REQUESTS, NEWS or URGENT MESSAGES

Any messages placed on this page will be removed one month after it is sent to the webmaster, unless there is notification of an event with date included in the message, the webmaster deems that it is an important message and needs to stay longer or the request is completed within that month. All photos will be placed on the MEMBERS PHOTO ALBUM page after they are removed from this and the TRACK TALK & GENERAL INFORMATION page.

Message from Nev Modystack :- 03:07:2008

'Shortly to be published is a book by a Mr. John Hamilton. Hamilton is author of 'Goodbye, Cobber-God Bless You', the story of the 10th Light Horse Brigade at The Nek.

It's title is 'Gallipoli Sniper-the Life of Billy Sing'. The book details the life and doings of Trooper William Edward 'Billy' Sing. Billy was a half Chinese, half English member of the 5th LHR. He took over sniping duties on Gallipoli and was credited with well over 150 kills (officially) and many more un-officially. He was awarded a DCM. Billy went to France as an infantryman, was nominated for an MM and was awarded a Belgian Criox de Guerre.

My interest? I was priviledged to be able to supply Hamilton with some fairly extensive research material (I am not co-author) and have been to Clermont where Billy was born. What I can guarantee is a good read as John's style is very much attuned to the ordinary reader. My 'cut' ? Nothing!

The book is published by Pan Macmillan and should be in stores by the end of the month.

Nev Modystack

Message from Greg Smith:- 03:07:2008

MEDAL PRESENTATION

On Saturday, the 9th of August, a presentation of the Australian Defence Force medal and Army Combat Badge will be made to the family of the late Vivian FRENCH (KIA 8th December, 1969).
It will be conducted at the Beenleigh RSL, 138 Bardyn Halliday Drive, Mt. Warren Park, and will commence at 11.00am. The presentation will be followed by a morning tea. Dress is coat, tie, medals and beret.
It is essential that anyone attending to advise the co-ordinator of numbers for catering purposes. Partners are welcome. After the family have departed, gentlemen of the Cavalry may choose to wet their whistle.

RSVP to Greg Smith before the 1stAugust, on 07 32645249 or 0414605500.

Message from John Brooker, OAM:- 12:06:2008

Back to Puckapunyal June 5-7 2009 Commemorating the 40^th Anniversary Battle of Binh Ba June 6-8 1969

The School of Armour is to conduct an event in June 2009 along similar lines of Operation Paratus 1992 and more recently the Celebration of Australian Armour in 2003 for WWII vets, it will be a live in style of event, this event will also commemorate 40 years since the Battle of Bin Ba. Invites will be sent to all those of the 1^st Armd Regt and 3 Cav Regt that took part in the Battle, if they can be located. An invitation is also extended to all serving and ex serving RAAC members that would like to attend the weekend. The final format of the event is still in the planning stages, those that have not been to Puckapunyal or have not had contact with the Corps for many years especially those that served from the 1950’s onwards, and those discharged after Vietnam, here is the opportunity to do both. The weekend at this stage is shaping along the lines below.

Friday June 5,

AM, Registration and allocation of accommodation if applicable and info packs

Location; Tank Museum (TBC)

PM, Meet & Greet / Happy Hour

Location TBC

Sat June 6;

AM, Mobility Demo various armoured vehicles (location and vehicle types still under discussion)

PM, Binh Ba presentation tour of School of Armour Training Facilities (TBC)

Evening, Binh Ba Dinner

Sunday June 7;

BBQ Brunch

Location, Army Tank Museum, farewell by CO ( TBC)

As you can see details are in the early planning stages. Costs and booking for accommodation will be communicated as they become clearer. It respect to accommodation male only rooms will be available on base. If you will be accompanied by your wife/partner then you will have to look at Motels / Caravan Parks in and around Seymour Contact numbers will be published as they are obtained. Buses to and from the base will be provided.

