4 Field Regiment (SVN) 'Old Boys' Newsletter - November 2019 Edition

4 TH FIELD REGIMENT (SVN) ASSOCIATION AKA 4TH FIELD REGT OLD BOYS Patron: David Anderson. Treasurer: Gabby Hayes. NEWSLETTER NO 37 – November 2019 All Correspondence to Peter Bruce, 33 Cathie Circuit, Lake Cathie NSW 2445 or pjbruce8@bigpond.net.au Mobile is 0419 349 317. Hi everyone. Firstly, an update on our local fire emergency here near Lake Cathie. As I write this (Wednesday 30 Oct) there are choppers in the air and the smaller crop-dusting type aircraft bombing flareups near us. We are fairly safe here as we are several hundred metres from the nearest bush and the wind is favourable to us at the moment. Several areas of Lake Cathie near us are not so fortunate and I know several evacuations have been ordered. The main fire is contained to a degree but with strong north easterly winds forecast of the next couple of days, anything could happen. Sincere thanks to all those Old Boys who sent messages and asked after us. Not much in the way of correspondence to report but a couple of issues which may be of interest to you all. Firstly, the year 2020 marks 50 years since 4 Field Regiment deployed to South Vietnam for the second time. The Regiment had deployed initially with 106 and 108 Battery in April 1967 and then with 106 and 107 Battery in February 1970. Both deployments included a Head Quarters Battery with a Detachment of 131 Divisional Locating Battery and 161 Battery, RNZA. Under command at various stages were batteries of US Artillery including A/2/35 with 155 mm Self Propelled guns and A/1/83 Battery with 8-inch guns. We have several Old Boys who did both deployments with 4 Field Regiment. During the Regiments second tour there were 142,572 rounds fired. As I mentioned last issue, 4 th Regiment is celebrating her 60 th birthday in May 2020. Details are:  1 May 2020 -1200 hours – Lunch and tour of the barracks  1 May 2020 Evening – Parade and drinks  2 May 2020 Evening – Formal dinner. Our Old Boys Association has nothing formal planned for 2020. I have only received one expression of interest in attending a Townsville reunion so nothing will happen in that area. Several members indicated that they or their wives were not really interested in going to Townsville. Some have suggested Tasmania, but we did that several years ago. We have also done Melbourne and to a lesser degree, Perth. I was hoping that someone would suggest a venue and then volunteer to organise some form of get together. Have a think about it and let me know your thoughts. Any get together (reunion?) does not have to be too formal but should have reasonable accommodation options and accessibility for interstate travellers.