|
... A eulogy by his friend Barrie Mansell
Many of us would remember Graham from our time at Wagga and others will recall him at other RAAF Units where Graham served as an Armament Fitter before he departed from the service.
I first met Graham in Mildura where we both attended Mildura High School and he lived nearby in a Housing Commission home with his parents, three sisters and two brothers.
We both joined the Air Training Corps when it reformed in 1951, this gave us a keen interest in the RAAF, most of our Instructors had been former World War 2 air and ground crews, they gave us a view and an appreciation of where we could find our futures.
Aero modelling was our most important pastime, especially producing solid balsa scale aircraft mostly in 1/72nd scale but also flying models, towline Gliders being the most affordable types.
It was the era of the pushbike and we often pedalled out the five miles to Mildura Airport, which had been the former No.2 Operational Training Unit during WW2 with some historic bits still to be found.
The idea of becoming R.A.A.F Apprentices had been instilled in our minds by those old war veterans and it seemed a great idea to offer our services and off we went to Wagga in 1953.
Graham adapted to the R.A.A.F of that period and graduated in 1955 and was posted to Laverton, he later was posted to Mallala SA where he met his wife to be, Brenda Ball, who lived on the Unit with her parents.
They later married and had two sons Gary and David, a decision was made to return to civilian life and he was employed in the metal trades until ill health took effect and after 15 months of suffering Graham died at the age of 49 from Cancer which initially affected the bowel and later the liver.
We lost a quiet and honest man, a friend who will be long remembered for his sense of humour and one who was determined to achieve much during his too short a life.
|
