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Written by Amy Worswick, Adelaide High School Honour Board Project

Kohnke enrolled at Adelaide High School 1961-1964 and graduated from Roseworthy Agricultural College with a Diploma in Agricultural Science.  He was originally from Waikerie.  While serving in Vietnam in the 1st Australian Civil Affairs Unit (Nov 1968-June 1969), he saw the limitations of traditional village crop harvesting and threshing which were being done entirely by hand.  He organised the delivery to Phuoc Tuy Province of two grain threshing machines from Australia.  In fact, they were donated by the Minlaton and Maitland Branches of the Rural Youth Club of South Australia.  

Cpl John Kohnke served for part of their tour in the 1st Australian Civil Affairs Unit, a part of the Army dedicated to improving South Vietnamese locals’ standard of living and building trust and goodwill with people of South Vietnam.  Projects included economic development and the provision of free medical and dental care, educational buildings and amenities, farming improvements and equipment, engineering and water supply works, building roads, bridges, drainage, village market places and housing as well as public health initiatives to curb malaria and water-borne disease. In 1970, Australian Army engineers (17 Construction Squadron) built a maternity hospital for the thousands of people living on Long Son Island in the river delta of Phuoc Tuy Province