Radschool Association Newsletter

Radschool Association Newsletter - Vol 6

31 Aug 2000

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Last issue we showed you a photo of 4 little angels, one of which was Pete DeJonge. Reader wrote in saying the Pete DeJonge he knew couldn’t be described as an angel. Well, we don’t know about that, so we’ve included another photo. You be the judge!!

Big Fred.

As mentioned, thanks to Phil Baldock, we were able to make contact with Fred Holtmann. Fred is now retired and lives alone in a little town of between 3-400 people, about an hour and a half north of Adelaide. He is a full TPI with back and leg problems, thanks to his stint in Vietnam in 68-69.

He ended up at Edinburgh, and spent the last 15 years of his time in the RAAF as a WOD. He was on his way to the Officer’s Mess when DVA granted him TPI status, which put a stop to the Commission, and sent him into Civvy Street. That was in February, 1999. He now spends one or two days a month as an instructor with the ATC cadets in Adelaide, and says he loves it as it keeps him in touch with the service

We also found out about the bed. Somehow, over the years, it had been placed on his clothing card, and it followed him around from base to base like a little dog. When he got out, and was doing his discharge clearances, no-one wanted the bed. L Group didn’t want it back and said it was a Barracks item, and Barracks said it wasn’t their concern, and to take it back to L Group. Last Fred saw of the bed it was dragged out into a laneway, and was finally broken up into bits. .

A big brown bear walks into a bar in Burnie and sits down. He bangs on the bar with his paw and demands a beer. The bartender approaches and says, "We don't serve beer to big brown bears in bars in Burnie." The bear, becoming angry, demands again that he be served a beer. The bartender tells him again, more forcefully, "We don't serve beer to belligerent big brown bears in bars in Burnie." \ The bear, very angry now, says, "If you don't serve me a beer, I'm going to eat that lady sitting at the end of the bar." The bartender says, "Sorry, we don't serve beer to belligerent, bully big brown bears in bars in Burnie." The bear goes to the end of the bar, and as promised, eats the woman. He comes back to his seat and again demands a beer. The bartender states, "Sorry, we don't serve beer to belligerent, bully big brown bears in bars in Burnie who are on drugs." The bear says, "I'm not on drugs." The bartender says, "You are now. That was a barbitchyouate."

When we contacted him he knew we had been looking for him as Phil Baldock had given him copies of our last two newsletters. He was very pleased and a little surprised to see that he was remembered so well by so many people. Fred has given us his email address, and says he would be delighted to hear from anyone. If you want to have a yarn to Fred, send your initial contact to him via us (radschool@yahoo.com) and we’ll forward it on. As a lot of Brats know only too well, he spent quite a few years as DI to Appy-land at Laverton, got to know quite a few of the blokes pretty well and consequently has quite a few memories from back then. We’ve convinced him to share a few of them with us, and he’s promised to be a regular contributor to our newsletter. From a couple of incidents we heard on the phone, (the still for making booze hidden in the walls for one) we think his memories will be very entertaining.

We asked Fred if he had any photos from way back, but he says he lost them all shortly after his divorce. If you’ve got any photos with Fred in them-please send them in.

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