IN MEMORIAM

Soldiers gather, to drink and chatter

about things that matter.

Of mates who lived short years ago, who loved and laughed, their hearts aglow.

Yet now who in death do rest, at what we the living take for granted each day.

And as evening falls we'll make a vow,

that in the morn our heads to bow,

in their fond memory - then and now.

Private Gregory Michael Sher

Killed in Action, Afghanistan

4/01/2009

5/6 RVR - 2 Commando Coy

Lieutenant Marcus Case

Killed in Action, Afghanistan

30/05/2011

5/6 RVR - 2 Commando Coy - 6th Aviation Regiment

Sergeant Christopher Lam

Passed away 28/07/2022

5/6 RVR

Brigadier Wayne Lawrence Dunbar

CSC RFD ADM

Passed away 18/02/2019

3RAR - 3 TRG GRP - 8/7 RVR - HQ 4 Bde

Lieutenant Colonel Donald Charles Blanksby RFD ED ADM (Retd)

24/03/1940 – 15/02/2019

VSR - 1RVR - 3 RAR - CSTU - HQ 3 DIV - 3 TRG GRP.

William "Bill" Casey - 3436846

Passed away 14/05/2015

VSR - RMR

8258935 Lance Corporal Chris D Giang

23/07/1964 - 8/03/2018

5/6 RVR - RAAF

Miguel Angel (Michael) Ferreyra

5/06/1958 - 2/09/2017

1 RVR - 5/6 RVR

Captain Robert (Bob) Greig

ED RFD

Passed away 18/05/2017

1 RVR - 5/6 RVR

3171634 Major Leslie James Tranter

RFD

11/03/1943 - 20/06/2015

VSR - 2 RVR - 5 RVR - 1 RAR - 2 RTB - 3 TRG GRP

31932 WO1 Ian McPherson ROBERTSON

Passed away 24/02/2014

BCOF - 3 RAR - AATTV - 6 RVR - MUR

Brigadier Bill Hocking

ED RFD
11/1936 - 6/12/2016

2 Commando Coy - 1 RVR - HQ 4 Bde

Sergeant Warren JANSON

Passed away 31/05/2011

1 RVR - 5/6 RVR - 2 Commando Coy

Chaplain Max Smith

Passed away 10/2011

Formerly Padre of 5/6 RVR

Lieutenant Ian Miles

Passed away 2014

1 RVR

Brian (Sandy) Sanderson

10/07/1943 - 18/05/2019

10 Medium Regiment - 2 RVR

Alan Mathieson 2 RVR Passed 2/09/2021

Served with Bacchus Marsh and Ballarat as a member of D and then B Company 2 RVR in the 1980s.

Anthony John (Tony) Moore Captain 8/02/1960 - 4/10/2019 1 RAR - 2/4 RAR - School of Infantry - 5/6 RVR

WO1 AJ ‘Tony’ Moore, RSM of the 5th/6th Battalion the Royal Victoria Regiment 1995-1997 died on 4th of OCT 19 aged 59. After serving as the RSM of 5/6 RVR, Tony left the ARA and worked in a variety of jobs before finding a significant role in Protective Services Victoria. His funeral was held in Hurstbridge and was well attended by friends, family and colleagues from 1 RAR, 2/4 RAR, School of Infantry as well as the current RSM-A WO-A Grant McFarlane. Some familiar ex-5/6 RVR Training WO’s in Kim Challends and Jim Smith were also there for the occasion. Several current and ex-members of the unit also attended the funeral reflecting well on the man he was and his influence on us.

Ashley Burton 5/6 RVR

It is with sadness that we inform you of the death of Ashley Burton , a Rifleman with BRAVO Company of the 5th/6th Battalion , Royal Victoria Regiment . Private Burton served roughly ten years with 5/6. He dropped dead SUN from an unsuspected brain disease .
I had met Ashley a few times and express my condolences to all in our Regimental Family . PTE Burton is pictured below at The Gordon Club , BRAVO COY’s Mess , receiving the Greg Sher Award , the BN’s prize for excellent soldiering . PTE Sher was Killed In Action in Afghanistan in 2009 , the first man of the BN to fall in the twenty-first century.

Bob Caldwell Sergeant RMR

Bob Caldwell enlisted on 12 Dec. 1948 in the 6th Bn RMR and was discharged 15 Feb. 1958 6th Bn RMR as a Sgt.
Postings 1948 /1949 C Coy Preston depot
1949 / 1951 A Coy Victoria St depot Cpl
1951 / 1958 A Coy Pl Sgt Vic St depot
Joined the association when it was formed back in early 70s. Joined the committee in 1982 and served continually until this year,
Positions held over the last 37 years included Com-mittee member, Treasurer, Vice-President, Presi-dent / Treasurer. then back to Treasurer last year.
The association gave him Life Membership in 2016.

Charles ‘Charlie’ Bednarczyk 20 July 1946 - 21 January 2026 30 Terminal Squadron Detachment, 11 Movement Control Group Detachment, 2 RVR, 22 RVR & RAE

Born as Czeslaw Bednarczyk on 20 July 1946 in a refugee camp at Marktoberdorf, Gemany to Polish parents Wladyslaw, a miner/labourer, and Helena Bednarczyk, a farm worker. By 1950 the family had moved from Augsburg in the US Zone in Germany to a refugee camp at Bagnoli in Italy. With his parents and sister Teresa, Charles emigrated to Australia, sailing from Naples, Italy, on the SS Dundalk Bay on 4 March, arriving in Australia on 29 March 1950. (NAA Website Immigration Records).

