The Leader Newspaper // Special Features ANZAC Day 2019 Supplement | Page 3

COMMEMORATING ANZAC Lance has fond memories of WWII service By Ella Pryor Sitting in his room at the Trevu House Aged Care Home in Gawler, Lance Dahlitz, formerly of Tanunda, can proudly look at his certificate of service and medals hanging up on the wall. The certificate and medals holding both very fond memories of World War II and some he would much rather forget. Lance joined the army on September 13, 1942, starting in the 2/10 infantry battalion and working his way up to corporal. Before his time in the army, Lance worked in Adelaide at the Savings Bank. He’d finished working there and all of his mates had joined the army, so Lance thought ‘why not’ and away he went. He was just 19 at the time. In uniform that afternoon, Lance picked up all his tools from the bank, dropped them home, told his parents and off he went. Lance was based at Sandy Creek for a few weeks and spent one day at a rifle range in Gillman, which is all the training he had. After a couple weeks in Melbourne, Lance and the crew were on a boat to New Guinea. Lance explained they ‘had a pretty rough time’ in New Guinea but got through alright. After a stint back to Queensland they got sent back to New Guinea again. There they then flew over Ramu Valley, once again coming out of it okay. When Lance was home the second time, he married his late wife, Elva. After their marriage, Elva became ill with a burst appendicitis. Lance’s leave ran out two days before Elva came out of hospital! He was then posted to Borneo, where once again the soldiers had a tough time. On November 26 once the war had finished, Lance was immediately dispatched home. Lance explained that as far as his service in the war is concerned, it was a lot of fun and also a lot of ‘not so much fun’ - but to him that’s just how it went. “Lots of things you prefer to forget and war movies you don’t like watching,” said Lance. “I don’t talk about it much. A lot of people do and a lot of people don’t. I’ll admit there’s so many good times we have and you can talk about them for hours. There’s many good memories but all me mates are gone now.” One fond memory that Lance recalls from his time at World War II was when he and the ‘lads’ were out on a walk in Balikpapan, Borneo to see if any ‘Japs’ were still about. They came across a motocart, and one of the men got it going. Two days later people came around and said ‘you and your boys have a motocart’. “I said yeah so what, we found it and we’re going to have it. They said unfortunately for you we want it,” laughed Lance. “I said well too bad the bloke that took it for us isn’t here, but he was sitting right next to me! I said come back in the morning. “That night at midnight up she went. If we couldn’t have it they weren’t having it!” He also laughed as he recalled that some days they’d be short of money, and although he knows it was wrong to do, one of the lads would jump out the march and go into the shop. They would get whatever they want and hand over a two pound note, arguing that it was a 10! “Lots of cheeky things went on. Some got away with it and some got kicked out the door,” chuckled Lance. After the war, Lance and Elva ‘had a very good life’. They spent 14 years in Tanunda, before moving to Murray Bridge for 50 years. The couple then moved to Gawler about 10 years ago, but unfortunately Elva passed away around eight years ago. To Lance, it’s been a hard road since then. Lance is grateful that he’s made good contacts with people he hadn’t seen for many years back at the Tanunda RSL, and he hopes to continue to be a good member there. “I’m wheelchair bound out of this home and can’t get around like I used to, but that’s the way life goes,” said Lance. Lance Dahlitz, Gawler with his certificate of service and medals. Lest We Forget New tanks: 0427 825 287 Hire: 0427 163 508 8562 2983 www.jbandj.com.au 8562 8373 Murray Street, Greenock www.murraystreet.com.au BLD 272 559 8563 7777 27 Bridge Street, Tanunda www.tlhome.com.au 8523 3000 31 Adelaide Rd, Gawler South shane@adelaideheatcool.com.au 8562 1548 60-64 Murray St, Nuriootpa Lest We Forget Lest We Forget Lest We Forget Lest We Forget Lest We Forget With the kind assistance of the participating businesses, The Leader has been able to provide a generous donation to the local RSL sub branches “The Leader”, Commemorating ANZAC, Wednesday, April 17, 2019 - 3