In Flanders Fields, the Poppies Blow

ed short days

In Flanders Fields, the Poppies blow. 

This is the story of one soldier in the Second World War and his experience on the KAKODA track, a story, he was not allowed to tell. Sadly he passed away sometime agoe, followed shortly after by his wife, Pat. His name was RAY and he carried a heavy amotional load most of his over seventy year life. a,much Medal'd and Braided man. A War veteren of some standing.

In the early 1990's whilst sitting on a bench, in Katoomba, some 130 kilometres west of Sydney I met an old fello, who told me he had witnessed Japanese prisoners being executed by our soldiers, on the Kakoda track, in the second world war. I listened and wondered if it was true. We parted and I never saw him again. The subject lay dormant  until I met Ray.

And so to Ray's story. Back in the early part of 2000, I lead a small spiritual group of people from all,ethnic and religious backgrounds. We met once a month , on a Sunday afternoon, an average of thirty souls. We had a lovely lady who played an Organ (softly) . I invited us all to sit quietly for a about a minute, in order that we could come together as ONE. he was always very attentive of my stories both serious and silly. and they always sat on the front row and always on the same seats.

One day he approached me and asked, if we could talk privately and so we went out side and he told me his story, bitter memories and rejection by the RSL.

At first he was hessitant to start, his story of  his horrific experience on the Kakoda track. So I briefly told him I had been three airline crashes, numerous civil disturbances,ie caught in cross fire, in a number of Countries. The worst being interrogated by the Viet Min in Saigon, an incident my British Government refused to acknowledge.

Not holding back now, he told me of one day, they had taken some Japanese soldiers prisoners. The officer, told Ray they could not take prisoners. Take them into the 'Bush' and deal with them. Do not forget to bring back their identity TAGS, which he did.

Where were they buried, Ray knew exactly.

For many years he tried to tell his story to the RSL (Returned Servicemens League), but they rejected him and told him to Get Over It and don't mention the subject again.Sadly our brave soldier, suffured most of his life, that  is until he met the writer. of this blog.

One sunday, when we were having another privet conversation, he requested I record on tape the poem 'In Flanders Fields' from the first World War, which I did, in order that he could play it each year at Rememberance Day.You see towards the end of his life, could'nt bear to attend the ceremonies on the 11th November, following the 2nd November ' The Retaking of KAKODA' 1942.

About three or four year agoe, I heard ,just once, a news item, about a group of Japanese, visited KAKODA, endeavouring to locate the burial sites of a number of Japanese soldiers, where stories of how they died 'Did Not Quite Gel'. Then silence.

Ray now has his story told. As I always say, my blogs are stories, based on facts,as I remember them.

In flanders Fields, the Poppies blow,

Between the Crosses row by row,

That mark our place, and in the sky,

The Larks, still bravely singing fly,

Scarce heard amid the guns below,

We are dead short days agoe

The Poem continues, on the page that Ray gave me , so long  agoe. Iam looking at that page,right with the marks of the verses,he wanted me to record.

Your story. It is done Ray my friend. I was not invited to your funeral, I think because, no one knew of our special friendship,outside of that small Spiritiual Group.

Kindest thoughts to all like you, on Rememberance Day

Malcolm E Mason November 1, 2020.

 

I Wish

A while agoe, a now deceased Artist of beautiful Landscape and nature in general, gave a verse, she had written to a friend. The lady one June Wickenden, used the title "I Wish" and here it is.

I wish that time would stop it's rush
Lets have some slow, a little hush
Too soon the day becomes the past
and memories in our souls are cast
Look to the future people say
but nostalgia always finds a way .
determined to unlock the heart,
so old times can play their part
and bring them flooding sweet and sad
to remind us of the times we've had.
Sometimes a song or special place
a dear old friend's familiar face
people and places gone for good'
An ugly tower where trees once stood.
We can't go back to good old times
so all that's left to do, is hang on tight, 
get a grip we're heading for a faster trip'
A better World in many ways , though
some may long for slower days.
Let's love this life and do our best
just being here, we're surely blessed.

June Wickenden

Love, Patricia and Malcolm

Family Court of Australia-Not Quite Family!.

