4 Field Regiment (SVN) 'Old Boys' Newsletter - June 2010

6 quite spectacular to see 90,000 spectators, progressively rise to their feet to honour the service of the veterans in the cars. It’s kind of like a slow motion Mexican wave. I defy anyone not to be moved by this enormous expression of tribute and appreciation. Prior to the day, the selected veterans, having received an official invitation from the AFL, attend with one guest and enjoy a simple lunch in a small room convenient to the area where they will board the cars. Immediately prior to the motorcade, the guests are ushered up to the AFL Legends Room where they get the best seats in the house to watch the ceremony unfold. The veterans board the cars, I might add that some need a fair bit of assistance to get in and out of the vehicles, and the cars line up, ready for the cue to drive on. It is most professionally stage managed, right down to the second. Each veteran is announced, and the huge MCG scoreboards carry images of them as they are announced onto the hallowed turf to begin their one lap. Following the motorcade, the veterans join their guests in the Legends Room to see the remainder of the commemoration ceremony and then the game as guests of the AFL who spoil them rotten throughout the day. Each year, I provide a mix of veterans in the cars, typically one car each of Ex POW, WW2, Returned Nurses, Returned Servicewomen, Korea, Malaya/Borneo, Vietnam and current servicemen. This varies from time to time, for example, this year there were no Ex POW and I had two cars of Korea vets as a commemoration of the 60 th anniversary of the commencement of that conflict. In 2009, I had two cars of Vietnam vets commemorating the 40 th anniversary of the Battle of Binh Ba in 1969. I had two 5 RAR veterans and, in support, in the car behind them, two veterans from 105 Fd Bty, I thought this nicely represented the Tiger Battalion being supported by the Tiger Battery. I am indebted to Arthur Burke for helping to track down some former 105 Fd Bty personnel of Binh Ba vintage to participate. The motorcade is followed by more solemn ceremonies including the recital of the Ode and the playing of the Last Post, Rouse, etc. It is an amazing thing to witness the MCG ‘pin drop’ quiet with 90,000 on their feet, not a murmur out of place. The silence is broken only by the playing of the National Anthem and then the crowd erupts. My duties continue as the volunteers return with their cash and unsold tokens, my staff from ANZAC House prepare the cash for the Armaguard collection and selling trays, etc are loaded into the stores vehicle for return to ANZAC House. That marks the end point of my official duties and I also then get to mingle with the veterans and their guests and other AFL guests in the Legends Room and watch the game. It’s a different routine now on ANZAC Day but it’s sensational and very rewarding to see the looks on the faces of those eight selected veterans who get to do that special lap of honour and receive the tribute from the crowd. I should also point out that one of the more special veterans this year (really they are all special) was SQNLDR Tony Gaze, DFC and two bars. Now 90 and frail, Tony was a Spitfire pilot over Europe during the war, shot down and avoided capture, after the war became a test pilot, drove F1 racing cars. He has done more in his life than any 10 men could do. A very humble and quiet man, I very much enjoyed chatting to him. At lunch he didn’t say much, a man of few words.