanders,” he said. “We’ve really missed the community interactions over the past few months. “We’re starting training again in small, 10-person groups for field exercises, lessons and phys-ical training, in line with Queensland government restrictions. “We rely on small teams anyway, so
this is working well, and we’re really focused on
personal hygiene.” .
7th Combat Brigade returns to work
CAPTION: Soldiers of 8th/9th Bn RAR, maintain their marksman-ship skills at the shooting range after changes to COVID-19
restrictions at Greenbank Training Area, Queensland. Photo by TPR Jonathan Goedhart. Story by CAPT Taylor Lynch.
Paludrine Parade Issue No 58: Winter Edition Page 4
T he Minister for Defence, Senator the Hon Linda Reynolds CSC, announced Operation COVID-19 Assist on 1st April 2020.
• Current nation-wide Defence support includes:
• Contact tracing and planning support teams to all state and territory governments.
• Supporting law enforcement agencies with mandatory quarantine arrangements.
• The ADF will not be authorised as law enforcement officers as this remains the responsibility of the states and territories.
• Additionally, the ADF:
• Has established the three-star-led COVID-19 task force to coordinate Defence’s internal response to COVID-19 and support the whole-of-government effort.
• Is supporting Emergency Management Australia-led (EMA) planning for the National Communicable Dis-ease Incidence of National Significance Plan in re-sponse to COVID-19.
• Is supporting the Department of Health with logistics and specialist staff.
• Has been supplying clinical and epidemiological sup-port to the Department of Health National Incident Room since early February 2020.
• About 100 ADF and Defence APS personnel are em-bedded in various Australian Government agencies, including the Department of Home Affairs and Ser-vices Australia.
State-by-state breakdown *Note: Personnel in Joint Task Group headquarters, sup-porting roles, and those preparing for tasks are included in overall state-based figures but are not captured in the list of tasks.
Queensland - 392 personnel • 126 ADF personnel are supporting state police with Queensland border controls.
• 73 personnel are supporting self-isolation com- pliance checks.
• 72 personnel are providing support to Queens land Police to protect Indigenous communities.
• 38 personnel are supporting state police with the reception of international arrivals at airports.
New South Wales - 134 personnel • 102 ADF personnel are supporting state police quarantine and self-isolation directions at Sydney Airport, local hotels and residences.
Northern Territory - 68 personnel • 35 ADF personnel are providing support to Northern Territory Police to protect Indige nous communities.
Victoria - 29 personnel
10 ADF personnel are involved in planning support.
Editors Note: As at the 29th June 2020, The ADF has increased its support to Victoria. Up to 200 ADF per-sonnel will assist the Victorian Government in its COVID-19 response. Minister for Defence Linda Reyn-olds tweeted that medical personnel have arrived in Vic-toria to support the Department of Health and Human Services enhanced testing regime at designated commu-nity COVID19 testing sites in Melbourne.
Western Australia - 31 personnel
11 ADF personnel are involved in planning support.
South Australia - 21 personnel
6 ADF personnel are involved in planning support.
ACT - 8 personnel
ADF personnel are supporting federal agencies, includ-ing Austrade, the Department of Health and the Depart-ment of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Tasmania - 6 personnel
Latest snapshot of Defence support National - Approximately 880 personnel are deployed as
part of Operation COVID-19 Assist
Leading Seaman Michael Crawford waits in the lift of a Sydney hotel to assist travellers going into mandatory 14-day quarantine. Photo: Petty Officer Justin Brown
Paludrine Parade Issue No 58: Winter Edition Page 5
Here’s Ste-
We need a laugh—so here are some Covid-19 jokes.
Paludrine Parade Issue No 58: Winter Edition Page 6
Our President Graeme Sherriff with our guest
speaker, Port Macquarie Mayor Peta Pinson
Army Service Corps Badges of Commonwealth & Empire countries
An article by Denny van Maanenberg.
A rmy hat badges have always fascinated me. There’s such a wide variety of them. Since the beginning of the 20th century and even before that, army units proudly
wore their unique identity on their hats, caps and on pennants and flags and the list goes on. For me
however, my interest lays in army cap badges. And there are thousands! My 22 years military involve-ment saw me in two corps. The Royal Australian Army Service Corps (RAASC) and the Royal Austral-ian Corps of Transport (RACT). However my inter-est lays mainly with the RAASC.
