By Jesse Graham
IT WAS a chance to catch up, relax and explore the valley for 400 returned soldiers, who held a reunion in Healesville earlier this month.
From Wednesday, 9 November to Monday, 14 November, members of the Royal Australian Corps of Signals (RASIGs) Association met for a reunion in Healesville.
Around 400 veterans of World War II, Korean War, Boer War, Vietnam War, Iraq War and Afghanistan War, among other conflicts, attended the reunion and the town’s Remembrance Day service on Friday, 11 November.
RASIGs Association’s Victorian president Gavin Lee said the event was a success, with soldiers from Western Australia and Queensland coming down for the first reunion in three years.
He said the group met up at Healesville RSL on the Wednesday, with raffles and a meet-and-greet, before winery tours, visits to the sanctuary and to the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Phillip Island, a trip to the Simpson Barracks, a dinner at the MCG and a march through Healesville’s main street.
Mr Lee said Healesville was chosen as the reunion spot because it was close to the city, but also had plenty of accommodation for the many visiting soldiers.
“I must admit, from day one, everyone’s coming up and saying ‘This is one of the best spots in Victoria’, and I said ‘Well, yeah, I agree with you because I’ve only been out here twice, myself’,” Mr Lee said.
After speeches at Healesville RSL’s cenotaph on Sunday, a roast lunch, more raffles and a last formal goodbye, the former soldiers made their way home on Monday 14 and Tuesday 15 November.
