Thread: Neil Ormiston MacPherson

R.I.P Mr MacPherson , you have certainly earned that right.

Its hard to even imagine what himself and all the others on all side went thru in those terrible times. I hope and wish we never see those things again.

Cheers Ean

Condolences John. RIP Neil.

Sorry to hear John, must have been amazing to have known him. May he Rest In Peace after going through so much.

Originally Posted by Ean Austral

R.I.P Mr MacPherson , you have certainly earned that right.

Its hard to even imagine what himself and all the others on all side went thru in those terrible times. I hope and wish we never see those things again.

Cheers Ean

Thanks, Ean. Yes, he most certainly did. One of the reasons he earned his OAM was for his unfailing work towards reconciliation between the POWs and their captors. He wound up with a Japanese daughter in law, the lovely Chyomi and a couple of half Japanese grandsons, Callum and Fin ( he was also proud of his Scot heritage ). If everybody worked as tirelessly as Neil did then we would have no need for "diversity quotas". but of course the kids of today would need to go through what Neil did to understand this.

As for imagining..... I have been to the places where they suffered. I'm ashamed that I went in an airconditioned bus to many of the camps, with ice cold water, iced towels, and the promise of a sumptuous meal at the end of the day and I seriously struggled. And they got there by walking, climbing over cliffs, and eating a handful of cold rice each day if they were lucky. Bugger all water. Mostly destroyed by fever.

We have a lot to learn, and we mostly need to learn it by remembering history, not ignoring it.

Originally Posted by V8Ian

Condolences John. RIP Neil.

Thanks Ian.

I posted this because I feel blokes like Neil are important. The fact that he was family is irrelevant. Neil read the address at the War Cemetery at Kanchanburi, Thailand, on Anzac day many times. He used to extol the virtue of 'mateship'. If you didn't have your mates you wouldn't survive. He told me that that meant that EVERYBODY had to be your mate, love them or hate them, because how could you live with yourself afterwards else.

I cannot pretend to know what he knew.

He was the greatest man I have ever met.

My condolences to you and family John. Another true hero leaves us.

I'll give him a special thought at the Dawn Ceremony, next week.