AUSTRALIA. (WIA). — On the weekend closest to the Victory in the Pacific (VP Day), Australian amateur ‘ham’ radio operators hold the Remembrance Day Contest.
The Wireless Institute of Australia’s (WIA) Remembrance Day Contest commemorates the Australian radio amateurs who lost their lives while serving during the Second World War (WWII).
Former WIA Federal Historian Max Hull VK3ZS, writing in Amateur Radio in August 1985, recorded that the idea arose at the first post-war WIA Federal Convention in 1946, when a contest was proposed to perpetuate the memory of amateurs who had made the supreme sacrifice.
At 0300hrs UTC, the traditional Opening Address broadcast commences at 0250hrs UTC, 12:50pm AEST.
As part of that ceremony, their names will be read aloud on amateur radio networks nationwide.
The Honour Roll
Royal Australian Navy (RAN): J.E. Mann VK3IE; A.H.G. Rippen VK6GR.
Australian Military Forces (AMF): C.D. Roberts VK2JV; J.D. Morris VK3DQ; J. McCandlish VK3HN; S.W. Jones VK3SF; D.A. Laws VK4DR; J.G. Phillips VK5BW; K.S. Anderson VK6KS.
Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF): F.W.S. Easton VK2BQ; V.J.E. Jarvis VK2VJ; W. Abbott VK2YK; G.C. Curle VK2AJB; T. Stephens VK3GO; M.D. Orr VK3OR; J.F. Colthrop VK3PL; J.A. Burrage VK3UW; J.E. Snadden VK3VE; F.J. Starr VK4FS; R. Allen VK4PR; C.A. Ives VK5AF; B. James VK5BL; J.E. Goddard VK6JG; P.P. Paterson VK6PP.
Merchant Marine (MM): N.E. Gunter VK3NG; R.P. Veall VK3PV.
On the radio waves today, Australian amateur radio operators will honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
“They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old. Age will not weary them nor do the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.”
LEST WE FORGET.
In the spirit of the era, VicNews is broadcasting the opening statement using the oldest voice transmission mode (just like they did in WWII) on 29.1000MHz AM.