Reaching Australia, the family went to the Bonegilla Migrant Camp from where Wladyslaw found work on the Glen Maggie Weir. After the weir was completed, the family moved to Heyfield and Wladyslaw found work in a timber mill. After attending the newly opened St Michael’s Catholic School in Heyfield and Sale High School, where he found some part-time work delivering bread and the mail, on leaving School, Charlie found work at the National Bank. He also did part-time work driving busses and Land Rover 4-Wheel Drive tours, and in a bottle shop.

Before undertaking his ‘Nasho’, Charlie had met Sylvia Stoertbecker, known as ‘Silky’, a TV Weather Presenter. Charles was called up for National Service, commencing at 2 RTB as 3790082 on 1 February 1967. His follow-up training was with the Royal Australian Engineers. Charles served in Vietnam with the 30 Terminal Squadron Detachment from 9 April to 23 April 1968 and then with 11 Movement Control Group Detachment from 24 April 1968 until 29 November 1968. He returned to Australia with the rank of Temporary Corporal and after leave discharged from the Army on 31 January 1969. He went back to work with the bank and was transferred to Koroit, some 15 km north-west of Warrnambool. While living on Koroit, he enlisted in 2 RVR in the CMF on 10 May 1971. On return from Vietnam, Charlie ‘chased’ Silky and they married in The Church of St Vincent in Morewell in 1970. The couple would have a son, Michael. Sadly, Sylvia died in 1982 at Yallourn, aged just 32.

A change of work location saw Charlie living in Mansfield and on 23 October 1973, he transferred to the ‘Special Conditions’ battalion, 22 RVR, at Puckapunyal. Corporal Charles Bednarczyk had settled in to ‘A’ Company, the ‘trained soldiers’ company at 22 RVR, when it was announced that, due to the drop off in numbers in the Army Reserve after National Service ended, 22 RVR would close on 1 July 1975. Charlie was transferred back to 2 RVR. He moved to Maffra and remained in the Army Reserve, serving in several Engineer units until discharging on 22 January 1986.

Post Army Reserve, Charlie was still with National Bank, now at Karingal, but was also working as a part-time taxi driver for Joan Morrison. Eventually Charles and Joan became a couple and they lived at Langwarrin, not far from Charles’ son, Michael, his wife Caroline (Caz) and their son Alex, Charlie’s great mate.

Charles and Joan were members of both the Monash and South-east (Dandenong) Sub-branches of the National Servicemen’s Association, Australia (NSAA). On 15 June 2023, most likely at the instigation of Jim Oliver, Charles was presented a Quilt of Valour, made by Bev Young, at the Waverley R&SL. Charlie and Joan attended the National Serviceman’s Day at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne on 9 February 2025 where Charlie laid a wreath on behalf of his Vietnam Veteran mates. Charlie had survived cancer, but for the last 14 years of his life, Charlie had been suffering with Parkinson’s Disease. Sadly, Charlie passed away on 21 January 2026. His funeral was held at the Tobin Brothers Chapel, Frankston, on 4 February 2026.

Clive Usher Staff Sergeant Passed away 04/07/2020 3RAR - 1RVR

Clive served as a National Serviceman (Rifleman) in Vietnam, from February to October, 1971, with 3 RAR. He went on to render Reserve Service over many years - all with 1 RVR.
Clive had battled with cancer for quite some time, and I visited him when he was in Bendigo for treatment recently.
As the CQMS Bravo COY, Clive was well known for his wicked sense of humor and cheeky grin.
He was a senior office bearer in 'Carry On' - an organization looking after housing for veterans, and also held many positions within the Rochester RSL, including the presidency. Stand Down, Staff - your many duties have been nobly done, digger.

David George Bent 2 RVR, AATTV, 4 Task Force & 8th/13th Victorian Mounted Rifles

David George Bent was born in Geelong on 28 October 1944 to Lindsay and Minnie Bent, a brother to Gary and Judith. David was an Army Cadet at school and in 1963 was employed by Shell at the Geelong refinery. Not having shown enough skill to be listed by the Geelong Football Club, he fell back on the great times he had while serving in the school cadets and on 15 June 1963 enlisted as 3173096 in the CMF with A Company, 2 RVR, at Geelong in the Pentropic Division days. David was commissioned as a Lieutenant in 2 RVR on 1 September 1965. Promoted to Temporary Captain on 30 September 1968, he served with the AATTV from 1 October 1968 to 1 October 1969. In 1970 David transferred to HQ 4 Task Force and then to 8th/13th Victorian Mounted Rifles in 1973 after he had acquired North-Eastern Petroleum, a wholesale (Depots) and retail (Service Stations) business based in Albury, eventually covering North-East Victoria and the Southern Riverina of NSW. David retired from the Reserve on 16 July 1974.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted
They fell with their faces to the foe

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them

Lest We Forget