President’s Report

I hope you all had a restful Christmas and New Year and gave those little grey cells a refreshing break.

Another year is underway and it promises to be an eventful one for our sub branch and the RSL both

nationally and in Queensland. We will be conducting the usual Anzac Day ceremonies plus we are under-

taking a large celebration to commemorate the end of WW1. I will let you know the details in later news-

letters. There have been a number of changes in our Happy Hour programme and we are becoming more

involved with the Army Reserve and the ADF Cadets. See the web site for further detail on our events

schedule.

A consultant has recently completed a review of the management structure of RSL Queensland and they

have submitted their report to the Board. This report will be tabled at the next Congress and the decision

of the members will determine the management structure RSL Queensland will take in the future.

Individuals currently on the Board has specifically been left out of this structural review to eliminate any

perceived bias they may or may not have. It is your responsibility to read the report, which is available

from the sub-branch office, and pass any comment you may have to other sub-branch members via our

monthly general meeting. We have to vote on this issue at the Congress and that vote must be

representative of our member’s wishes.

Once again I am calling for help to run the Anzac Day celebrations. The committee has decided that we

will no longer do the labouring work for the event and we have therefore resolved to pay for the supply

and erection of tents. What we do need however are organisers on the day and helpers to sell badges. At

this stage Glenn Willmann is looking for volunteers to sell badges so please contact him if you are able to

help in some way. We also need volunteers to speak at the local schools for their Anzac Day ceremonies.

We have many suitable speeches available at the office that individuals can use as a basis for their own ad-

dress. Please ring Bruce Fraser at the office on (07) 5353-9164.

The Brisbane North District is conducting its AGM in March and the current President, Mr Vic Reading is

not contesting his position. Vic has done a great job guiding the District over recent years and is a great

friend of our Sub-Branch. I will be passing on our thanks and best wishes to him at the AGM.

I realise that there are many of you that can’t get to the monthly meetings and therefore miss out on the

business we conduct. Please note that we now publish the minutes of our meetings on our web site at

www.cmdrsl.com.au . The web site is a source of information for all members and friends and is ably

looked after by Horrie Hunt. We do not publish our financial documents on the web site but as President I

can assure that we are in a good financial position will all accounts paid and a healthy bank balance.

Snake Tales Caboolture Morayfield & District RSL Sub-Branch Inc.

Web Site www.cmdrsl.com.au

Newsletter Autumn 2018 Newsletter Editor: Warren Baker

Anzac Day 2018

Dawn Service commence at 4.50am Fern Hill Veterans Village on King Street

Gunfire Breakfast at Caboolture RSL Club 6.00AM TO 8.00AM

Main March will assemble by 9.00am at the War Veterans Home in King Street, commencement at

9.30am and proceed down King Street to the Caboolture Town Square Memorial for the Main Service

commencing at approximately 10.30am

‘FOUND’ - Australian Navy Submarine HMAS AE1 located after 103 years

More images can be found at

http://images navy.gov.au/S20173148

Australia’s First submarine HMAS AE

1has been found ending a 103 year old

mystery.

The fate of 800 ton AE1 and her 35

crew members had remained one of

the persistent mysteries of Australia’s

military history.

It was the first loss for the Australian

Navy and the first Allied submarine

loss in World War I; a significant

tragedy felt by our nation.

The Australian Navy submarine was

lost off Rabaul on 14 September 1914

with all personnel aboard.

An expedition to locate the submarine took place in waters off the coast of

the Duke of York Island group in

Papua New Guinea. In December

2017 the search vessel ‘Fugro Equator’

located an object of interest in over

300 metres of water. Upon further

inspection, confirmed the object to be

AE1.

These images, captured by the expedi-

tion, show the AE 1 is remarkably well

preserved and apparently in one piece.

The Australian Navy teamed up with a

range of search groups in this latest

expedition, funded by the Common-

wealth Government and the Silent-

world Foundation, with assistance

from the Submarine Institute of Aus-

tralia, the Australian National

Maritime Museum, Fugro Survey and

the Papua New Guinea Government.

