Your Say!

Phan Rang

We received the following from mates of Father Pat McCormick who asked if we would include it in our newsletter. A lot of blokes will have fond memories of Father Pat, so we include if gladly.

" A few school-mates of Pat are trying to do something to honour the humanity of Fr. Pat McCormick, who died early in 2001. Amongst the long list of efforts he made to help others is the period that he spent at Phan Rang, where, attached to No.2 Squadron of the RAAF, he put a great deal of effort into the establishment of an orphanage beyond the perimeter of the base.

We are also told that his ministry to the troops was really something else. We have obtained a pen and ink portrait of Pat and have obtained the Mass kit that he used in Vietnam, which, we hope, might be placed in a niche of Vietnam section of the National War Museum. We are trying to gather some stories about Pat and his efforts. We should truly appreciate your advice and solicit your assistance. You might care to advise of some publication that we could contact to see if people who knew Pat would provide some sort of testimonial.....or provide the names of those folk who might be willing to help in some small way. I hope you do not mind my intrusion into your busy time. Please know that any help that you can give will be appreciated. Thank you in anticipation Phil Cullen 41 Cominan Avenue Banora Point 2486 Ph. 07 5524 6443 ".

Bloke went to the doctor and said "Doctor, my little boy has just swallowed a bullet-what should I do?"
"Well" said the doctor, "for starters, don’t point him at me"

We had a note from Niall Maguire-asking for help from any groundies. He writes...

"I am endeavouring to put together a history of radar units which have been in service in Ireland from 1948 onwards. There is no problem getting info re the later models I am however running into trouble locating data re the earlier models and one in particular is the AN/CPN-4 GCA. The following outline data is required but anything further would be gladly received. Magnetron types, X and S, Thyratron type used in the S and X transmitters, EHT, PRF and pulse width. Any info would be welcome".

Does anyone understand that sort of talk? - tb

Geoff Mayhew who was at the recent reunion writes:

G’day fellas, thanks for the reunion, had a great time and caught up with one bloke (Bob Maney) that I hadn't seen or heard from since graduation in 1969! Unfortunately I had a Scouting commitment at Midday on Sunday so couldn't stay after the March and service so I missed out on the drinks and saying farewell. Looking forward to the next one.

We had a letter from Amanda in the US. She writes:

"Hi, I am a member of an American egroup which sends letters to service men and women on deployment to offer encouragement, support and gratitude for the sacrifices made ....Being an Australian, I am interested in doing the same for our servicemen and women so I am wondering if anyone would know about a similar service/group within Australia".

If any-one wants to get in touch with Amanda you can at:-
http://members.aol.com/forcountry/austral.htm

We’ve had a request from another bloke in the US who was in Vung Tau 1970-71, and who was mates with a Kerry Pendergast, and would like to get in touch with Kerry again. Only info we have is that Kerry worked "with the RAAF Caribous, in the office, sometime in 1970-71. (I think it was 9Sqn-tb) Does any-one have any information?

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