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RSL WODEN VALLEY SUB-BRANCH NEWS Woden Valley Sub-Branch Aug-September 2017

Another FREE Writers FREE TICKETS Festival event at the THROUGH WV RSL FOR National Library: RSL MEMBERS TO THURSDAY 24 AUGUST

CANBERRA WRITERS 5.30-6.30pm THE CRYING YEARS: ’S FESTIVAL EVENTS GREAT WAR— FRIDAY 25 AUGUST: CONVERSATION & BOOK LAUNCH THEATRE, NATIONAL 10:00AM – 11:00AM WAR & PEACE LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA THROUGH AUSTRALIAN EYES COMBAT PHOTOGRAPHY FROM WW1 TO Peter Stanley is a Research THE MODERN DAY: GARY RAMAGE AND JEFF MAYNARD IN Professor at UNSW . CONVERSATION WITH SIMON TROETH MEMBERS DINING ROOM 2, He is one of Australia’s most MUSEUM OF AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRACY active military social historians Jeff Maynard’s latest book is THE UNSEEN ANZAC: how an enigmatic explorer and the author of over 30 books, many dealing with Australia’s created Australia’s photographs. Biographer of legendary lensman Great War. He was formerly George Hubert Wilkins, Gary Ramage’s new autobiography THE SHOT was written Principal Historian at the with AFR journalist and novelist Mark Abernethy. , was 11:30AM – 12:30PM TIP OF THE SPEAR: THE OPERATORS IN ACTION BRAM jointly awarded the Prime Minister’s Prize for Australian CONNOLLY AND CHRIS MASTERS IN CONVERSATION WITH WILL TAYLOR History (in 2011) and is current MEMBERS DINING ROOM 2, MUSEUM OF AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRACY President of Honest History. As a Special Forces officer, Bram Connolly served several tours in Afghanistan and This is an in-depth look at the was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for leadership in combat. He takes book’s stories and images of war, from both the battlefields you deep into the world of high-intensity combat few have experienced in THE and the home front. FIGHTING SEASON, based on his twenty-year career with the Australian Army. 1:00PM – 2:00PM HERE COMES THE CAVALRY THE CHARGE THAT CHANGED THE WAR: DAVID W CAMERON IN CONVERSATION WITH IAN TOWNSEND MEMBERS DINING ROOM 2, MUSEUM OF AUSTRALIAN In This Issue DEMOCRACY Australian horses and soldiers changed the course of the Great War in the Middle  Free tickets for RSL East when they staged the last-ever successful cavalry charge in history to capture members to Writers the vital wells of Beersheba. David Cameron has published a number of books on Festival Events Australian military history, including six books on Gallipoli. 2:30PM – 3:30PM IAN MCPHEDRAN IN CONVERSATION WITH TIM SHAW  Commemoration MEMBERS DINING ROOM 2, MUSEUM OF AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRACY 2:30PM anniversaries – 3:30PM IAN MCPHEDRAN Ian McPhedran’s THE SMACK TRACK regales readers with the high-energy  Ministerial statement exploits and explosive adventures of the Royal Australian Navy in the Arabian Gulf, from battling pirates to tracking down gun runners, drug smugglers and terrorists.  Senate report into 4:00PM – 5:00PM GRIPPING WAR YARNS ROBERT MACKLIN AND IAN suicide TOWNSEND IN CONVERSATION WITH ALLAN BEHM MEMBERS DINING ROOM 2, MUSEUM OF AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRACY  Training updates and Robert is the author of four works focusing on the SAS and Australia's Special photos Forces. Ian Townsend’s latest book is LINE OF FIRE, combining family history with military history and geology to tell the story of the civilian and military disaster that befell Rabaul at the start of the Pacific War. 18 August—Vietnam Veterans’ Day and anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan

Nearly 60,000 Australian men and women served in the Vietnam War between 1962 and 1975. Five hundred and twenty-one of whom lost their lives and more than 3,000 were wounded.

18 August also commemorates the anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan, where 105 Australians and three New Zealanders of D Company 6RAR were engaged in one of the fiercest battles of the Vietnam War.

In the Battle of Long Tan a total of 17 Australians were killed in action and 25 were wounded, one of whom later died of his wounds.

D Company were greatly assisted by an ammunition resupply by RAAF helicopters, support by Australian, New Zealand and United States artillery and the arrival of reinforcements in APCs as night fell.

WVRSL member Adrian Roberts (pictured below) commanded those APCs, for which he was awarded the medal of gallantry.

Victory in the Pacific Day

The 72nd anniversary of Victory in the Pacific Day, marking the end of the Second World War was commemorated on 15 August.

Japan unconditionally surrendered to the Allies after more than three years of war in which almost a million Australian men and women served, almost 40,000 Aus- tralians lost their lives, many more were wounded and more than 30,000 were nd taken prisoner of war—of those taken prisoner, more than 8,000 died in captivity. 102 anniversary of the

