1969

God Bless the Salvos

Rod Bowen, 1969-1970

I recall a day where "we" (I can't recall who was with me at the time) were out in the bush repairing a truck that had broken down. We were on a clear strip of dirt road with rubber off to our left, perhaps 200+ metres away, when a firefight took place in the rubber.

Some little while later the Centurions rolled in for support.

We carried on repairing the vehicle with a watchful eye of course, covered to the elbows in grease, and the SLR's quite handy.

The whole incident took place over about an hour, as best as I can recall, but in the midst of all the action taking place the old Salvo Major rolled up in his Land Rover, seemingly oblivious to all that was taking place with his cooler full of cordial, and some bikkies for the boys.

He didn't stay long, as he said that there were some more thirsty souls he wanted to reach and off he went. I was a little chuffed that I only had one drink and one bikkie, as we had worked through lunch and hadn't eaten, and I was as dry as a chip.

Never the less, the beer was great later on that day (I forgot about the food then).

The old Major made it back to OZ later on without a scratch, and became a senior member within the Salvo's. From that time on I have had a soft spot for them because of Men like him.

Can anyone else recall this incident? I have had it tucked away for many years, and only recently reflected on some of the events while I was in SVN.

Frank( Speed )Maloney, 1969-1970, comments

The salvo`s name was Mac Intyre ( not sure of the spelling ) He was a great bloke & could get messages to the "rellies" back home in half the time it took the System.