Thread: Australia & Australians

Originally Posted by Tombie

Went and visited the region, including Hellfire pass.
A place to reflect on both the cruelty and compassion of man.

Went with Neil a few of times around ANZAC Day. Toured the camp locations etc. Always culminated with the Dawn Service at Hellfire. I confess that after the first trip I avoided the day long trips to the temples and ruins in order to spend time in Bangkok, an incredible city.

The cruelty, and compassion, as you put it Mike, are in the stories those old blokes told. The Thai and Burmese natives risked their lives smuggling food to the POWs. Would have been ( and more than a few were ) shot or beheaded if caught.

But it was blokes like Neil who instigated the formation of a specific tour, known as The Quiet Lion Tour ( if you know about Weary that name won't need explanation ) so people, especially modern youth ( tour always had high school kids, and rural Thailand doesn't have great mobile reception.... ) could learn stuff no school will teach. Sure as hell taught me a thing or two. My readings of WWII were mostly about the European war until I did the tour the first time. Neil told me many stories, of course, but he lived in WA so I didn't talk to him as much as I would have liked.

Neil went to a camp in Japan after the Railway, to work in a coal mine near Nagasaki of all places. Yes, he was there on the 9th of August, 1945.

He led a delegation back to the village in Japan where he was held. He did this for the purpose of reconciliation. This was in about 2008. he met one of the guards from that time, who wept and asked forgiveness, which was given. Neil Ormiston MacPherson, AO. He deserved the Order, he worked tirelessly towards reconciliation. He has passed, but he was proud of his half Japanese grandsons.

One Anzac day, many years ago [ it seems ] My old Dad asked me to march with him in the City. It came as a surprise. He didn't normally march. He had some one he wanted me to meet , he said. I didn't ask questions , just said yes. So I marched, feeling totally out of place , marching with members of the 2/14 th Infantry Battalion, AIF. And my Dad. What was left of the old diggers, any way. After the march, it was tradition the Battalion moved to a triangle of grass near Roma St, and had a BBQ & a couple of beers. There I met one of the most impressive men I have met. It was obvious every man there loved him, and he loved every one of them. I felt so out of place. Then I met Stan Bisset. He put me completely at ease, talked to me like he had known me for a long time, calm, with a generous smile. I still consider it the rarest privilege to have met him .Like Weary, Stan kept in touch with every surviving member of the Battalion, watched out for their welfare, made sure some one was at every funeral, they never passed alone. On the train on the way home Dad said simply " Well know you know " I knew exactly what he meant.

The book I have is called Kokoda by Paul Ham. The very best book on the campaign I have read.

VALE Neil Macpherson OAM.

VALE – Neil MacPherson OAM – Burma Thailand Railway Memorial Association (btrma.org.au)

Stan Bisset, Kokoda

stan bisset - YouTube

Stan's story.

Stan's Story - YouTube

Originally Posted by bob10

One Anzac day, many years ago [ it seems ] My old Dad asked me to march with him in the City. It came as a surprise. He didn't normally march. He had some one he wanted me to meet , he said. I didn't ask questions , just said yes. So I marched, feeling totally out of place , marching with members of the 2/14 th Infantry Battalion, AIF. And my Dad. What was left of the old diggers, any way. After the march, it was tradition the Battalion moved to a triangle of grass near Roma St, and had a BBQ & a couple of beers. There I met one of the most impressive men I have met. It was obvious every man there loved him, and he loved every one of them. I felt so out of place. Then I met Stan Bisset. He put me completely at ease, talked to me like he had known me for a long time, calm, with a generous smile. I still consider it the rarest privilege to have met him .Like Weary, Stan kept in touch with every surviving member of the Battalion, watched out for their welfare, made sure some one was at every funeral, they never passed alone. On the train on the way home Dad said simply " Well know you know " I knew exactly what he meant.

The book I have is called Kokoda by Paul Ham. The very best book on the campaign I have read.

One thing I know, Bob, is that these blokes ALL stuck together. Blokes who wanted to just go back to the bush would be followed up. Those blokes had a bond we cannot understand. Vietnam vets have a bond My nephew and my son have an Iraq bond, but they all agree that those POWs have something us lesser mortals can never understand. I saw it with Neil, when het me some other old man in the gardens of Home Phu Toey.. (I know I have that wrong.) They didn't actually like one another, but that didn't mater.

Originally Posted by Tins

One thing I know, Bob, is that these blokes ALL stuck together. Blokes who wanted to just go back to the bush would be followed up. Those blokes had a bond we cannot understand. Vietnam vets have a bond My nephew and my son have an Iraq bond, but they all agree that those POWs have something us lesser mortals can never understand. I saw it with Neil, when het me some other old man in the gardens of Home Phu Toey.. (I know I have that wrong.) They didn't actually like one another, but that didn't mater.

It's called mateship, something people in power waffle on about, but most have no idea of.

What impressed me with those old Diggers, they accepted me as I was, a Navy Vietnam veteran [ even now that description ' veteran' sits uneasily with me, we seem to have gone down the track of the USA in these things. We were just doing our job.], no war stories [ understandably] , just a bunch of old men talking about family and mates. Our term of Nirimba Apprentice recruits still keep in touch, we meet at the Breakfast Creek pub about every three months, catch up on all the news on who's where doing what. Who needs a helping hand, that sort of thing. Just a bunch of old men talking about family and mates.

Originally Posted by bob10

It's called mateship, something people in power waffle on about, but most have no idea of.

What impressed me with those old Diggers, they accepted me as I was, a Navy Vietnam veteran [ even now that description ' veteran' sits uneasily with me, we seem to have gone down the track of the USA in these things. We were just doing our job.], no war stories [ understandably] , just a bunch of old men talking about family and mates. Our term of Nirimba Apprentice recruits still keep in touch, we meet at the Breakfast Creek pub about every three months, catch up on all the news on who's where doing what. Who needs a helping hand, that sort of thing. Just a bunch of old men talking about family and mates.

One year Neil gave an address at the 11:00 Service at the Kanchanburi War Cemetery. The topic? Mateship. Mateship meant keeping you mate alive if at all possible. looking after each other was absolutely paramount. Something a politician would have no concept of.

Neil MacPherson was fond of quoting Duncan Butler of the 2/12th Field Ambulance who wrote the poem Mates with the theme.
“No prisoner on the railway survived who did not have a mate”.

do any politicians have any mates?

Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

do any politicians have any mates?

One each, usually seen in a mirror.