4th Field Regiment 'Old Boys' Association Newsletter

4 TH FIELD REGIMENT (SVN) ASSOCIATION AKA 4TH FIELD REGT OLD BOYS Patron: David Anderson. President: Peter Bruce, OAM Treasurer: Gabby Hayes. NEWSLETTER No 60 – Winter (June) 2025 All Correspondence to Peter Bruce, 33 Cathie Circuit, Lake Cathie NSW 2445 or pjbruce8@bigpond.net.au Mobile is 0419 349 317 G’day Old Boys Welcome to our Winter 2025 edition. As I write this, it is bucketing down outside. We have had so much rain in our area, but there are always tales of people getting more. Spare a thought for those on the land down south who are in the grasp of severe drought. Susie and I were away in the caravan during March and part of April, touring parts of South Australia we had not been to before. We did Kangaroo Island and the Eyre Peninsula which are both in extreme drought conditions. While we were down on the Eyre Peninsula, we heard a local radio report that said the Cummins area in the centre of the Eyre, had not had rain for 163 days. Things have not improved since we got home either. We caught up with Gus Weir and his wife Judy while we spent a couple of days in Adelaide. I had not seen Gus since the day after we got home from Vietnam, the 12 th of March 1971. Great to see him again and it was like we it was only yesterday as we were able to renew the friendship started in SVN. On the way home we called in to see an old mate at Ouyen, Graham Floyd, and again, great to catch up with him. Rain update – as at 20 May 2025. I tipped out 150mm from the rain gauge, collected in the last 24 hours. That’s six inches of rain in 24 hours and it’s still bucketing down. Next day, another 93mm. Day three – 67mm. High and dry here but lots of issues north and south of us. Day 4 (for us) another 73mm. Day 5 – Saturday 24 May – nine mils over the last 24 hours and sunshine this morning. A chance to dry things out a bit. Main road south is still closed in the Taree area. Lots of road closures in the Port Macquarie area and Wauchope. You would recall that in our last newsletter I called for contributions to this and future editions. Perhaps a bad choice of words as a couple of Old Boys thought I meant financial contributions. No, just would like to hear what you are up to and help fill these pages. My apologies for any confusion. RAA National Memorial Many of you will have visited the RAA National Memorial on Mount Pleasant in Canberra. It is accessible via the Royal Military College and is a significant site in Canberra and to the RAA. There is an extension project aimed at updating the memorial which was officially opened back in 1977. The following link will take you to a flip book which explains the project. Your donation to the project would I am sure, be very much appreciated by the organisations involved. Several of our Old Boys were involved in the official opening ceremony, including yours truly, Peter Dobbs and Chris Reid. https://www.australianartilleryassociation.org/raanm/brochure/Royal-Australian-Artillery- National-Memorial---Brochure/index.html I was sitting at our local club one Friday night (9 May) with Vince Jamison, selling RSL Sub-branch raffle tickets. Vince was a National Serviceman on Jimmy Clements gun in 106 Battery during their second tour in SVN. During our conversation, after I was telling him that I was in HQ Battery, he asked what did HQ Battery do? I thought this was a very good