I have always advised that my blogs are Stories based on Facts as I Remember them. In this case, it is in the now.
 Some politicians in the recent past, have expressed the thought, that the Whole family should be able to be involved  in Court proceedings, if they so desire.  I heartily agree. as I am strongly of the belief that FAMILY is----  Children: Parents and Grand Parents. It goes back to me telling children and grand children, when they were frightened say, of spiders or a spider. No no don't kill it,because there are Daddy spiders, Mummy spiders and Grandma and Grandad spiders.they all want to live as a family, just like us.
Over simplified, may be, but the message is clear and this blog is written to make the case for ALL the Family to be involved in Court Proceedings as deemed necessary, by the Grandparents if they so desire.
Family Court of Australia -Parramatta, New South Wales 2150
Here  we go, a story without names, just titles ,like Registrars Office, Child,Mother and Father, Grandma and Grandad. I hope this works for us and I get the message over clear and loud enough.

The Government of the day, that is March 2019,has announced a multi million project to assist people at risk of domestic violence, I hope it includes both Women and men . At the same time someone has said - The Family Court has case to answer, in their slow take up of cases,months on end.

Here with in my Story, based on one case, where there has been continued  but inconsistant messages from the Parramtta Court, NSW.. I have advocated that as a grandparent (Grandfather) I should be allowed to have my say and that of of  (Grandmother) but mainly.in this case the Grandfather. Sending copies of his submission to the Registrar, to the Chief Justice of the Court, who is very silent on the matter,. as are Judges in general, always.seemingly hiding behind Registry.

At first the registry, sent the Grandad's submission back and so off he went to  obtain an Afidavit, supposidly to prove his identity etc. This done he returned the  documents to the court, with copy of
correspondence to the Mother and Father equally assuming they would show to their solicitors
respectivly. Goodness,no, not that easy, a reply came saying the afidavit was not acceptable, the
Grandad was annoyed,as it had been done by a qualified person at ServiceNSW, which had recently started operations. The writer of the refusal was a person with at least 21 letters to the name, I
assumed it was a junior clerk from Sari Lanka or India.

The Grandad wrote again

This time the actual registrar responded in the negative, but did not, this time, return all the submission documents, which must have ment something.

 Apparantly the case came up and the presiding Magistrate! made a ruling, which has never been
available to the Grandfather or Grandmother..

The mother and child left the father in 2018 and the case has dragged on ever since.

The only people who benefited from the case are the Chief Justice of the Court, The Magistrate and
the Registrar and staff by reason , they still have a paid job not adaquatly carried out.

The big winners are the Solicitors and their staff, again not adequatley getting closure for their clients.

Apparantly if The Grandfather asks the Court for the transcipt of the Judgement , Registry may send a copy to the Mother and Fathers solicitor, who will propably charge another  big fee.. What wonderful gravy train

Yes-- All the family must be allowed to contribute to cases of this kind,in order that the presiding Magistrate can have a truely  balanced picture, of the case before the Court.

Remember Grandaparents, know their children better than any and should have their views taken in to account.

Malcolm E Mason 

Silence of the Wolves

Silence of the Wolves---Covid 19

What better way to start this short blog, than to repeat verbatum, my last two tweets

World-Corvid,started in Wuhan China & spread Worldwide. Mao Tse-Tung, once
said "If someone hits you, hit back so hard, they won't do it again".
World Leaders   &; UN, should fine China TRILLION 70 Euro's, for starters
and every quarter,until it abates.

World-Covid 19-Listen to the silence of the Wolves of recent times. Where are
people like Trump, Putin, Johnson etc. When are they going to call China to account. 911 &
they devastated Iraq; Syria and Afghanistan's  of homes and people. 79 Trillion Euro's
Yes?.
twitter@malcolmemason

Am I alone campaigning for Justice, in bringing China to account?. I ask, what must the Wolves
of yester year,be thinking, in their  moments of reflection on what has happened and wonder
if in fact they are whimpish  when it comes to China.

Presidents and Prime Ministers of the  UN USA; Russia; UK; Italy; Spain; Germany; Isreal;
 etc plus all Africa; South America and many more

Somehow all these leaders are holding back, from direct confrontation- Is it that they have landed
their Countries in enormous debt  with china.. China itself shows all the signs of taking the initiative
on the front foot- whilst our leaders hesitate.

For this miniscule person, I will not purchase anything Chinese.

"TAKE the INCOME  away and you take the POWER"

Malcolm E Mason,   NSW Australia

Life Among the Ruins

Life Among the Ruins

It all began, with Patricia and I , plus our Great  Dane (DUKE) sitting beside our river. Duke began to get agitated and  kept looking up the hill to our home and it was then that we saw the massive cloud, fire cloud.
Up the short walk to the house and it was clear,that we could be in trouble. I dialed 000 and gave as
much  as I could. A Police lady in NOWRA was very efficient and clear.
We had thus alerted SHOALHAVEN of the start of the CURRAWAN Fire. The start of the night mare. It was the 26th November 2019.