HMAS J1 in Sydney Harbour circ 1920

Following the conclusion of hostilities in World

War I, the Admiralty in 1918 presented the six J

Class Boats to the Australian Government. All

the submarines commissioned into the Royal

Australian Navy at Portsmouth on 25 March

1919. The commanding officer of J1 was Lieuten-

ant Ronald A. Trevor RN. The beam tubes were

removed from all six J Class submarines before

they sailed for Australia. The tubes were

despatched separately to Garden Island. The

reasons given for the removal were that the

beam tubes were not a success and that increased accommodation was required.

Having arrived in poor condition, the submarines were taken in hand at Garden Island Dockyard for refit-

ting. After her refit was completed J1, in company with J4 and Platypus, sailed on 16 February 1920 for the submarine base at Geelong, Victoria.

The Battle for Madagascar 5 May 1942

The British invaded Madagascar from the north west and moved over land to capture the deep water port

of Diego Suarez from the rear. Although many Free French were now fighting with the British, the Vichy regime in France was a different

proposition. The French had allowed the Japanese into French Indo-China, a move that had given them

access to Malaya and Singapore. Now it was feared that the Japanese would move into the huge natural

deep water port of Diego Suarez, on the northern tip of the French colony of Madagascar. Such a move

would give the Japanese a dominant position in the Indian Ocean and threaten the convoy route running

up East Africa to Egypt. A pre-emptive invasion of Madagascar was therefore launched by the British.

Operation Ironclad saw troops landed on the north western tip of the island in an attempt to capture the

port from the rear.

After uneventful service, little of which was spent at sea, J1 and her five sisters paid off into Reserve at

Westernport on 12 July 1922. The boats had become victims of the worsening economic conditions of

the time, coupled with their high cost of maintenance.

A selection of images from HMAS Sydney carrying troops to Vietnam

Ex-servicemen and women are reminded that they are entitled to the honour of having their casket draped with the Australian flag. Members should acquaint their families with this, so that arrangements can be made accordingly with the appropriate Funeral

Director.

Brian Heward

Norman English

Kenneth Evans

Roll of Honour

We honour those members who have gone before us .

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them

LEST WE FORGET

Important Notices and Useful

Information

Library

John Boag is available every Monday morning at the Sub-branch Office to assist members in

selecting from an interesting variety of excellent reading material.

Returned from Active Service Badge This interesting little badge is probably the most

misunderstood of all decorations presented to returned

veterans. It is only issued once to each returned

veteran and represents all campaign medals and

decorations. It is not worn with those decorations but

can be worn on civilian clothes to represent them. The

badge is numbered but as far as the writer is aware is

not registered. Those killed in action are not issued with

the badge as they did not return.

There have been a number of iterations of the badge and those issued to WW1 returned

servicemen and women were round but were still issued under the same regulations.

The first campaign medal issued was the Waterloo medal and the recipients wore the medal

on their civilian clothes as well as their uniforms. Apparently the sight of a man wearing the

medal was enough to get a few free drinks at the tavern from a grateful civilian population.

In the following 100 years it became tradition to issue medals for each campaign and

wearing them all at once was probably impossible. This may have been the reason for the

issue of the Retuned from Active Service badge. In any event it shows the public that the

wearer has served their country in time of war.

Imagine Comfort Shoes That Make You

Feel Great!

How to Get Foot-wear Through DVA Easily/Effortlessly

"Ever wondered how some of your veteran mates seem to get all the help, yet no-one in your camp seems to know or want to help you."

"Have you been looking for a way to get access to footwear through DVA but never knew how?"

"You have often thought you might like shoes that are covered by DVA but just didn't know where to start"

Enter your first name, surname and email address and you will receive your DVA footwear

application starter pack.

To start your application process and get access to footwear visit:

www.yourcomfortshoes.com/RSLshoes Your first step towards DVA footwear begins with a doctors D904 referral to a qualified podiatrist. The podiatrist must be registered with the Department of Veterans Affairs as a footwear prescriber. Please note that not all podiatrists are qualified to provide this service.