In the meantime we require and indication of who may attend. If you intend to come or are considering coming please email John Brooker on johnbrooker45@aol.com with your name, address, email contact, unit/troop and callsign (if you were present during the Battle of Binh Ba). For everyone else that would like to attend, name and contact details will be sufficient. The School would like to make it known that the invite is extended to all Black Hats that wish to attend, not only those from the Vietnam Era. If you wish to respond via snail mail send your details to:

John Brooker OAM,

Army Tank Museum,

School of Armour, Hopkins Barracks,

Puckapunyal. Vic 3662

If you know someone that served within the Corps that may not get this info please pass along, info will be placed on unit web sites and published in as many newsletters as possible. In the meantime we are looking for as many people that were present at the battle to forward on their recollections of the battle that is to be placed in a commemorative publication of the event.

More information will be released in the coming weeks.

Message from Dave Sabben:- 21:05:2008
LONG TAN PRESENTATION

Dear Everyone,

I apologise for the impersonal nature of this e-mail but I wanted to send it out (and have it sent on) as widely as possible.
I'm offering a free 50-slide animated PowerPoint presentation on the Battle of Long Tan - ideal for students, serving members and any other interested person.
May I ask you please to send the following or something like it to your entire serving military, vet and education distribution lists, please?

Long Tan vet, Dave Sabben, has produced a 50-slide animated PowerPoint presentation on the battle at Long Tan.
It can be downloaded free from the net, and Dave would like it sent as far and as wide as possible.
The contents are suitable for school teachers & students as well as Viet Vets and others who are just interested.
Not to forget serving members of all forces, including those overseas and in Allied forces.
It's a PC version only (a Mac version may follow, if funded), and runs on PowerPoint version 2003 and later.
(Don't try to run it on earlier PowerPoint versions - eg, 97 - it uses features not available before the 03 version.)
It's large - about 5.6Mb - but it's paced to the viewer. May be an hour or more of viewing/study.

The website is http://www.dave-sabben.com/

Click on Download LONG TAN PowerPoint presentation

(I suggest you "save to disk" so you can run it whenever you wish, rather than opening it in PowerPoint?)

If you download and view it yourself, please feel free to add comments as you pass the message along. :-)
May I ask you to ask your contacts to also pass it on as well?
It's good to see something worthwhile and free on the Internet - let it ping around the web for a while.
Cheers to you all, and thanks in anticipation,

Dave Sabben.

Message from Nev Modystack:- 29:11:2007

Gavan & Trevor.

My submission to the Corps Council re an AFV Crewman's Badge was rejected. Others as well as myself have decided to keep the thing going. I've been given the job of raising samples of the proposal. I've started by getting a cloth badge to be made, using the attachment as a start point. It is, of course, a AC Mk 111 Sentinel tank, Australia's own.

These are very early days. If this is to be accepted, (in whatever form) I think I'll have to have much feedback from members of the Corps. Could you each place the sample on your sites? FYI, the image is from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Some other ideas are to have the initials RAAC above the tank, or perhaps AFV above, with CREWMAN underneath. If you do place this on your site/s, please feel free to add any comment of your own.

Cheers,

Nev Modystack

Message from Roger Tingley:- 28:11:2007

Dallas & Gavan, as you may know, I am involved with the Burma Thai Railway Memorial Association, initiator (1985) and sponsor of the annual 'Quiet Lion' tours to Thailand, for ANZAC DAY.

The 10 day tours are generally fully subscribed by November of each year, with a small waiting list and generally commence in the 3rd week of April. The April 2008 Tour is already oversubscribed, however senior BTRMA members (inclusive of POWs) from the WA DRA (Defence Reserves Assn) also conduct a highly commendable Tour in November of each year.

Youth interest in WA is very high and for April 2008, over 60% of the 95 tour members will be students and teachers.

A 52 minute 'Quiet Lion' DVD has now been produced & is likely to become a historically significant document. Limited copies are available to the public at this time and should anyone in our Association want to purchase a copy ($24.95 plus postage), they may order through me or, directly from the BTRMA Secretary, who holds the bulk supplies. Hopefully this will be ok for the 3 Cav website too.

Eric Wilson APM: Secretary BTRMA, 30/136 Canning Highway, South Perth WA 6158

Roger Tingley: Chairman BTRMA,15 Cleopatra Drive, Mandurah, WA 6210.

Over 150 books have been written about Java/Changi/Burma/Sandakan tragedies.

For those interested, the BTRMA Website is: www.btrma.org

Thanks & Take Care.

Roger T"

Poster Girl - Beccy Cole