Further commemorations this year: In the coming months the Australian Battle of Lone Pine Government will hold national services for the 75th anniversaries of the battles of Milne Bay, El Alamein, and Kokoda and the Beachheads. The Australian Ambassador Designate to Turkey Marc Innes-Brown laid a wreath on 6 August at Last Post ceremonies for these important Second World War anniversaries will Lone Pine Memorial and Cemetery to take place at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on the following dates: commemorate more than 2,200 Australians killed or wounded in the battle. 25 August 2017 - 75th anniversary of the Battle of Milne Bay, Seven members of the Australian Imperial Force 23 October 2017 - 75th anniversary of the Battle of El Alamein and the culmi- awarded the Victoria Cross—the most from any nation of the North Africa campaigns, single action during the First World War. Many more received decorations for their part in the 2 November 2017 - 75th anniversary of Kokoda and the Beachheads. fighting. Lone Pine Cemetery is the location of the Memorial to the Missing which lists the names of 2 the 4,224 Australians who lost their lives at Gallipoli and who have no known grave. WV RSL Volunteers are invited to MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ON VETERANS AND THEIR FAMILIES attend the MYAgedCare Information Day at Hughes Community Centre, The following is an extract from a Ministerial statement to the Parliament by Minister for Veterans Affairs, Dan Wisdom St, Hughes Tehan on 14 August. 5 September 2017 2pm to 4pm There are currently around 58,000 Australians serving in our Defence Forces... No matter who they are, all of Agenda them will become veterans. In the Australian community, there are an estimated 2pm Welcome and Introduction—Pat 320,000 veterans who have been deployed... On aver- McCabe (ACT KOC) age, our ADF personnel will serve for around eight and 2.05pm Wendy Bateman RSL Victoria half years. Each year, around 5,200 will leave. (Aged Care Manager) In the last twelve months, over 1,400 members of the 2.25pm Raj Martin—Dept of Health separated for reasons not of MyAgedCare their choosing. Ten years ago, just over 740 members 2.50pm Robyn Kemp—DVA separated involuntarily 3.15pm Jenny Mobbs—COTA ACT ..The Department of Veterans’ Affairs supports about 3.25pm Questions 291,000 Australians. Just over half are veterans or cur- rently serving members of the ADF. Around 48 percent RSVP to [email protected] or are women. Around 82,000 are widows or widowers 6291 9185 and around 2,500 are children of veterans. Today, more than 203,000 of DVA’s clients are 65 years or over while about 23,000 are under the age of 40. The Department employs around 2,000 staff Release of Senate References throughout Australia. About a third of them in Canberra. Committee Report into The rest are spread across offices in each state and territory, in capital cities and regional towns. Suicide by veterans and ex- service personnel In a typical 9 to 5, five-day week, DVA will process about 95 compensation or income support forms every hour, receive two letters or emails every minute, and You may recall RSL President Robert Dick and take a phone call every couple of seconds. then Deputy President ACT Branch Jim Gilchrist gave evidence to this committee. At the Veterans’ Review Board there were over 2,900 decisions made in 2015/16. Of these, nearly half were The recommendations arising from the made to change or reverse the decision of the Depart- Senate investigation may be of interest to ment. If veterans are not satisfied with a decision of the many members. The report is here: review board, they may apply to the Administrative Ap- peals Tribunal. In 2015/16, 223 of the 307 rulings of the http://www.aph.gov.au/ Administrative Appeal Tribunal were made against the Parliamentary_Business/Committees/ Department. Senate/Foreign_Affairs_Defence_and_Trade/ Recently, we have implemented a trial of Alternative VeteranSuicide/Report Dispute Resolution for veterans who choose to appeal Or call the WV RSL office for a copy—62851931 or a decision with the Veterans’ Review Board. As a re- [email protected] sult, cases that may have taken up to a year to resolve have been resolved in as little as three months. We are now rolling this out nationwide. In 2013/14, wait times for initial liability under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act and for the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act were 144 days and 160 days respectively. They have now come down to 107 and 3 110 days respectively.

Woden Valley RSL Sub- Branch and RSL ACT VSC Contact Us Invites all volunteers and potential volunteers to the next update and Give us a call for more information about our information session on services and how to Thursday 7th September 2017 volunteer:

Special guest Rachel Milfull, Care Financial Counselling Service and Visit us on the web at Consumer Law centre ,will speak on financial counselling www.rslwoden.org.au

Morning tea will be provided 11 Irving Street at 11 Irving Street, Phillip PHILLIP ACT 2606 10:00am to 12.00pm RSVP by Friday September 1 2017 62851931 to [email protected] or call 02 62851931 PO Box 415 WODEN ACT 2606

[email protected]

Below: Volunteers meet for a July update as part of WV RSL’s new training sessions. 5

Alzheimers Australia’s next breakfast presentation event addresses diet issues

Alzheimers Australia invites you to a Breakfast with Maggie Beer and Ngaire Hobbins If you would like to come along next Tuesday (29 August) and hear Maggie and Ngaire as well as support people living with dementia in the ACT and region please don’t forget to register. Tickets are running out, this is your last chance to register for this very popular event.

http://www.gatherroundthetable.eventbrite.com.au

WV RSL member Ian Prior was one of the Second World War vet- erans photographed as part of the Reflections project. Story and photo from Australian War Memorial. Ninety-three-year-old Ian Prior stands proudly in his suit and medals looking straight at the camera. He was an 18-year-old mechanic from Victoria when he enlisted in 1943, and went on to serve in New Guinea, Morotai, the Philip- pines, and Borneo. “You had two choices real- ly,” he said of that time. “You either joined up, or you got called up, take your pick. So I joined the Air Force. I wanted to join the Navy, but they said I was too small. The Air Force didn’t object, so I became a flight mechanic.” Mr Prior is one of 6,500 Second World War veterans who were photographed by more than 450 pro- fessional photographers from around the coun- try as part of the Reflections: honouring our WWII veterans project by the Australian Insti- tute of Professional Photographers (AIPP).