It is amazing how the calmly worded sentence “Julian, if you get there late and miss the extra special event, you will regret it for the rest of your life” will get some people moving. They had just walked through the door at the Sgts Mess when it was time to usher them out again, along with everyone else, at a quick march to the Keswick Barracks Parade Ground.

As the last of the stragglers arrived on the edge of the Parade Ground the familiar sounds of a Chopper could be heard in the near distance (this is over the “What are we doing here, hope we don’t have to march?” comments that were being uttered). All of a sudden the chopper got a lot closer to the base and it became very interesting (to those of us in the know) to watch faces as the realisation hit that ‘Yes, the chopper was going to land on the Parade ground!” and so it came to pass ……… A Black Hawk Helicopter had arrived.Talk about excitement. The pilots were very accommodating, answering questions, having their photos taken, letting people climb all over the chopper …. it was marvellous. I know that it would have been nice for all you old soldiers to see a Huey again, but unfortunately it was not to be this time round. 

The planning of this surprise had been on the go for almost twelve months with permission given only a few days before the reunion. Don Chapman and Rob Atkinson deserve our gratitude for all their combined behind the scenes work to bring us the chopper (any chopper) on the day. The Black Hawk was spectacular and I personally was ‘blown’ away by it (in a literal kind of way. Those rotor blades certainly ruffle the hair).

Now that I’ve got that off my chest,  back to the SGTs Mess for an afternoon of fun and frivolity. Accompanied by music from our MASH Sunday DJ, we all enjoyed a sumptuous BBQ Lunch (letting us starve was not on the cooks agenda that day, there was heaps of food), cheap drinks from the bar and a wonderful display set up by 3 Health Support Battalion for our viewing pleasure. The 3HSB display was manned by Ian Cook & David Jackson (both of them having previously served with 1 Field Hospital) and we extend our thanks to them both for their time and effort. We were also joined on the day by COL ‘Toby’ Thomas, CO 3HSB and WOI Brett Dale RSM 3 HSB, with CAPT ‘Shorty’ Langford, Adj 3 HSB,  popping in for a short while later in the day.

As the day wore on, and people were getting into the swing of  the party atmosphere, Bob Bell, Alan Pearce and Tich “Radar” Tyson swung into their pre-arranged ‘floor show’ mode, with Radar MC-ing the occasion …. what the members didn’t know was that “they were the entertainment! ”M.A.S.H. type questions were asked and the winners had to come and select a prize out of the ‘Lucky Dip’ bag. Talk about sometimes the prizes being apt – Penny Roper pulled out a bag of “Roo Poo”. (Penny comes from Graytown, which borders the northern boundary of Puckapunyal Army Base. Need I say more!) Then ‘Radar”, on urging from Bob, asked a more ‘general’ question, with the Generals being the only ones allowed to answer. Talk about a quick side-step when the question was answered by both of them correctly “No John, I insist you deserve the prize”, “No David, you have seniority – you were a General before I was, you have the prize” so in the end David Rossi graciously accepted that he’d been the winner and put his hand in the ‘Lucky Dip’ bag. Surprise, surprise, surprise! There was only one package in there. Is this why David was heard to utter “I’ve been set up!”? Poor thing won the “booby” prize! Another Prize was won by Kevin Wigg for telling the best story, the fact that none of us understood the Pidgin English was beside the point.

Time to draw those raffles now: Pauline Atkinson won our “Half Naked Chef” package  consisting of 1x ½ Naked Chef Cook Book, an apron, tea towel and oven mitts; Marie Boyle the bottle of Champagne; Beer & stubby holders were won (I just don’t know by who) and then we drew the ‘Main Event’. One of our members had donated a Crock of Port that he bought 10 years ago at the Dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and this raffle raised the outstanding sum of $530, unfortunately I cannot remember for the life of me who won it either! I have emailed heaps of people and none of them can remember either, although Jennie Searle did think it had been won by a woman. Can the person who won the port contact me so I can let everyone know that the party is at your house!There was even a Grand Finalé Raffle. This raffle was Allan & Elaine Dodds fault. Why is their fault you ask? At the Vampire 2002 Reunion Dinner they brought along a stuffed teddy bear for everyone to sign, the problem was that everyone thought the bear was being raffled and then kept on asking me where they can by their tickets! My mind always working “Mmmmmmm, I thought, I’ll do something for MASH Sunday!” (Paul was so proud of me for thinking up new ways to raise money). So off I went and  bought some white card and a nice signing pen, went back to the rego room and created the M.A.S.H. Sunday Poster, which everyone duly signed (AB, I still haven’t forgiven you for trying to sign my neck when ‘Radar’ asked everyone if they’d signed the ‘bat’ yet?) and this became the last raffle draw for the day …. Won by Gordon ‘Sas’ Gregory. Was he pleased? Yes he was! Was he excited? Heck, he was beside himself!

The day now over, Jenny Pollard was seen running around asking everyone “Have you seen Leon?” For he was nowhere to be found. Visions of “Oh, no, Leon’s Lost at the Reunion again” flashed through my mind, but it turned out that my fears were unfounded - because Leon, like all good soldiers, was waiting patiently by the front gate for the bus back to the Stamford Grand Hotel.