Michaela Meade
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Veteran John Gregory Ross is proud to have served his country.
Born in 1948, Greg has a long family history of serving Australia.
“My father was actually in the Second World War and I had a grandfather in the First World War,” he said.
“My two cousins were in the Timor conflict, and my nephew was over in Iraq.
“So, we’ve certainly got a bit of history with service and soldiering in Australia.”
Greg served in Vietnam, initially called to service in 1968.
“I left Melbourne and went up to Puckapunyal, and that’s where I did my basic training [in 1969].
“That was pretty rigorous and I certainly came out of there fairly fit, and after that I went and did my corp training.
“I was lucky. I put down signals as my first preference [for corps and got it]… Signals is basically relaying messages between headquarters.
“Of course everyone puts down infantry as their last choice.
“They sent me down to Balcombe which is down at Mount Martha.”
After being sent to 2 signal regiment in Melbourne, completing “short stints” in New South Wales for specialised training, and doing “a lot of shift work”, Greg was given the opportunity to go to Vietnam.
“I would have had to extend my service by one year.
“My dad said, ‘look, you may as well volunteer and get the benefits’.
“The benefits that you got when you came back, repatriation benefits, were really good.
“So that sort of made sense. For financial reasons he thought it was a good move.
“So I said yes.”
Greg was sent to Vietnam in April, 1971.
“While I was over there… a new government came in,” Greg said.
“They announced at the end of that year, we’re [going to] pull all the troops out of Vietnam, so whereas most people do a tour of duty of 12 months, I actually was over there for 10 months.
“I came back… on January 28, 1972.
“[The experience] was long enough, I was glad to get home.”
After returning to his previous job with the Victorian government, Greg completed his matriculation, eventually graduating as a teacher.
Greg taught around Victoria for many years, until retiring in 2009.
“I spend most of my time playing golf,” he said.
“We’ve got a great golf group… the Craigieburn golf course.
“There’s an organisation called the Kokoda gym… specifically for veterans out of any of the conflicts, not necessarily Vietnam.
“With COVID though everything is sort of being put on the back burner.”
Currently battling an illness, Greg said: “Anzac Day, I love it… veterans get together and reminisce, and think about the things we did while we were in the army, and the people who are no longer with us.”
In particular, Greg thinks about his friend Larry.
“When we went out to do the basic training… [there were] 16 people to a hut in four different sections.
“The little section that I was in… there were four of us… Johnny, John, Larry, and myself.
“And it so happened that the four of us all went to Vietnam… three of us came back.
“Larry went into the infantry and he was unfortunate enough to step on a mine in a paddy field,
“And so, I think more about him than anybody else because he’s probably the only person I know that’s actually died fighting for Australia in Vietnam.”
Greg said Anzac day is an important day to recognise.
“I’m proud to have served, and I’m proud of my ancestors, what they did.
“I don’t know whether people appreciate what we’ve got now.
“You don’t realize how fortunate we are… that we live in a peaceful society.
“I’m sort of proud that I had played a part in that.
“That’s gotten us to where we are now, my kids are safe, my grandchildren are safe.”
Yuroke MP Ros Spence recently selected Greg as the “face” of her annual Anzac Day brochure.
