Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with Ray Palmer for Remembrance Day about his son, fallen Commando Scott Palmer

Transcript

Katie spoke with Ray Palmer for Remembrance Day about his son, fallen Commando Scott Palmer · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It is fourteen minutes away from ten o'clock and as
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: we know, at eleven a m. On the eleventh of
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: November nineteen eighteen, the guns on the Western Front fell silent.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: After more than four years of continuous warfare, the Allied
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: armies had driven the German invaders back, having inflicted heavy
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: defeats upon them over the preceding four months. In November,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: the Germans called for an armistice, the suspension of fighting,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: in order to secure a peace settlement. They accepted Allied
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: terms that amounted to unconditional surrender. The eleventh hour of
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: the eleventh day of the eleventh month attained a special
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: significance in the post war years. The moment when hostilities
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: ceased on the Western Front became universally associated with the
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: remembrance of those who had died in the war. The
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Allied nations chose this day and time for the commemoration
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: of their war dead. Today, as we know, is Remembrance Day,
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: and this morning I'm joined by a very special guest,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Territorian Ray Palmer, the father of fallen Commando Scott Palmer.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Good morning to you.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Ray, Good Mary, Katie, How are you very well?
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Mate?
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Oh?
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Thank you? So much for joining me this morning. Now, Ray,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: I understand that Scott was a proud and devoted soldier
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: who loves serving with his mates of the second Commando Regiment.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Can you tell me a little bit more about your son?
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Look? He oh, Look, he was very in the playing
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: sports like most most young blakes around the time, and
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: and he enjoyed the outdoors. And and I'm I'm sort
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: of very proud on what he did achieve before joining
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: the army, but I'm very proud of what he did
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: through his military career as well. Mate.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: I looked, I looked at his profile, and I what
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: he is certainly a very decorated young man as well.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Tell us a little bit about how he served and
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: some of the different things that he's done.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Look at I think it's like most of that turbulent
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: sort of time when we were involved with like operations
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: in Team or were operations in Iraq, and then of course,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: you know, we also had the operations in Afghanistan. So
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: around that time, a lot of soldiers did a lot
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: of hard work and were deployed most of their career,
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: which would be extremely hard because the amount of time
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: that they had just spent away from home and being
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: able to do the things I enjoyed.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: And what was it like for you and your wife
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: obviously having him so far away and being deployed at
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: different times.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Well, the good thing about technology today is what you
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: call sat fame and the good part about Scott and
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: I was thinking a find that most of the young
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: blades that went there away, they had the opportunity to
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: get on the phone, ring home, have a chat about
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: sport or whatever was sort of going on in the
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: community at home, and which I think was really good
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: because if you go back back to the First World War,
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: or you go back to the Boll War and things
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: like that, it's all done by mail. Male used to
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: go by ship, which could take forever. So thanks to
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: technology we had a great rapport with him and he
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: ring very regularly. So it was in that respect it
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: was a lot better because when the phone did ring
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: and you were talking to him, it was actually voice
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: to voice and not something in a letter, you know
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: what I mean. So it was great. No, it's terrific.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: And Ray, I can't imagine what it was like for
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: you when you got that phone call finding out that
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: your son's life had been lost. It I mean it
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: must have been absolutely heart wrenching for you and your family.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: The head you say it. The thing was, he was
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: he was on his last his same mission, and he
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: was due to come home, so he only had two
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: weeks left. So when he rang that Saturday night before
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: his last mission, he sort of from all the deployments
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: that he had done. And then you realize and he's
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: on his way home, you feel at ease. So it
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: came at a big shot when on the Monday afternoon
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: we got the phone call to get home because we
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: were being announced the Scott's death. So children on Saturday
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: night in a space of a very short period of time.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: It took the wind out of ourselves. So I can
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: assure you we did not expect it because we said, oh,
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: he's only got one last task to do and they're
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: on the way home. So unfortunately that didn't quite happened.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: So yeah, definitely took the wind of ourself, of them.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: And to hear you, oh, mate, I can't even I
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: can't even imagine, And I know that everybody listening this
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: morning would feel exactly the same. Ray. I know that
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: so much as has happened in the time since since
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: your son has passed, and so much support from the community,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: particularly in Catherine as well.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: Oh look, we can't complain about the support we've had
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: in Darwin, or the support we've had in Katine, and
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: especially the support we've had from the military, especially first
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: Brigade up here. I was having seen last night with
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: as Conburn Burgade Commander's leaving and I thanked him from
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: the bottom of our hearts because they've made us so welcome,
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: and it's a tremendous thing, searing. Scott's served up here
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: with five seven Area and deployed to tim Or and
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: Iraq with five seven, so he's got a he's sort
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: of got a bond here, and we've got a bond
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: here with Robinson Barrett. So it's been tremendous. I cannot
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: fault them one way at all. It's been great.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Right, How important is a day like Remembrance Day for
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: you and your family?
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: It's a day mainly to remember or all of those
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: fallen and their families and once they reflect back on
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: you know, Scott doing that chopper crash and with five
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: others injured, to look at the injuries that they sustained
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: in that chopper crash, and just to think about not
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: their physical but also the mental anguish what they were
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: going through. And so today reflects on Pam and I
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: is yes, to reflect on those fallen throughout all conflicts,
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: going back to the bare wall. You know, it's a
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: day of reflection on that, but it's also a day
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: of reflection on the sacrifice the family and those other
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: soldiers are going through. Even though we're not in Afghanistan anymore,
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: they're still suffering with mental illnesses, just like what happened
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: in Vietnam. So that's what our reflection on today is. Yes,
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: remember Scott, but remember everybody. There's words families that are
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: suffering this children and suffer because they lost their dads.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: So it's a day just to pause them to think
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: and to think.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: It might certainly is what are you going to be
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: doing today to remember your son and obviously all of
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: those other servicemen and women who've been lost, but also
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: like you'd said, those who've served their time.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: Well, we're going to the ceremony in Palmerston. As you know,
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: last year is all caught off and last year would
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: have been the tenth anniversary when we would have been
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: in camera having his name revealed on the honor roll
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: with all those other fallen so and then after that
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: it's off the cemetery and have a quiet be with him.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: So that that's their intentions today. Right.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Have you had the chance to go to Canberra, I'm
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: assuming not, but see his name on that on a roll.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we were down there when it was first put on,
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: and that twenty ten and we've been back on four
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: or five occasions since so and it's it's a remarkable
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: thing when you walk down both sides of that gallery
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: just to look at the names, you just put you
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: in a whole perspective of the losses that a stranger
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: have sacrifice. It just you know, and even to have
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: a looked. Finally, you know, a few years ago they
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: put up the Vietnam on a roll, which I think
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: is a totally appropriate because because we're the team or
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: which is peacekeeping, there's definitely the reflect on all conflicts.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: It's not just war, but all conflicts. And you can't
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: get like the Federal Police is also involved in a
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: lot of these conflicts for peacekeeping and things like that.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: So yeah, it's a good good place to visit and
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: Pamero unfortunately having me able to go down because of
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: our COVID situation. Well hopefully that might change next year.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: Well, Ray, I really appreciate your time this morning and
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: having a chat to us. Thank you for speaking to us,
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: and thank you you know for the work or for
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: the service of your son, and for all of those
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: who have served Australia, served our great country. So I
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: really appreciate it, and I appreciate you speaking to me today.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: No, it's my pleasure, Katie, and thank you very much
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: for giving me your time. I really appreciate it.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: You are always welcome Ray, and always welcome on my show.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: Thank you mate, Thank you