Your Comfort Shoes – 5/85 Michael Avenue Morayfield Qld 4506

The Sub-Branch needs your help: Positions vacant for 2018 (Contact the secretary)

1) Fund raising / Sausage Sizzle Co-ordinator

2) Speakers to attend Schools in the district to deliver the Anzac Address & Ode prior to

Anzac Day

3) Marshalls for Anzac Day.

4) Badge sellers.

5) Can you donate one hour per month of your time to visit a an ex-service man or woman in

a local care facility. We are currently expanding our visits programme to cover more of the

care facilities in our area. To do this we need our members to volunteer a small amount of

their time once a month or even every two months to have morning tea and a chat with our

aging compatriots.

6) Assistance in manning the sub-branch every day of the working week between 10am and

1pm. The job involves being in the office and receiving queries from members and the

public. We are looking for people who can put in a day (3hrs) a month to staff the office

Sub-Branch Committee - 2017 / 2018

Patron Mr. Gordon Parker

President Bruce Miller

Vice President Greg Hansen OAM

Vice President Glenn Willmann OAM

Secretary Bruce Fraser

Assistant Secretary

Treasurer David John

Committee Tony DiPede

Ray Pyne

John Boag

BNRD Delegate

Alternate Delegate

Bruce Miller

Bob Nugent

Welfare Co Ord Peter Carey

Sub-Branch Advocate Peter Carey

Pensions Officer Tony Di Pede

Phil Wolfenden

Welfare Officers Glenn Willmann OAM

Ron Court

Our regular mailing address is:~

The Secretary

Caboolture-Morayfield & District

RSL Sub-Branch Inc.

PO Box 166

CABOOLTURE QLD 4510

Tel: 07 5353-9164 between 10am and

1pm, after 1pm please leave a message at

the front desk on 54951699

Email: caboolture@rslqld.org

Preserving the memory of those who have

fallen for our country.

For further information, contact

John Boag 0439 613 093

Photocopying of this Newsletter courtesy of Mark Ryan, MP - State Member

for Morayfield

A Good News Story A pilot glanced outside his cockpit and froze. He blinked hard and looked again, hoping it was just a

mirage. But his co-pilot stared at the same horrible vision. "My God, this is a nightmare," the co-

pilot said. "He's going to destroy us," the pilot agreed.

The men were looking at a grey German Messerschmidt fighter hovering just three feet off their

wingtip. It was five days before Christmas 1943, and the fighter had closed in on their crippled

American B-17 bomber for the kill.

Brown's Crippled B-17 Stalked by Stigler's ME-109 The B-17 Pilot, Charles Brown, was a 21-year-old West Virginia farm boy on his first combat mis-

sion. His bomber had been shot to pieces by swarming fighters, and his plane was alone, struggling

to stay in the skies above Germany. Half his crew was wounded, and the tail gunner was dead, his blood frozen in icicles over the machine guns.

But when Brown and his co-pilot, Spencer "Pinky" Luke, looked at the fighter pilot again, something

odd happened. The German didn't pull the trigger. He stared back at the bomber in amazement and

respect. Instead of pressing the attack, he nodded at Brown and saluted. What happened next was

one of the most remarkable acts of chivalry recorded during World War Il.

Stigler pressed his hand over the rosary he kept in his

flight jacket. He eased his index finger off the trigger.

He couldn't shoot. It would be murder. Stigler wasn't

just motivated by vengeance that day. He also lived by

a code. He could trace his family's ancestry to Knights in

16th century Europe. He had once studied to be a

priest A German pilot who spared the enemy, though,

risked death in Nazi Germany If someone reported

him, he would be executed. Yet, Stigler could also hear

the voice of his commanding officer, who once told

him: "You follow the rules of war for you--not your

enemy. You fight by rules to keep your humanity." Alone with the crippled bomber, Stigler changed

his mission. He nodded at the American pilot and began flying in formation so German anti-aircraft

gunners on the ground wouldn't shoot down the slow-moving bomber. (The Luftwaffe had B-17's of

its own, shot down and rebuilt for secret missions and training.) Stigler escorted the bomber over

the North Sea and took one last look at the American Pilot. Then he saluted him, peeled his fighter

away, and returned to Germany.

