

© Dennis
'Digger' Nevins
7 Pl C Coy 2nd Tour |
 |
When I enlisted in
1967, I met up with a bloke who came from the
land, his name was Robin Feldman. My army number
ended in 32, then there was 'Tubby' Fay. His
number ended in 33
(he went to 9RAR) and Robin Feldman 34.
Robin and I became
mates early. He was thin and wiry and liked a to
have a 'Tally Ho' (roll your own
cigarette) hanging from his
mouth. Because of his thin, wiry frame I
nicknamed him "Stick." We went to Kapooka and
from that time on he and I became more than
mates ... we were cobbers. We were allocated
Infantry and sent to Ingleburn for Infantry Corps
Training. We were in the same tent which was
good because that meant we didn't have to clean
windows and polish floors like those who got the
huts.
Upon completion of
training most were posted to 5RAR and of those,
most were given A Company, including Stick. I was
given Tracker Platoon; but I so much wanted to be
with A Company as we had been together since
enlisting. From then on we did about 10 months
of training, then on to South Vietnam; and I
kept in touch on operations by letter writing.
In August '69 many soldiers from 3 Platoon and
Assault Pioneers became casualties . I myself on
that day was with trackers at a Fire Support
Base and could see a massive amount of air
support going in. I never read much about this
heavy contact but I always thought what
outstanding job our Diggers did. He recovered
from his wound, I remember him telling me of the
dozens of RPG-7s fired amongst them, of the
explosions when they hit solid trees and how
they struggled for cover. Once recovered,
Stick continued on operations and was once again
wounded engaging bunkers. He told me at the time
when he was hit that he laid his rifle down
saying he didn't want to fight anymore. Who
could blame him as 3 Platoon had done plenty of hard yakka
Once again he
recovered and went out on operations again, his
little moment of not fighting was over and he
was back on the job again.
During the tour, we by
chance, made contact with two pen pals who were
the best of mates as well. I arranged to
meet up with girls upon RTA (Return To
Australia). With our tour
complete it was back on the HMAS Sydney to
Sydney, where we marched through the city for a
great welcome. from there we flew back to
Brisbane where we shook hands knowing that we
were going to meet up with our pen pals in
Melbourne. I turned up to meet my pen pal but
Stick never did. I couldn't make contact, but
let me tell you his pen pal was a good sort. The
pen pal and I got on well but I had to return to
Brisbane as I had been posted to 9RAR. The
university students at the time were creating a
ruckus so my Company was put on guard duty at
Victoria Barracks. On one of those nights I had
call in the guard room from Peter Macdonald (ex
tracker platoon) telling me Stick had been
killed in a car accident. All he knew was that
the car had hit a bridge. That's how it was for
the next 45 years, I never heard anymore. All
through those years I've always kept a framed
photograph of Stick and always carried a photo
of him in my car wallet. When I change cars his
photo always goes into the new vehicle. This
year my daughter Sara decided to find out more
info on the internet and by chance she came upon
a message from a bloke by the name of Ken
Williams, he had written about the car accident.
So Sara left a message saying how I never had
info about the incident and how I always carried
a photo of him. That seemed to be the end of
it until last Sunday night at 1700hrs, the phone
rings, I wasn't going to answer as the footy
final wasn't long on starting. I'm glad I did, as
the bloke on the other started telling me about
the accident. After about a minute I had to ask
him to stop and tell me who he was. He said he
was Ken Williams and that he had read the
message Sara had left.
After 45 years I finally
found out the story and had a sense of closure.
Ken's close friend was also in the car and
survived, the other bloke did also but they had
terrible injuries. As for Stick, he died at the
scene. They had hit a bridge crossing a water
canal near Griffith NSW. Ken knew his mate died in
early 2000 and wondered what happened to his
service medals as he had no family whatsoever.
So he put out the info on the internet ... did
anyone know what happened to the medals? Some
months passed and he got a reply from a bloke
saying he found them for sale and had bought
them. As luck would have it, he lived in
Melbourne only a couple suburbs from Ken. They
agreed to meet and because of the meeting the
medals were handed to Ken for his custody. Ken
still wasn't finished, he then applied to
Australian Honours and Awards for any other medals that his
mate was entitled to. This took its time but he was
given three more medals to keep in his custody.
I congratulated him on his effort and sense of
duty. Ken has sent me news cuttings of the
accident but I wanted to know one thing ,where
was he buried? Ken couldn't tell me and I'm now
on the search to find where Stick's final resting place. I hope one day to get the answer and when
I do, I want to pay a visit and tell him
that even after 45 years he was the best cobber
I ever had.
Next month I take possession of a
new Ute and once again the photo of Stick will
be placed in the glovebox. That's the end. He wasn't known by that nickname in A Company but Lofty.
My pen pal still keeps in contact, she married a
bloke who started a company called Kambrook he
named it after Kambrook road in Melbourne and
went from a backyard workshop to a multi
national company.
BACK TO ONCE WE WERE SOLDIERS |
BACK TO CONTENTS PAGE |