Later that day, a Rural Fire Service (RFS) fire truck arrived.from the small town of Wandandian some
distance north of us, in Mogood. Three men and a lady, stayed the night and advised us of the source
of the fire, south west of us,near the Currawan  creek, which in normal times, water flowed quite
strongly.

Some three years agoe, during heavy rains, half of a bridge, spanning the creek, was washed away and in June of 2014,through to our evacuation November 2019 the, I had raised the matter of the
urgent need to rebuild, with both CEO one Mr N Roberts of Forests NSW and the Premier Glady's Berejikian, plus the support of the editor of the BAY POST. Nothing happened. It is quite possible that had the bridge been rebuilt, the RF S may just have gotten under the initial fire and dealt with it.

Oh yes I also wrote the local member Me Andrew Constance- No reaction also.

The Fire grew and grew, spreading its fruri east and north, towards us and the Clyde River.
Being the stubburn fellow that I am, I pressed on with jobs,one was to fill  the tanks,by pumping
from our River Clyde.

It was at this point that the nightmare began.    

The pump started just fine but when I looked up the hill, the pipe split,normaly under ground it
had some how become exposed .grrr: Looking up at the house, there were, I think five CFS men
Looking down, oh dear, now we are in trouble for sure. Me Patricia and Duke the Great Dane, doing his PR bit, as Danes do, friendly nuges.

The fello's tried a repair, but without new fittings, pumping was out and so the chief advised us to leave asap, oh dear. Without water, we a little later, packed our treasures and documents and decided to leave. The CFS men had left, so I rang a CFS  man I knew (Issac), who some how contacted the
Fire crew and thus we were escorted  out past the flames. They ment business, one ute and one
fire truck lights flashing etc.

We were met at the Shallow Crossing, the assembly of fire trucks plus very helpful police and Kerrie
O'connor editor of the Bay Post, Duke again doing his PR bit.

So where to now in November?. We decided to go to our son in, Woodford , Blue Mountains.

On about this very moment Patricas brother was winging his way to Sydney from the UK, for a holiday !!!!!!. He was intercepted in a Sydney Hotel and taken to Woodford, where we would meet
up with him, Horray!!- Poor son, we were all to land on his doorstep.

Hello , Woodford, just made it, as around eighty kilometres from Son's, press accelarator and
nothing--- stop, switch off then on and off we went. The stopping got more frequent,ordered a new
fuel filter from Melboure (Dear Mercedes ML320, not good at all). Blue Mountain garages
either did not want to know Mercedes or  could not fit it. Finally found a garage who informed us,
that a (Glued In plate) under the rear seat, would reveal the fuel filter- we did this, then there were special clips- bugger, back to garage,  where they fitted the filter and put it on Scan Machine, which
told me, what I already  knew, but no cure $400 and no cure We fixed the problem ourseves..
replaced tube and BINGO FIXED, with no further trouble. Mercedes, using glue to secure a round
panel and not secrews, shame on you.

We were there for nearly three weeks, enquiring as to the status of  our home. The good CFS
via the Deputy Group Captain  Steve Heggie, informed us that house was saved, it had been surrounded by fire----- marvellous news, but you cannot go home, as access roads were closed.

The web site on road closures etc, did not make sense to me, so we had to be patient

We were now in another fire zone , the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. Any way  one day we
went with our UK vistor to see the Three Sisters , in Katoomba through the haze, Me Patricia, Mike the visitor and of course, Duke the Great Dane. tall black and too charming for words, to ladies that is.A day or so,before we set out there was a loud 'Clacking' over head, our ten year old grandson, said
"There Goes Elvis Grandad" and these airborn fire fighters have become part of his life.

Besieged by , I think Korean  tourists, Duke joined the ' Selfie ' mob with all the hoo's and ah's. Prince of Dogs  with the ladies is Duke, Grrr!!. Then something  happened, an older man approached
me and said - What is happening, over there? pointing to  Narrow Neck. C140 flying, Elvis of course.
I explained about the fires, he simply was not aware, I will leave it to you all to fathom, why he was
not apparently informed on our Bush Crisis.

With car fixed accept for a noisy rear wheel bearing, which again mountain garages were not interested, we decided to go home. Checked with the CFS and no, not yet, the road was being cleared
Grr, again. I checked with chap living near, with a Toyota Prada, a bit rough Mal. So we stayed a few
days more, then darn it, we are going.

