Honorary membership recognises service
Warragul RSL sub-branch conferred an honorary membership on Cooinda Lodge resident Brian Stevens at a small ceremony on August 12.
The ceremony was attended by representatives of the Warragul RSL sub-branch and members of Brian’s family.
The award recognised Brian’s service during WWll and was an acknowledgement of Brian’s age, currently enjoying his 101st year, and being cared for by staff at Cooinda.
Brian enlisted for service at the remote East Gippsland town of Genoa. The Stevens family was a farming family from the community of Wangrabelle, near Genoa. Two of Brian’s brothers, William and Robert, also enlisted.
In October 1941, at the age of 20, Brian joined the Australia Army and served first with the 52nd Battalion and then in New Guinea with the 2/24th Australian Infantry Battalion. Brian was discharged in December 1944.
Warragul RSL sub-branch historian Ron Blair said the 52nd battalion was Brian’s training battalion and once deployed to New Guinea, Brian was assigned to the 2/24th battalion.
Brian vividly recalls being accommodated at the Army Camp in Camp Rd, Broadmeadows and undertaking rigorous training as part of the 52nd battalion and included a bivouac to Albury on foot over a period of days, enduring blisters and heat and camping on the side of the road.
Brian’s war record includes an entry dated 29/03/1943: embarked at Brisbane on Duntroon and disembarked at Port Moresby (23/02/1943 to 1/03/1943). The final entry in the record is stamped and signed, discharge: 30/11/1944, and dated 02/12/1944.
Whilst the horrors of war were never forgotten, Brian has often paid tribute to the support received from the local New Guineans, their bush craft, knowledge of the jungle and terrain and attributed the battalion’s survival on many occasions to the skill and knowledge of the local people.
Brian returned to his family and farm life at Wangrabelle and subsequently met and married local school teacher, Hope Ault, and began his own life of farming and raising a family.
Brian and Hope purchased a farm at Ellinbank in 1967 and on retirement built a home in Warragul, enjoying many years of active retirement, gardening, caravanning and playing golf at Warragul, until his early 90s.
Brian began experiencing mobility issues in his mid 90s and became a resident of Cooinda, where Hope had previously spent some time, and he continues to maintain an active interest in football and the AFL, as well as being an expert tipster.
Up until recent times Brian maintained a disciplined routine of daily exercise and utilised stretch bands for upper body strength and general wellbeing. Musical entertainment afternoons provided by local performer Alan Tatlow are always enjoyed by Brian.
Brian was delighted to receive his honorary membership, but had never sought to celebrate or support war efforts due to his personal experiences in New Guinea and the scars of war.
The sub-branch said Brian was quiet, humble, considerate of others and had exemplified the Anzac spirit, generally regarded as qualities that include endurance, courage, ingenuity, good humour, and mateship.