Former World War II Army Corporal Laurie Grimmett, 92, remembers being at a dance in 1939 when a bloke got up and shouted: “War’s declared!”
Mr Grimmett, a parishioner of St John’s Uniting Church in Williamstown, recalls being disappointed as the band stopped playing because he was rather keen on his dance partner.
Williamstown’s naval cadets will this Sunday lay wreaths on an honour board bearing Mr Grimmett’s name during a special Anzac service.
“I was called up,” Mr Grimmett said. “It was only the lonely hearts and the disappointed husbands and the people out of work who joined up.”
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Starting out in the infantry, he soon transferred into the 2nd Field Ambulance.
“[We] got on a boat and we went seven days out and we thought we were gonna be in India,” he said.
“Oh, boy, was she a trip. So, when we finally arrived at this place we thought we were in India. And where were we? Fremantle.
“We spent 18 months up and down, up and down, taking over farms and doing commando courses … they taught us how to row boats and sink under the water for a minute.’’
After Japan’s Darwin raids, Mr Grimmett was sent home on 24 days’ leave.
“And I thought, I’d better go see this chick, and I went up to Hamilton,’’ he said.
“And she wasn’t at the station to meet me – she was 10 minutes late.’’
On his return from leave, Mr Grimmett went into action with the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and was deployed to New Zealand, the Solomon Islands and New Britain.
Of the 300 men in his unit, Mr Grimmett said there were only six left.
He tears up when asked what Anzac Day means to him.
Pat Marshall, a fellow parishioner and recent federal president of the National Servicemen’s Association, steps in to answer.
“Getting together, innit Laurie, with all your mates, marching down Swanston Street with your family and remembering your mates,’’ Mr Marshall said.
“At Puckapunyal this year there were 48 crosses.
“Every year there’s 50 or 52 crosses of men who have passed away that year.
“So, we’ve lost about 560 Nashos in 10 years – that’s a lot.”
The St John’s Uniting Church in Williamstown church service from 10am will include trumpet, ukulele and pipe organ tributes, and speaker Claire Saxby, the author of
Meet The Anzacs.
Newport RSL will hold its march from 1.30pm on Friday.