Eight hours after leaving The Mountains we arrived at the entry to our forest, apprehensive on what
we will find. Yes, the road was rough and the forest completely burnt-- The Ruins ,like a petrified
landscape, oh dear. Onward through 15 kilms of ruined forest, to the river crossing, on ward to the top of our hill and seeing for the first time, clearly through the burnt trees. Ah yes our home was standing,but where is  the garage and the septic, yes my Vanden Plas Princess Four  Litre' R' 1963was defiantto the ravages of life.

What a mess, inside and out and with all my tools gone,life going the be difficult. One essential was to reinstate the septic, or whar was left of it. The second time the Reln system had virtually failed by way of the lid  bursting into flames. First time Rehn management did not want to know, when I told them, I was certain the lids were highly inflamable and probably made overseas!!!!.

I had a  timber lid from the first  failure, but now to clear the inlet to the pit.  half way down was a
crust of burnt/melted , clever me decided to put steps in and clear the inlet. Now for the fun, all was well and then the crust gave way and down went Mal ,into, you know what. '.Slum Dog Mason', cleaned up and the system was operational enough.

And so it went, pipes repaired, with the help of Chris Cowan of  'Yes Men' plus general assistance, in spite of his heavy workload else where.  We were at the stage of family had been over Chr;istmas
and helped tirelessly to clear and clean-- What next------begining of February the Rains came and came, until our River Clyde flooded to 15 metres, higher than 1991.pluss the Creeks.

Whoops, a Bird and animal list first, Two Magpies; Three Wallabys; One singed Roo; Three Lyre
birds; small number Blue Wrens and others; Two Wombats; Six King Parrots; One Sea Eagle and one
Wedge Tail. To help out an up turned Satelite Dish and one ground level dish for fresh water, plus
all scraps and they came  including, pesky Bower  Birds--------Remember Julie Andrews -Feed the\
Birds, tuppence a bunch a bunch, tuppence-tupence a bunch. Slowly more are coming, thank goodness.

Ah yes, the Rain and the floods, now Frogs,released from the pond floor, one decided to visit,
tiny little thing, in the lounge and hopped out again.

We still had our English, brother of Patricia, with us, wanting get to Sydney and his return home' Here our local farmer Terry Shea, helped out, by taking him via a long route, in the forest to Batemans Bay and the coach to Sydney. The route!------passed near that damaged bridge, the
Forestry Management (CE) one N Roberts, has refused to budget for for over three years. Cutting
once reliable route out, when the Clyde river, was in flood and concrete causeways under deep
and fast flowing water.

This area Wallaby ; Lyons and Distributor roads close the Kings Highway, was where the Currawan
Fires began, by a lightening strike.! That NSW politician Andrew Constnce, who made rather fuss, over his, home defence and said he would need couceling, may like to experience over three years, anxiouse toughts of not having an escape route in times of flood. the people in the area have experienced.

Forestry management have let them selves and people in the Forests down.

Life among the Ruins of a forest and the recovery for all, will be in our memory, for some time, as we
remember the people who died and the homes lost, plus business's Ruined also.

May we take a break for a few minutes to remember these things, ----------------------------------

Thankyous.

CFS
SES
Police
Volunteers in the many organisations, extending their help
The pilots of helicopters and  tanker aircraft with their ground staff.

Recomendations.

Listen to the Firies at all times. plus SES and of course the Police.

Part of fire service training, particularly for younger drivers, should be to appreciate the
different vehicle characteristics - from Empty to Full of fluid- particularly 4x4 vehicles.
Slow down on dirt and highly cambered tracks

Fire vehicles to be fitted with Heat Shields, protected Windscreens and Reinforced Cabins

We must all listen to Commercial Radio stations, as well as the National Broadcaster the abc.
In this area 2EC was better than the the abc in the begining. The local abc was off air to
Sydney over xmas.

Say no to Plastic Water Tanks and all pipes to be under ground, where possible.

Say no to Plastic Septic Tanks and Grease Traps We have now had TWO Reln septics
virtually explode. The manufacturere was simply not interested

Improve the standard of the Road report site. I found it difficult to negoiate.

All Hotels Motels and Resorts, provide accomodation to Evacuees, at cleaning/laundry cost only
A number did,but many did not - No one should live in a tent.

Food stores, particularly ALDI must be more considerate, particularly to older people and not Throw
groceries at them at checkout.s, We had two full trolleys to get through the flood time and were told to hurray up and load the trolley- there was people waiting. All they had were a small number of items  and of course ALDI's do not have a special line for these shoppers.

What a Summer. We will recover, and get over the Trauma in time.

2020 the year of the Rat - the symbal of change for all of us.

All the Best

Malcolm E Mason  Shallow Crossing State Forest, NSW  Australia