The Northern Territory news Thu 21 Apr 2011
NT news
The Northern Territory news; NewspaperNT
2011-04-21
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English
Community newspapers -- Northern Territory -- Darwin; Australian newspapers -- Northern Territory -- Darwin
Nationwide News Pty. Limited
Darwin
Copyright. Made available by the publisher under licence.
Nationwide News Pty. Limited
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00042
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/232267
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/664628
www.ntnews.com.au Thursday, April 21, 2011. NT NEWS. 23 P U B : NTNE-WS-DA-TE:21-AGE:723LO-R: C-M Y-K Garry Casey GARRY Casey had a hard act to follow when he went to Vietnam. His grandfather served with the Australian Imperial Force in France and fought in the Battle of the Somme. His grand-dads elder brother Thomas was in the Boer War and four other brothers served in the First World War. One of them, Charles, died in France. And Leo was seriously wounded at Gallipoli. He recovered and returned to Australia where he worked as a draftsman for Canberra designer Burley Griffin, despite the loss of most of his fingers. Garrys father, Ray, served with the 2/7 Field Company of the 9th Australian Division Engineers in the Second World War and was a Rat of Tobruk. Not surprisingly, Garry says: Military history always interested me. One of the men training with him to be an assault trooper with the 2nd Cavalry Regiment was Denis Burke, who went on to become the Territory chief minister. Garry remembers the excitement about going to Vietnam for a year: Because we were young, everything was all glory and gung-ho stuff. We heard stories from guys who had been to Vietnam and we just wanted to go and do our bit, to be with our mates and get revenge for those killed or wounded in action. I took part in two funerals for members, one a very good mate who had been killed in action. He served with the 3rd Cavalry Regiment as a storeman, driver and crew commander and attained the rank of lance corporal. Clockwise from top: Garry Casey cleaning up a blown-up armoured personnel carrier. - With mates in Vietnam. - Ready for action with field pack. - Home sweet home. - Cooking a barbie.