Also a member of New Zealand’s Whakatane Returned and Services’ Association (RSA), which includes about 30 ANZACs, he is returning there this year to celebrate their 100th anniversary.
“It’s good to visit our mates across the ditch, finding out what’s going on there and sharing ways of looking after each other,” he said.
When his parents refused to sign papers to let him join up when he was 20, Gary instead joined the Citizen’s Military Forces, a precursor to the Army Reserve, and ended up in 1st/19th Battalion in the Royal NSW Regiment, serving 14-and-a-half years.
“I never saw an angry man in that role but I saw plenty during my 30 years as a police officer,” he said with a laugh.
“Being a member of a sub branch does not necessarily mean you have seen action, so long as you have served and been ready to fight.”
Gary spends a lot of his time these days hosting services and giving talks at local schools or accompanying students on excursions to Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway in Concord.
“I talk a lot about what our forces did in New Guinea and how they saved us from being invaded by the Japanese,” he said.
“Young people are amazed when they find out about what happened so close to Australia and most don’t realise if the Japanese had invaded, most of their parents wouldn’t have been able to settle here as many are first generation Australians, and of course, we’d all be speaking Japanese now.
“We want the next generation to understand and that’s why we commemorate ANZAC Day, to remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice and to keep their legacy alive, and we always will.”