"Good luck," Stigler said to himself. "You're in God's hands now." Franz Stigler didn't think the big

B-17 could make it back to England and wondered for years what happened to the American pilot

and crew he encountered in combat.

As he watched the German fighter peel away that December day, 2nd Lt. Charles Brown wasn't think-

ing of the philosophical connection between enemies. He was thinking of survival. He flew his crippled

plane, filled with wounded, back to his base in England and landed with one of four engines knocked

out, one failing, and barely any fuel left.

Brown flew more missions before the war ended. Life moved on. He got married, had two daughters,

supervised foreign aid for the U.S. State Department during the Vietnam War, and eventually retired to

Florida.

Late in life, though, the encounter with the German Pilot began to gnaw at him. He started having

nightmares, but in his dream there would be no act of mercy. He would awaken just before his bomber

crashed.

Brown took on a new mission. He had to find that German Pilot. Who was he? Why did he save my

life? He scoured Military Archives in the U.S. and England. He attended a Pilots' Reunion and shared his

story. He finally placed an ad in a German Newsletter for former Luftwaffe Pilots, retelling the story

and asking if anyone knew the Pilot.

On January 18, 1990, Brown received a letter. He opened it and read: "Dear Charles, All these years I wondered what happened to that B-17, did she make it home? Did her crew survive their wounds? To

hear of your survival has filled me with indescribable joy."

It was Stigler.

He had had left Germany after the war and moved to Vancouver, British Columbia in 1953. He became

a prosperous businessman. Now retired, Stigler told Brown that he would be in Florida come sum-

mer, and "it sure would be nice to talk about our encounter." Brown was so excited, though, that he

couldn't wait to see Stigler.

The two pilots would meet again, but this time in person, in the lobby of a Florida hotel. One of

Brown's friends was there to record the summer reunion. Both men looked like retired businessmen:

They were plump, sporting neat ties and formal shirts. They fell into each other's arms and wept and

laughed. They talked about their encounter in a light, jovial tone.

The mood then changed. Someone asked Stigler what he thought about Brown. Stigler sighed and his

square jaw tightened He began to fight back tears before he said in heavily accented English, "I love

you, Charlie."

Stigler had lost his brother, his friends, and his country. He was virtually exiled by his countrymen after

the war. There were 28,000 pilots who fought for the German Air Force. Only 1,200 survived. The

war cost him everything. Charlie Brown was the only good thing that came out of World War II for

Franz. It was the one thing he could be proud of.

Public transport concessions for veterans

About 19,000 veterans can now access cheaper public transport in Queensland thanks to the Palaszczuk Government’s introduction of a white card concession scheme.

Under the scheme, white card holders will receive a 50 per cent discount on public transport fares across the state, bringing them into line with concessions for current DVA gold card (All Conditions) holders.

Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said the introduction of white card concessions were in addition to more than 35,000 existing veterans who hold gold cards and can access public transport discounts across Queensland.

Most Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) white card holders, who may not currently receive transport concessions, are under 64 years old and have sustained an injury or a condition from their service.

“We want to ensure public transport is affordable for all Queenslanders, regardless of their personal circumstances.”

Extending concessions to white card holders allows even more Queenslanders to access af-fordable public transport and follows the introduction of discounts for job seekers and asylum seekers earlier in 2017 and the Fairer Fares scheme, in December 2016.

It also brings Queensland more closely in line with other states such as New South Wales and Western Australia.

White card concessions are now available and will apply on TransLink bus, rail, tram, and ferry services, regional Qconnect bus services and approved regional ferry services.

For more details on concessions fares, visit www.translink.com.au or phone 13 12 30, any-time.

Delivering Better Services for Veterans and their Families

VETERANS and their families are set to benefit with Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Mi-chael McCormack introducing the Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment (Veteran-Centric Reforms No. 1) Bill 2018 (VCR Bill) to implement several new initiatives which will deliver better services to veterans and their families.

