Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

ROSSI David Glen AO KStJ MB BS MRCGP FRACGP DTM&H (Lond)

1945 –

David Glen Rossi was born on12th April 1945 in South Australia. He was the eldest of three children of Reginald Gordon Rossi and Valerie Cavanagh, nee Smith.  His father worked for most of his life in the British Tube Mills in Kilburn, South Australia. Rossi attended Prospect Primary School and Adelaide Boys High School.  He was awarded the Sir Hugh Cairns Memorial Prize in Leaving Honours being judged the most likely student to succeed in medicine. He studied medicine at the University of Adelaide and graduated MB BS in 1969. He completed his intern year at TQEH. During his this year he had training positions with senior consultants and military officers Bob Burston, Donald Beard and Allan Kerr Grant, amongst others, who sowed the seeds of his military career.

Early in his university studies in 1963 Rossi joined the CMF and was posted to AUR. The Army lifestyle was to his liking and he spent most university holidays attending courses and camps. He was seconded to 4 Bn RAR at Puckapunyal, as a sergeant in 1965, over the long summer vacation.  The RMO of the unit approached him and suggested he apply for the Medical Undergraduate Scheme. Rossi followed this advice and he was appointed as a Lieutenant RAAMC in April 1966 and after his intern year he joined the Regular Army as a Captain in the RAAMC, in 1970. He was soon deployed with the ADF into Vietnam.  Initially as a reinforcement RMO with 1 Aust FD Hosp and later as RMO 12 Fd Regt. This posting also gave him medical responsibility for 1 Fd Sqn, 17 Construction Squadron, A Squadron 3 Cav Regt and C Squadron 1 Armoured Regt. He was responsible for preparing all members of those units for return to Australia as its commitment to the operations were scaled down. He remained in Vietnam as DADMS in Saigon and also had responsibility for the AATTV which provided him with some exciting forays into the field. He handed over to Captain Luscombe and returned to Australia on 12th April 1972. He was issued with the Australian Active Service Medal 1945-1975 (Vietnam), the Vietnam Medal, the Defence Force Service Medal with three bars, the National Medal, the Australian Defence Medal, the South Vietnamese Armed Forces Honor Award 1st Class, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.

After returning to Australia from Vietnam, Rossi was promoted Major and appointed OC 7 Camp Hospital, Kapooka, New South Wales, in 1972. In 1974, with a detachment of 5 Fd Survey Squadron, he had a six month deployment in Sumatra, Indonesia. He was selected to attend the Royal Army Medical College, Millbank in London and gained a Diploma of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, in 1975. He also qualified and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners while in England. He was posted as RMO to the 3 Bn at Woodside, South Australia, in 1976 with added responsibility for 16 Air Defence Regt. Whilst in London he had married Kerry Stubing who was also a South Australian. He and his wife had a daughter while he was posted at Woodside. They were later divorced in 1983 and David raised his daughter as a single parent. During 1976 he gained his FRACGP. This was followed by promotion to Lieutenant Colonel and appointed as CO of the 1 FdHosp Field Hospital in Ingleburn, New South Wales from 1977 to 1979. This unit had been in caretaker mode since return from Vietnam and he was tasked with getting it fully functional and ready for deployment. This was followed by an appointment as CO of 1 Mil Hosp, Yeronga, Queensland from 1980 to 1983. Between 1984 and 1985 he was promoted to Colonel and appointed Colonel Professional Services Army. This position was followed by the appointment as DMS of 2nd Military District in New South Wales from 1986 to 1988. He then did a second term as Colonel Professional Services, Army. He was promoted to Brigadier, in 1990 he was appointed DGAHS and Head of Corps, RAAMC. During this appointment he accompanied a small contingent of troops to London for the celebration of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s birthday. He also called on the Her Majesty the Queen Mother who was Colonel in Chief of the RAAMC, at Clarence House and offered a gift on behalf of the RAAMC. He was also appointed Honorary Physician to His Excellency the Governor General from 1990-1992. Then he was promoted Major General as Surgeon General Australian Defence Force, in 1992. Rossi was tasked with establishing a workable organisation for the Office of Surgeon General. He travelled widely visiting units of all three services during his appointment and represented Australia overseas on a number of occasions. He also organised the 6th Annual Asia-Pacific Military Medicine Conference in Sydney in 1996. He was made an Officer in the Order of Australia in 1995. He relinquished his position as Surgeon General ADF in 1996 before completing a project for the Vice Chief of the Defence Force and eventually retired in 1997. Following his retirement from the Army he became a visiting medical officer at the Royal Military College Duntroon, in Canberra, in an RAP that he had established earlier in his military career.  He also practised at the Duntroon Medical Centre. He described these years as the most enjoyable of his career. He had joined St John Ambulance Brigade while at medical school. He spent over 30 years working voluntarily with that organisation in a wide variety of appointments in several States. He organised the first aid services for the public at the XII Commonwealth Games in Brisbane in 1982, and was subsequently appointed an Officer Brother in the Order of St John for this service. Many year later he was promoted to a Knight in the Order of St John.

Source

Blood, Sweat and Fears II: Medical Practitioners of South Australia on Active Service After World War 2 to Vietnam 1945-1975.

Summers, Swain, Jelly, Verco. Open Book Howden, Adelaide 2016

Uploaded by Annette Summers AO RFD