For the first time in memory I never left home this ANZAC Day. I was sorely tempted to dress up, put my medals on and go to the RSL, but, because of the cost of transport to achieve this, I resisted the temptation.
I watched the Brisbane ANZAC Parade on TV, then the Dawn Service at Gallipoli and I felt almost as if I should have been there.
With the Brisbane march, I felt shame that I didn't even bother to move myself. This was really brought home when I saw my old Service Band, the Royal Australian Navy Band, marching past the saluting base and heard them playing Alex Lithgow's march, Royal Australian Navy. I shed a tear remembering the many times I had been involved in providing the music for ANZAC Parades and Services.
As a Naval Musician, it was a done thing that we put ourselves out to make ANZAC Day really a day to remember. I clearly remember my first ANZAC Day in the Navy in 1963. I was detailed off to play the Last Post and Reveille at a Diggers' Home in Frankston, which is near HMAS Cerberus in Victoria. I played the bugle calls and did the necessary things to show my respect for the Diggers resident there. Some were Boer War Veterans and others were World War I Veterans. I even think there may have been one old bloke from the Boxer Rebellion.
Anyhow, I had about an hour before the Navy bus with all the rest of the band was to pick me up to take us to Melbourne for the ANZAC Parade and the old blokes insisted that I have breakfast with them, so naturally I agreed. Remember -- I was only 16 at the time!!! BREAKFAST???? It was a continual round of tots of rum!!! So, it turned out that the bandmaster at the time knew what happened each year with us new boys and had the old thermos of coffee ready when they picked me up. By the time we got to Melbourne, I was almost cured of a potential hangover and successfully (???) carried out my duties on parade.
That memory stays with me and will remain as one of the most memorable ANZAC Days I have ever spent.
When I returned to Launceston after discharge, I was asked to bugle for the Naval Association at Navy Day celebrations and, of course, funerals, which I was pleased to oblige. I remember a fantastic little man by the name of Bobby Palmer who was the bugler at ANZAC Day Dawn Service from as far back as I could remember. About 1976, I think, i had a drink with him after the Dawn Service and he went home for a rest before the main march and service, but he never returned. His family found him dead in his armchair. This was devastating news for me as I idolised this man who I knew from a very early age.
So, the next year, 1977, I was asked to provide the bugle calls at the Dawn Service, which I did, and I was told by an old brass bandmaster that Bobby Palmer will never be dead why I play the calls. I continued to provide the calls at Dawn Services, as well as other bugling and band duties, for 19 years. Then I decided to retire undefeated. No one ever made as many mistakes as me and got away with it. Many said that I was one of the best, but that is still a matter of contention with me.
So, this ANZAC Day I sat and thought of those days, my halcyon days I suppose. I no longer play and maybe I regret this as I would love, just once more, to play the Last Post on ANZAC Day.
Three stubbies this evening watching the news did me for the day. I used to have that many and several tots of rum before the sun came up on ANZAC Day!!!!!
Such is life of a retired, lonely Bandie.
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