And history tells that The Royal Australian Army Service Corps (RAASC) was a corps within the Australian Army. Formed on 1 July 1903, in the aftermath of the Federation of Australia, it was ini-tially known as the Australian Army Service Corps (AASC) and subsumed the functions that had been undertaken by various organisations within the colonial forces. In 1948, the Royal prefix was bestowed upon the corps. The corps served in World War I, World War II, as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan, Korean War, Malayan Emergency and the Vietnam War. The RAASC was disbanded on 31 May 1973. After the disbanding of the corps, responsibilities for transport, air dispatch and postal functions were assigned to the newly formed Royal Australian Corps of Transport (RACT) and responsibilities for foodstuffs and petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL) were assigned to the Royal Australian Army Ord-nance Corps (RAAOC). So RAASC was no more. Recently I was lucky enough to get a copy of John Gaylor’s book “Military Badge Collecting” which focused mainly on United Kingdom military units and formations. I was quite surprised to see
many different versions of the army service corps
badge that evolved over the years 1860 – to the pre-sent. I started wondering about how many differ-ent versions of the army service corps badge were out there. It seems I stumbled across a plethora of different shapes, sizes and colours of army service corps badges initiated by a considerable number of former commonwealth and British empire nations. I thought that our members might like to see just a few of them. For me, it’s a start of a new hobby. How many army service corps badges can I collect from not just Australia but from every country that had its own unique army service corps? Here’s just a few of the badges that I was able to find on line. They’re from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, India, Paki-stan, Burma, Nepal and Rhodesia. So now I’m on the hunt. Service corps badges anyone??
Paludrine Parade Issue No 58: Winter Edition Page 7
the Alma, four by an officer, two sergeants and a private of the Scots Fusilier Guards and two by officers of the 23rd Regiment. The medal was not instituted until 1856, but it was made retroactive to cover the Crimean War. Queen Victoria took a keen interest in the decoration which bore her name and it was she who suggested the words ‘For Valour’ beneath the medal’s bronze Maltese cross – rather than ‘For the Brave’, which she pointed out could be tak-en to imply that other people were not. The crosses were made of metal from Russian cannon captured at Sebastopol. It was a crucial innovation that the medal was awarded completely regardless of rank and on no consideration other than a signal act of valour or devotion in the presence of
the enemy.
The first investiture was held in Hyde Park on a sunny summer morning in 1857, when Queen Victoria herself presented 62 VCs before a crowd of 100,000 people and an impressive military array, some 4,000 strong, which in-cluded life guards and cavalry under Lord Cardigan, three battalions of foot guards, a troop of artillery, a detach-ment of sailors and a battal-ion of the Rifle Brigade. The
Queen bent from her horse and pinned the medal on the chest of each man as he was led up to her in turn and the Prince Con-sort bowed to each of them as a mark of respect. Charles Lucas was the fourth to receive his medal from the Queen that day. He spent the rest of a long career in the Na-vy, rose to the rank of rear-admiral and died at Tunbridge Wells at the age of 80 in 1914.
The First
Victoria
Cross
R ear Admiral Charles Davis Lu-cas of HMS Hecla, who came from County Monaghan in Ire-land, had joined the Royal
Navy at 13 and was now 20 years old. Hecla was part of an Anglo-French fleet at the eastern end of the Baltic bombarding the Russian fortress of Bomarsund dur-ing the Crimean War, which mounted eighty massive guns, and as the ship drew closer, a live shell from the for-tress landed on the deck and lay there, obviously about to go off to mur-derous effect. Lucas coolly picked the horrible thing up, carried it over to the ship’s side and dropped it into the sea, where it exploded with a huge bang and a giant fountain of spray. (C.S.Forester used this incident to good effect long afterwards in one of his Hornblower stories.)
Lucas was promoted to lieutenant from that day and his was the first act of heroism to be awarded the Victoria Cross. Two more naval officers won the next two, in the Baltic, and six more were won in the Crimea in September at the battle of
Paludrine Parade Issue No 58: Winter Edition Page 8
Membership Application/Renewal Form New Application or Renewal (circle which ones) 2019/2020 or 3 years
Surname: ………………………………………………… …………. Given Names: …………………………….……………………………… Address: ……………………………………………... ……………. State: ……......… Postcode: ….….......… Date of Birth: ……….…………….. Phone No. (Home) …………......….…….. (Mobile) ……………….…..........…. Email Address: …………………………………………...................................... Vietnam Service Details: …………………………………………….………… Dates: From ………….......…….….…… To …..…….…………...............….
Spouse/Partner’s Name: …………………………………….....................…...… Membership: 1-year membership (Vietnam Veterans and Associate/non-Vets) $20 3-year membership (Vietnam Veterans and Associate/non-Vets) $60 Association Badge $10 – Free badge to new members Payment details:
• By cheque payable to: RAASC Vietnam Supply Platoons Association, PO BOX 207 Mitchell ACT 2911. (include this form).
• Or Electronically by direct credit to: Westpac Bank, BSB 032 713 Account 434593. (Provide name etc as reference and send this form by post or email)
• Or Cash Deposit at any Westpac Bank, BSB 032 713, Account 434 593. (Provide 6 digit DOB as ddmmyy as reference and send this form by post or email). Address: RAASC Vietnam Supply Platoons Association, PO Box 207 Mitchell ACT 2911 Email: [email protected]
Office Use Only:
Member Number/Receipt:……………………………… Membership Card issued date………………..
Database……………………………. Banked………………………….. Scan/send to Area Reps………………………
