LIKE so many veterans across the country, Ray Carlton is preparing for this year’s Anzac Day celebrations.
As the treasurer of the Sunshine RSL, 85-year-old Mr Carlton has spent months planning and organising this year’s early Anzac march and service on Sunday 22 April at 2.30pm, and the traditional early-morning Gunfire Breakfast on 25 April.
It is one of the most important days of the year for the former Sunshine Advocate manager, and one that, more than 60 years after the end of World War II, is still a chance to remember his wartime comrades.
“You have significant memories of the fellows you served with, fellows that didn’t come back … you tend to forget them in your busy life, but on days like Anzac Day and Remembrance Day you think back on your days during the services,” Mr Carlton told Star last week.
Mr Carlton enlisted for service in 1941 as a teenager, and served in the army until he was transferred to the air force in the middle of 1942 and started training as a navigator.
Posted to New Guinea during 1943 and 1944, he served as a navigator on a Beaufort bomber with a couple of Queenslanders and a South Australian, in what was a tight-knit team.
The men searched for enemy submarines and helped escort ships through the dangerous straits around New Guinea.
“We did a couple of strikes on bases in Dutch New Guinea (now West Papua), and we had our aircraft damaged on one occasion, but nothing serious, nothing like what was happening in Europe,” Mr Carlton said.
He said he saw some amazing sights.
“One aircraft in particular blew up in front of us as it was taking off, and the four members were killed,” he said. “They joined the squadron the same day as I did.”
Since the end of the war, Mr Carlton has missed only four or five dawn services at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance, which he attends with his brother, Norm, as well as some friends and fellow veterans.
But at the moment, Mr Carlton is finalising arrangements for the Sunshine RSL’s Sunday march, which begins at 2.30pm at Maryvale St, near the Brimbank City Council’s Sunshine municipal offices, and ends at the RSL on Dickson Street, where a service will be held.
On Anzac Day, members of the local community are encouraged to attend the Gunfire Breakfast at the RSL from 6.30am, which costs $5, and the RSL will open its doors for the remainder of the day.
