pearlbrook 05

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VVMC Long Tan Day Pearlbrook 05

Six o’clock Saturday morning, howling a gale, freezing cold, rain on the roof and another year older than what I was at the previous VVMC’s National Vietnam Veterans Commemoration Day Rally, not what you would call a good start to the day, the temptation to just say fuck it and curl up in bed again, fleetingly entered the mind, and, then just as quickly disappeared. Giving myself a mental slap around the back of the head for even contemplating missing one of the Vets rallies I crawled out of bed and looked outside to check out the weather, not good was the first thought, and the second was, this is going to keep a lot of people at home.

The phone rang just after I had finished breakfast; it was Duds saying that he was at Tamworth with a few of the other blokes and asking how the weather was down this way, somewhere in the evil part of my mind I saw the image of the bloke who has just dived into a freezing cold river, surfaced, and then said through gritted teeth to his mates on the bank “come on in the waters fine”, and I was tempted to say “ shit mate, its a beautiful day, come on down”, but then the thought of paybacks crossed my mind so I fessed up and told him the truth. In reality, with them being strong supporters of the Vets, it really didn’t matter what sort of a day it was, they were coming down anyway, so we both said “see you there”, and hung up.

Kaz and I hung back at home for a while waiting for it to clear up a bit, but eventually bit the bullet and headed off, well the rally gods must have been looking down on Pearlbrook, because the closer we got, the better the weather started to turn out, not perfect, but a bloody sight better than we had expected. Entering the rally site about mid afternoon I must admit that the small turnout present, disappointed, but did not overly surprise me, I had just started to put the tent up when the crew from Tamworth arrived and as the weather had started to cloud back over with a bit of rain falling, it was just a few quick g’days and we got stuck into the tents again.

It was only after we had finished with the tents and were sitting up at the clubhouse, that the earlier small turnout proved not to be indicative of the respect shown to the Vets, because I was now looking down at a steady stream of people arriving and setting up campsites until, with the crowd gathered round, the beginning of the Commemorative Service started. The service took an unusual diversion from the normal format this year, when, as Last Post had been sounded there were a couple of mortars fired off behind the crowd, and smoke grenades enveloped the service area in a huge rolling red cloud whilst a recording of a fire-fight was played and echoed from the hills surrounding the rally site, I imagine it would have looked fairly impressive to the large group of late arrivals who were waiting up the road for the service to finish before riding in.

With the service over it was back up to the bar, and, as an early evening chill set in the fire drums were lit up, the “Sue and Mikey Show” then fired up where they had left off before the service, they are a very talented duo with a very wide range of music style, and kept the crowd well entertained into the evening, I bought another load of losing raffle tickets, and with the food and grog flowing fast it was time for Kaz and I to kick back and relax, bullshit with mates, take a few photos and after a shit load of fireworks had been sent skywards, listen to the “Vee Dubs”, who had taken to the stage to play their way into the early hours of Sunday.

Although it was bloody cold when we finally hit the sack, sunup on Sunday morning saw a quick rise in the temperature and also a quick rise in the stomachs of a couple of people who had over indulged a bit the night before. With the smell of the breakfast bacon and egg rolls wafting down the rally site, it was not long before most people were up and about. By the time we had packed up the tent and said a few goodbyes the site was looking quite empty, and, with the day getting nicer by the minute I reckon that no matter which direction people were going home they would have had a really good ride.

I have to say in closing that once again the respect for the VVMC and the quality of their rallies was borne out by the number of people, who, even though the weather was looking like it was going to turn into shit, still went ahead and attended.

To all the Vets, Vietnam or otherwise, thank you for what you gave for your country,

Lest We Forget

- Crusty