HARRY Buckley was only 15 when he joined the Merchant Navy in 1940, and within a year he was shipwrecked on a small, isolated reef near Papua New Guinea.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Buckley was one of 16 merchant navy crewmen stranded for two months on the narrow strip of land.
They survived by drinking rainwater, and eating seagulls and any fish they could catch.
The crew was rescued by an Australian Navy ship, and needless to say it was a long time before Mr Buckley enjoyed the taste of seafood again.
When Mr Buckley returned home, he was surprised to learn he had a new brother, named Harry in his memory, as his family believed him to be lost at sea.
Born in Rabaul, Mr Buckley served in the Merchant Navy for another year before applying to join the Australia Army.
"I was still under age - I went to join the army but they knocked me back because I was too young," Mr Buckley laughed.
Instead he joined the Civil Construction Corps and worked in Darwin until he was old enough to enlist in the army, which he did at age 21, in 1947.
"All my military service was with the Royal Australian Engineers, except for the time I spent in Vietnam," he said.
Mr Buckley went to Vietnam in 1970 with the Australia Army Training Team Vietnam.
Mr Buckley trained and advised the South Vietnamese Army, and said at times it was very dangerous because of mines and booby traps.
"We were advising the South Vietnamese on [how to conduct] night ambushes, so we would go on the ambush with them and help set it up," he said.
Mr Buckley, who lives at Wyee Point and will turn 88 this year, retired from the military in 1977 after 37 years of service.
For him, Anzac Day is a time to remember the people he served with, the people who didn't make it home, and to share stories with someone who can relate to them.
"It doesn't matter where I go on Anzac Day, I always find someone who I can talk to and let out what's in there because they understand," he said.
"There are things we never talk about during the year, but when we find another cobber somewhere, we discuss something that we don't discuss with anybody else."