Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Ron was born 14th April 1921 and was one of nine children. Brothers Bill, Edward and Roy. Sisters Iris, Ena (who Ron always called "Skin") Gwen, Lil, and Betty.

Although Ron's family moved around a lot whilst his father worked on building the railway, he mostly went to school in Auburn and Woy Woy. However he was not a person for school, more an outdoors type. He loved fishing.

He played short-stop in baseball for Auburn Baseball Club and received numerous trophies, and this is where he met and married Sylvia McBay (Heard) who was the scorer for the team at the time.  He also played competition cricket and rugby league, and was a keen fisherman.

Ron enlisted on 5th August, 1942, aged 21, and was assigned to the 2nd 16th Australian Infantry Battalion.  He trained at Bathurst and Cowra, and then went to Indonesia and New Guinea.  He was involved in hand to hand contact, and saw his best friend die in the fighting.  This, and his physical injuries, including a cleft pallet, had a lasting effect on him psychologically, today we would say he suffered some PTS, but it was not recognised or treated after WWll. 

He came back to Australia and was discharged in August, 1946.  During the war he wrote every day to his mother, and when he married, this changed to weekly, long, long letters.  The family would sit around the table to hear the return letter each week.  He also wore his mother’s wedding ring the whole time he was away, she gave it to him to keep him safe, and he returned it when he came home.

Ron and Sylvia were married at St Phillips Church, Auburn on 26th July, 1952.  At the time Auburn was in the middle of a local flood and Sylvia could not get out of her family’s house to get to a car without getting wet.  So a few of her brother carried her.  She wore a blue, tiered lace dress as it was not the done thing to wear white if you had been divorced.

In the early part of their life together, before children, mum and dad rode around New South Wales on dad's motorcycle, mum in the sidecar. Ron worked at Crompton Parkinsons, in the sales department until he retired. S

Ron and Sylvia built a house in Cabramatta, where the family, including his two daughters, Barbara and Colleen, grew up. The family spent every Christmas holidays at Scotts Head where Ron’s mother lived. Ron was a very active swimmer and fisherman, he fished off the rocks and would take the children with him, teaching them about the surf and fishing

Dad was a long time member of Cabra Vale Diggers Club where he coached the junior cricket team and played lawn bowls. For a couple of years he and his mates were club champions in the fours. He was an avid supporter of the Parramatta Eels football team, and many weekends saw the family watching the games of Cabramatta Rugby League team.  He was one of the foundation members of Cabramatta Leagues Club.

All during this time, dad was involved in a dispute with the war veterans department to obtain recognition of disability as a result of the war.  He did receive a part pension, but continued to fight with them after he had a nervous breakdown around 1970.  He was receiving treatment for a carbuncle infection when he collapsed after a penicillin injection.  His doctors said that he had an allergic reaction to the penicillin due to the amount he had had when injured during the war.

Dad said he felt as if there was a line in front of him and if he crossed it he would die, and believed it had damaged his brain.  He was hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital for a short time where they finally convinced him that he was OK, and he regained his mental health.

After Sylvia died from a stroke in 1994, Ron moved to Nambucca Heads.  It was a great comfort to him that he  had a companion, Alice while he was there.  He loved to go on short trips up and down the east coast, and was an active member of Senior Citizens in Rathmines and Nambucca Heads.

Around 2002 Ron handed in his driving licence as his sight had deteriated, and he was concerned it was not safe for him to drive.  He had long since given up driving at night or long distances.  He then had laser surgery that improved his sight, and his doctors allowed him to drive again, so he obtained his licence back again.

In 2005, he was driving Alice to the shops to pay bills and do some shopping, and went to make a right hand turn onto the Pacific Highway from a local side street.  He did not see the Police wagon coming down the highway towards him until it was too late, and it hit his car.  Alice was killed immediately, but Ron had severe spinal injuries and was transported to Royal North Shore hospital.  This is where he died on 20th February, 2005 after his life support was removed.  He was cremated and buried with Sylvia at Rookwood Cemetery, NSW.  The inquest into his death found that better eyesight testing was needed, and could have prevented the accident.

Dad mostly ran the family and mum fitted in with what ever he wanted to do, but they mostly enjoyed their life and lived it the way they wanted, given the constraints imposed on them by the times they lived in.  When I was a teenager my father and I used to have verbal battles about politics, which no one ever won.