“This Bill will create a new veteran payment to assist financially vulnerable veterans who have lodged a compensation claim for a mental health condition and are unable to work while their claim is being determined,” Mr McCormack said.

“The determination of Qualifying Service will also be automated, removing the requirement for a veteran to make an application for the determination. This is a key part of a broader improvement strategy to ease the transition process for veterans, putting veterans and their needs at the forefront.

“We will also invest an additional $7.1 million so we can deliver support services for veterans and their families through increased access to childcare, home care and counselling.”

Mr McCormack said partners of veterans may be eligible for the veteran payment and vet-erans with dependent children may be entitled to the maximum rates of Family Tax Benefit Part A without being subject to the Family Tax Benefit means test while they receive the veteran payment.

“Australian Defence Force members who served in Japan after the cessation of hostilities at the end of World War II and before the formation of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) will be entitled to receive a Gold Card,” Mr McCormack said. “Veterans and their families are at the heart of communities around Australia — they have supported us and this Government is committed to ensuring they receive and have access to support services they need.

“Family plays an essential role in a veteran’s health and wellbeing and this Bill will ensure vital services such as income support and health care help veterans and their families transitioning into civilian life.”

Other measures in the Bill include a new pilot program to provide improved mental health support to veterans in remote and regional areas of Australia.

Caboolture Morayfield & Districts RSL Sub-Branch 2018 Calendar of Activities

January July

Jan No Meetings Thur 5-Jul BNRD Meeting

Mon 15-Jan Office Re opens Tues 17-Jul Committee/General Meeting

Fri 27-Jul Happy Hour

February August

Fri 9-Feb Anzac Day Meeting MBRC Sat 18-Aug Vietnam Veterans Day

Thur 15-Feb Visit Beenleigh SB

Tues 20-Feb Committee Meeting at RSL Club Tues 21-Aug Committee/General Meeting

Tues 20-Feb General Meeting at 9 RQR Fri 31-Aug Happy Hour & Dinner

Fri 23-Feb Happy Hour Fri 24 Aug- 1 Sept

Legacy Badge Sales

March September

Thur 1-Mar Autumn Newsletter Mail out Sat 1-Sep Spring Newsletter Mail out

Wed 5-Sep Planning for the future

Sat 3-Mar Bunning’s Sausage Sizzle Tue 11-Sep Committee Meeting

Tues 20-Mar Committee/General Meeting Sun 16-Sep General Meeting

30-Mar Good Friday Fri 28-Sep Police Remembrance Day

April October

16-24 Apr Anzac Badge selling Tues 16-Oct Committee/General Meeting

Tues 17-Apr Committee/General Meeting Fri 26-Oct Happy Hour & Dinner

Wed 25-Apr Anzac Day

May November

Sun 13-May Bunning’s Sausage Sizzle 3-10 Nov Poppy Week

Sun 20-May General Meeting/AGM Sun 11-Nov Remembrance Day

Tues 22-May Committee Meeting Tues 20-Nov Committee/General Meeting

Mon 28-May Visit Enoggera Museum & Gaythorne RSL

Fri 30-Nov Happy Hour

June December

Fri 1-Jun Winter Newsletter Mail out Yearly Memberships expire on the 31st Dec

Sat 2-Jun Bunning’s Sausage Sizzle Sat 1-Dec Summer Newsletter Mail out

Tues 19-Jun Committee/General Meeting Sat 15-Dec Christmas Luncheon

Tues 18-Dec Office closes

Fri 29-Jun Happy Hour & Dinner

Sat 30-Jun President’s Lunch PLEASE NOTE ALL MEETINGS WILL BE HELD ON THE THIRD TUESDAY OF THE MONTH.

COMMITTEE- 3.00PM GENERAL- 4.30PM THE ONLY SUNDAY MEETINGS WILL BE THE MAY

GENERAL AT 10.00AM FOLLOWED BY THE AGM ON THE 20TH MAY 2018 & A GENERAL MEETING ON

SUNDAY 16TH SEPTEMBER 2018 AT 10.30AM.