Wesley ANZAC Service Excels Again

There is something special about the ANZAC Service at Wesley College that has attendees congratulating the school as they did again today.

Perhaps it is the music, the solemn nature of the service, the religious input from the School Chaplain, the selection of guest speakers, the special guests including Odd Bods, the integral involvement of students or that very special time when a gong is rung as the names of Old Wesleyians who gave up their lives, are read out.

A feature of the ceremony in recent years has been the presentation of the G.V.Smith Award for the best ANZAC essay by a student. Due to curriculum changes this year the award was held over until 2020 when the Year 9 students include ANZAC in their curriculum. Winning essays from past years continue to feature in our top 10 most read articles.

The Guest Speaker this year was Dr. Annette Holian who served in theatres of war and is currently Group Captain in the RAAF Reserve. Dr. Holian urged students to be brave and speak out -"There are many ways to make the world a better place. I am confident you can make that contribution."

The day concludes with a wreath laying ceremony at the Lone Pine in the school grounds.
Well done to Wesley and all contributors on another special ANZAC service.

Some Conversations From ANZAC Day.

The ANZAC spirit is alive and well and exemplified in the attendance of Maurie Smith who suffered a fall recently and sustained two broken ribs. Most of you will know that is a very painful experience and the discomfort lingers for some time. Maurie was determined to spend this important day with his mates, and soldiered on well, although he did try to avoid too much laughter.

The RSL laid down an edict for this year’s march that all WW2 veterans would have to travel in cars. This was to avoid delays during the march over past years as veterans struggled to keep up with the pace. Well, they needed a sub-clause “except for Frank Sims” because Frank marched once again and displayed no ill effects from the exercise. In fact he was able to give a TV interview immediately after the march as you will see in a separate post.

A sobering statistic from our Patron AVM Peter Scully (Rtd.) that Australian Airmen in Europe represented over 30% of total Australian casualties in WW2. This supports the view that the contribution of Australian Airmen in WW2 does not receive sufficient consideration.

Member Bryan Wilcockson sent us this message from the UK yesterday “ Good morning - I'm in Melbourne (UK) and dressed ready for the ANZAC day march, but there's no sign of the Friends bus?”

Unfortunately our bus didn’t get to the UK but we will try again next year Bryan.

Frank Sims TV Interview ANZAC Day 2019

Friends of the Odd Bods veteran, Frank Sims, was collared by the ABC after this years ANZAC March and here is the interview that went to air. Thanks to Gary Elliot for the feed.

ANZAC March & Reunion 2019 Photos

(L-R) Doug Parry, Frank Sims, Maurie Smith, Joe Shuttleworth,
Jim Mitchell, Jan Dimmick, Alan Couper.

Our veterans get the top billing on this collection of photos (and rightly so) but ANZAC Day 2019 turned on great weather, great memories, and many heartfelt discussions as we all joined to remember those who had passed and all those who contributed to the amazing stories of Australian Airmen and Women in WW2.

The following is just a small sample from the day. We hope you enjoy them, and encourage you to send us your photos for inclusion.

The Odd Bods march into view and you might
notice a few eyes turned to the heavens which
will make sense with the next photo.

Many thanks to our wonderful banner bearers
from Wesley.

And we simply could not get along with
our reliable drivers Vin and Mohit
 from 13 CABS.

Our President Bruce Waxman opens
 proceedings at the luncheon.

Some very wise words and encouragement
from our Patron AVM Peter Scully (Rtd)

Gary Elliot, Jim Mitchell, Peter Randell, and
Joe Shuttleworth enjoying the discussions.

Frank Sims was captured by an
ABC TV crew after the March

Twenty Years Since This Article Was Published. These Three Gentlemen were intrinsic in setting up The Odd Bods.

