• Home
  • Articles
    • Front Page
    • General Interest
    • Snippets
    • Mayoral Notes
    • Letters to the Editor
  • Competitions
  • Our Community
    • Our People
    • Question of the Week
    • Jobs in the Central West
    • Be Seen
  • Features
    • Rural Round Up
    • My Place
    • Health & Wellbeing
    • Loving Local Living
    • Just a Short Drive
    • Real Estate
  • Sports
    • Bowls
    • Cricket
    • Equestrian
    • Footy Tips
    • Golf
    • Netball
    • Rugby League
    • Rugby Union
    • Soccer
    • Touch Football
  • Contact Us
    • Contact Page
    • Advertise with us
    • Testimonials
    • Submit an Article
    • Subscribe to the Parkes Phoenix

Parkes Phoenix

We Will Remember Them

April 20, 2017 By editor



Arthur Parker – Royal Australian Air Force

Arthur Parker joined the Royal Australian Air Force in 1955. He served as a supply supervisor and loadmaster, and was posted to many and varied locations across Australia and overseas during his 21 years of service.

Perhaps the most dramatic was his 1966 posting to Malaysia to support the Vietnam War. He and his family found themselves in the midst of civil unrest. Penang was in total lockdown, and at one point a machine-gun was set up in their garden.

In 1974 Arthur was instrumental in providing support to the Cyclone Tracey recovery effort, which earned him a Certificate of Out- standing Service.

Paul Thomas – Australian Army

Paul Thomas joined the Australian Army in 1967 and served for six years. In 1970 he was deployed to Vietnam for 12 months, and served with 24 other soldiers from Parkes. He said overall the Vietnamese people were good to Australians. “They didn’t want to be in the war as much as we didn’t want to be there,” he said.

“It made me realise how lucky we are in Australia. Their living standards were so much lower.”

Paul said that despite the hardships of the war, being there was less challenging than coming home. Many soldiers returned at a time when Vietnam veterans were widely despised.

Karl Martin – Royal Australian Navy

Karl Martin spent 15 years in the Navy, serving in the first Gulf War. Karl served on three ships; the HMAS Success – a replen- ishment ship, the HMAS Sydney- a guided missile frigate, and the HMAS Swan- a de- stroyer escort.

Karl was deployed to the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, which he described as a very tense time.

They were fortunate enough to not come under live fire during the deployments, although at one point his ship sailed into a minefield.

“We didn’t know what we were heading into. We were all just hoping nothing would happen,” he said.

Filed Under: General Interest, Recipe of the Week

Latest Print Editions

Click here to download the recent issue (247) of The Parkes Phoenix (1MB PDF) – 19th February 2020

STAY CONNECTED

The Parkes Phoenix would like to thank you, our Facebook friends, for your continued support and readership!

CENTRAL WEST RURAL ROUND UP BOOKLET

Click here to download the Rural Round Up Booklet 

SEARCH THE PHOENIX

Recent Articles

  • No More Struggles With Sleep February 26, 2021
  • Young Reporter Writes Own Newsletter February 26, 2021
  • Honour Roll Shines Light On Hidden Treasures In Our Community February 26, 2021
  • Anzac Day To Go Ahead February 26, 2021
  • Snippets… February 26, 2021

CONTACT THE PHOENIX

Head Office Phone: (02) 6344 1846

Postal Address PO Box 203 Canowindra NSW 2804  

Editorial – Maggi Barnard Phone 0403 080 085 editor@parkesphoenix.com.au

Sales – Rochelle Frame Phone 0490 517 590 sales@parkesphoenix.com.au  

View our Privacy Policy.

View our Conflict Resolution Process.

View our Ethics and Complaints Policy.

Want to advertise with us?

Information on our Community Promotions.

Submit an Article

We are always looking for new articles of interest to the local community.

Please feel free to submit an article for possible inclusion in a future issue.

To submit an article, click here to use our online article submission form.

Sign up for The Parkes Phoenix Newspaper

* = required field

Copyright © 2021 · Website setup by WebSysMan