For Ambulance Victoria’s (AV) Gippsland Regional Support Manager Eddie Wright, Remembrance Day is a time to pause and reflect on those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.
Eddie joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in 1984.
He was a qualified carpenter at the time, but a new Defence partnership led him to pursue paramedicine.
“I fell into healthcare, initially doing first aid training as part of my carpentry apprenticeship,” Eddie said.
“But there was a joint venture between the Department of Defence and the ambulance service in the Northern Territory, where defence force search and rescue medics were trained to ambulance level.
“I was part of that training, so when I was discharged from the RAAF, I came to Victoria as a qualified ambulance officer (modern-day paramedic).”
During his defence career, Eddie worked in search and rescue and as a combat medic.
One of his most memorable moments came while deployed in Africa in 1990, following the United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) operation.
“I was there for 29 days as part of the pack up and during that time a vehicle rolled over with two Australians and a British soldier in it,” Eddie said.
“They were injured with broken legs and hips, and I was a medic that got assigned to look after them.”
With Remembrance Day approaching, Eddie said it’s a time to consider the lasting impacts of defence force service.
“Remembrance Day is about the ones who have paid the ultimate sacrifice – but that may not just be because they were killed,” he said.
“It might be those who now carry the burden of mental health issues from their time in defence, and those struggles are something that is very similar in [the] ambulance [service]..
“I’m pretty lucky not to have picked anything up, because I know plenty of people who are battling the demons.
“This quote resonates with me – ‘all gave some, some gave all’.”
Next year, Eddie will reach 35 years of service with AV and he said it’s the same thing he loved about the defence force that keeps him coming back.
“My favourite part of being in the defence force was the comradeship that you develop – I’ve still got friends from my time in defence,” he said.
“And that’s the same at AV – it’s the mateship.”
Originally known as Armistice Day following the end of World War One, November 11 was changed to Remembrance Day after World War Two to commemorate those who were killed in both World Wars.
On the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month, a minute’s silence is observed and dedicated to those soldiers who died fighting to protect the nation.
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.
