4th Field Regiment (SVN) Association Newsletter No 59 - 2025

Brian Swift phoned up the other day. He advises that he is well. He had a slight stroke – again – but rejected moves to take him to hospital. In fine form. Swifty keeps in touch with several other Old Boys including Mick Long, Dave Larter and Peter Dobbs . He had a phone call recently from Graham Lenard as well. Some may recall we lost contact with Gonzo for a while, but he is back on net and doing OK. Great to hear from you Gonzo. I received a copy of the latest Turtle Times , the newsletter of 106 Battery in Vietnam 1967/58., edited by Ben Burrow . Their December issue covered the presentation of the 106 Flag to the current 106 Battery and advised that a new training building within the 4 th Regiment lines had been named after Neville Clark, MC, OAM . Ben wrote the following: “In an extraordinarily generous gesture, Lieutenant Colonel Simon Frewin , Commanding Officer of th4th Regiment RAA, has announced that one of our old FOs is to have a brand-new training facility named after him in the Chau Pha Lines, Lavarack Barracks, Townsville. This facility consists of a huge dome, powered by all the latest digital technology, which will be used for tactical and forward observer training at the Regiment. As a simulator of the battlefield it will be to artillery training what a flight simulator is to pilot training: in other words it will provide a virtual reality experience to give members of the Regiment fire-direction-and-control training without the expense of actually having to fire guns (which these days are the big 155s that make our L5s and M2A2s seem like pop- guns). The facility is to bear the name, “Neville Clark MC, OAM”.” The 106 Bty boys are having a reunion on the Gold Coast in May 2025. They have 40 booked in for lunch on the 8 th May at the Greenmount Surf Club. Well done 106. From Richard Barry, OAM 6RAR SVN 1969 Good evening Peter, Do you happen to know of any Vietnam veterans who served less than 181 days in South Vietnam and have been officially diagnosed with a war-caused psychological aspect like PTSD or something similar? To date I have assisted 47 blokes receive the RVCM in the mail over the past several months. Kind regards. Richard Barry OAM. 6RAR SVN 1969. If the hat fits, you can contact Richard at richyvon47@hotmail.com Our Patron, David Anderson , will compete in the 36km walk from Byron Bay to Ballina on 3 May 2025. David has done the walk a couple of time previously, raising funds for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service. David completed his first walk in 2023 in a time of 5 hours, 39 minutes. In 2024 he improved his time to 5 hours and 16 minutes. This year he is out to break the 5 hour mark. We wish him well. If you are interested in helping David fundraise, have a look at this link :https://events.rescuehelicopter.com.au/fundraisers/davidanderson/byron-coast-charity- walk The Department of Veteran Affairs (DVA ) sponsor several programs for Veterans. One is the Heart Health Program, which quite a few of our Old Boys are involved with or have been involved with over the years. The Heart Health Program is a free, year-long program. It can help you improve your physical health through: • practical exercise • nutritional education • lifestyle management.