This story was published in the February 2007 edition of the Northern Services Courier
A soldier for country and the community
T
at Kissing Point are all items marked category, having been awarded
he wars may be over for former
for action on his battle map.
career soldier BRIG Neil
the Military Cross at the battle
Weekes, but he is still engaged in
for Fire Support Base Coral and
“I am concerned a lot of
skirmishes he is determined to win.
other actions during 1968.
young veterans, from Somalia
onwards, are not marching in
One is with his health and the
But when he speaks on this topic,
ANZAC Day parades,’’ he said.
recurrence of Vietnam fl ashbacks.
he is clearly defending the principle,
Not having had any trouble in years, “As well as Somalia, Aus tralia
not himself, against interlopers.
the war has come back to haunt him. has sent troops to Rwanda, East
Anyway, he’s the fi rst to admit this
Timor, Afghanistan, Iraq, the
“People coming up behind me
medal - later to be joined by an AM
Solomons and other places.”
quietly make me jumpy, especially
- came more by accident than design.
The problem, as he sees it, is
if they touch me on the shoulder
“The fi rst day in Vietnam I broke
two-fold in that these men and
or back. And I have started to fi nd
a fi nger jumping out the back of
women often do not see themselves a truck and the second day I was
myself fl inching at sounds ... like
as “real” veterans and there is
Harley Davidson motorbike engines
being shot at,” he said, before
no single organisation in which
popping,” said BRIG Weekes, who
adding the broken fi nger was the
they can march as a group.
served nine months in Vietnam
result of snagging his wedding
as a 2LT National Serviceman
“If we don’t do something about
ring, which he was not supposed to
and was awarded a Military Cross
getting them off the footpaths as
be wearing, on the truck tailgate.
for his leadership under fi re.
spectators and onto the street as
With IRAR set to relieve 7RAR,
marchers, we soon won’t have
All this goes back to his days
2LT Weekes had been sent ahead
an ANZAC Day parades.”
of, as soldiers put it, “sleeping
to prepare the way, only to fi nd
with eyes wide open”.
A staunch ally of George Roberts
himself “press ganged” into 7RAR’s
(CAPT ret, 31st Battalion, Royal
“You were tuned to listen for
3 Platoon, A Company as its leader
Queensland Regiment) and others
unusual noises, even when you
because of a shortage of offi cers.
in the battle to save the Jezzine
were exhausted and asleep,” said
That night the enemy came
Barracks and Kissing Point sites
BRIG Weekes, now 61, who devotes
in opposite positions 3 Platoon
from developers, he had no trouble
his retirement to the well-being of
was defending and, as he put
in his offi cial vote of thanks
former troops and things Army as
it, “let rip” in a fi re fi ght that
to PM John Howard, when the
patron of the Townsville’s RSL,
lasted
a couple of hours.
PM handed over the site to the
Vietnam Veterans and National
2LT
Weekes
completed seven or
community last August, saying:
Servicemen’s Association and
eight
patrols
with
7RAR’s 32-strong
“You bloody beauty, mate!”
president of the North Australian
3
Platoon,
before
the
main body of
Military Heritage Association.
But he is the fi rst to admit a lot has
1RAR
arrived
nearly
a month later.
to be done before the site realises
A colonel when he handed in
“I wouldn’t say I was experienced,
its potential as a community asset.
his papers in Townsville in 1992
but I had a head start on my
after 26 years in the Regulars, and
“We may have won that battle
mates by the time they arrived.”
Reservist Brigadier in charge of
but the war goes on.” With
By December, 1968, his two years
11 Brigade Townsville between
the city earmarked as a cruise
of National Service, which included
1995 and 1998, he is a passionate
ship destination, he sees the
attending offi cers’ school, training
campaigner for just causes and
establishment of a military
and nine months in Vietnam, were
Townsville-Thuringowa, cities
museum at Jezzine as a means
up and he was heading home to a
he proudly calls home.
of attracting tourist dollars.
civilian
life and job - school teaching.
He said one of his proudest
We have Reef HQ but we need
Educated at the Sisters of Mercy
achievements was leading
another major attraction to get
Walkerston Boarding School
the small planning group
people to come to the city and stay
(primary) and St Brendan’s
responsible for building the
a few days,” BRIG Weekes said.
College (secondary), Yeppoon,
memorial at the entrance to
Convincing the State Government
he had graduated from Kelvin
Anzac Way on The Strand.
to cough up $10 million towards
Grove Teachers’ College in 1965
And he has nothing but admiration
the cost of redeveloping the
and was teaching at Clermont
for the commitment and fi nancial
entire site would be the next,
State Primary School when it
support shown by the RSL, ADF,
and perhaps, hardest step.
came time for him to do his
Thuringowa and Townsville
Not afraid to bend politicians’ ears
City councils and dozens of
in an eff ort to get things done, he has compolusory stint in the “Nashos”.
businesses to the project.
been at Defence Minister Brendan
On his return to civvie street he
“That was a community
Nelson to outlaw the wearing of war was expected to take up a position at
working at its best,” he said.
medals by people whose shadows
the two-teacher Blair Athol school,
have never darkened a battlefi eld.
a short hop, skip and jump from
But he now has other
things in his sights.
“These people are not only ego
Clermont... and not all that far from
his birthplace - Mackay - and old
Young veterans not getting involved tripping, they are denigrating real
medal holders who have risked
stamping ground as a bush boy - Mt
in ANZAC Day marches, people
life and limb for their country.”
Spence Station at Mt Nebo where
falsely wearing medals and the
development of a military museum
BRIG Weekes falls into the latter
his parents lived and worked.
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