Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Prior to his enlistment, Allan had finished school and then worked as a labourer in Clandulla.  He enlisted in the army at the age of 17 in 1965.  His rank in the army when he began was Private.  Allan served in the Australian Army for 28 years and rose through the ranks to become a Warrant Officer 2.

After his recruit training at Kapooka army training unit, he was posted to an infantry training unit at Ingleburn Army Camp.  Here, he went through a 3 month intensive training course which involved weapons, tactics and fitness training.  After this training cycle he was posted to a unit to prepare for their 12 month deployment to South Vietnam from January 1967 to January 1968.  During his deployment in Vietnam, Allan was involved in many operations patrolling with his unit to seek out and engage the North Vietnamese and Vietcong.  In one of these engagements on the 15th September 1967, he suffered wounds from schrapnel and was evacuated by helicopter to a military hospital.  After recovering from his wounds, he returned to his unit.  Allan completed another tour of Vietnam in 1970/1971.

After his tours of Vietnam, Allan remained in the Army and went back to peace time soldiering.  After his combat expericences in Vietnam, he suffered from post traumatic stress disorder, where he experienced nightmares.  He was able to overcome this with help from his wife and military doctors, but still suffers nightmares to this day.  Thankfully, they are not as frequent as they used to be. 

Allan believes the most pleasing part of his service were the mates he made, as they are still friends 52 years later.