ODD BODS MARCH TOGETHER

Herald Sun April 22nd 1999

COMMENT:

Rex19 April 2019 at 11:12

My father Francis George Haw was an Odd Bod. Couldn't wait for Australia to get its act together and went to Canada to take part in what I think was called the Empire Training Scheme. He ended up as a WO2 rear gunner in a Wellington bomber. Took part in the defence of Malta and finished his operational duties when his Wellington crashed in Libya in 1942. He was the only survivor and suffered horrific injuries including a broken back. He ended up at Sale Air Base in Victoria as an air gunnery instructor until the war ended.After the war he married my mum, but was forced to spend many years back in hospital trying to fully recover from plane crash injuries. He studied law while in hospital and later became a practising barrister and solicitor, mostly in Melbourne.

Assistant Editor21 April 2019 at 19:13

Thanks Rex. Really appreciate you sharing the story of your father. Although my father was lucky to come back without injury, the stories he did tell in his later life were obviously forever playing on his mind. We are lucky to have had these men as role models and we will all try to ensure that the next generations never forget the sacrifice that was made for our freedom.

20/4/2019 17:15 Thanks for your story Rex. My Father also suffered back injuries when his Mitchell B-25 crash landed. Not as serious as a broken back however. Some tough times. - Greg Smith

Stirring ANZAC Speech By RAAF Veteran

Friends of the Odd Bods member, Gabrielle Hogan, gave us a heads up on a recent article in Sydney Newspapers about RAAF Pilot Eric Barton and it is one of his ANZAC Day speeches that particularly caught her attention.
Eric Barton flew as a Lancaster pilot with No 186 Squadron Royal Air Force RAF between October 1944 and March 1945. He was part of the Pathfinders, the target-marking squadrons in RAF Bomber Command.
In a speech at the Cronulla RSL Anzac Dawn Service in 2013 he delivered a powerful message. He told the crowd: 

"You don’t need to wear a uniform to be an Anzac; you need to treasure and fight for our laws, our individual right of free speech. Don’t waste your freedom. Don’t be a ‘she’ll-be-right-mate’ Australian; be an Anzac Australian like your oldies. They didn’t say ‘she’ll be right, mate'. They made sure it would be right by doing, and in many cases by giving their lives to make sure it would be right mate.”

Eric Barton passed away in February 2019. The link to the full article can be found here - Eric Barton WW2 Pathfinder - "the best of the best".

Tom Rossiter - Peter Scully Interview

AVM Peter Scully (Rtd.) has given us kind permission to publish his wonderful interviews with WWII Airmen and we have just uploaded his account by Odd Bod Tom Rossiter.
Peter's interviews are remarkable for the insight into veterans thoughts and experiences during wartime. 
You will find more of Peter's interviews and other stories of Odd Bods listed in the side panel.

Communications From Members

Behind the scenes at Friends Of The Odd Bods there is plenty of communication going on as you can imagine.

Our annual invitation to the ANZAC March usually brings a flurry of emails and members like Bryan Wilcockson from Selby in the UK like to join the spirit of the invitation even if distance might be a problem -

“Navigator to Pilot”
“Roger that, march from Selby to Melbourne definitely a ‘do-able’ on ANZAC day. Request permission to march one abreast (it’s not that I’m a ‘Billy-No-Mates’ just struggling to find another ‘Odd-Bod’ in Selby)
Riverwalk Amora Hotel not found. Suggest rendezvous at Melbourne Arms  53°52′04″N 000°50′19″W”

Bryan

One year we will have to get Bryan over for the March or maybe take up his offer of a reunion at the Melbourne Arms.

Another correspondent is Gabrielle Hogan, widow of Odd Bod Harl Hogan, who writes the most wonderfully descriptive emails. Gabrielle will be attending the Palm Beach ANZAC March up in Sydney this year and she wishes us every success with our march while "thinking of all who served their country, and so many of those who did, losing their lives,  in the wars."
Check out the article about RAAF Pilot Eric Barton and his resounding ANZAC Day speech which Gabrielle alerted us to.

A big thank you to all who have communicated over recent weeks and our thoughts go out to those who for various reasons, can't make it on ANZAC Day.