18th August marks the remembrance for the Battle of Long Tan in South Vietnam in June 1966. A new movie DANGER CLOSE: The Battle of Long Tan will be released in Australia on 8th August and in New Zealand on 5th September.
There are excellent previews available on YouTube.
It is great sadness we note the passing of Phil Kudnig, OCS Class of Dec ’53. He graduated into the Royal Australian Engineers. Phil was awarded the Governor General’s Medal for achieving the top place in his class on completion of the Course. He returned to OCS on Staff in 1964 through to 1966, initially as a Captain Officer Instructor before taking up the appointment of Major Coordinator of Training.
He will be missed by many of his “Brothers in Arms”.
To Judy and Family we offer our sincerest of Condolences.
Rest in Peace old friend! Your Duty is Done.
Sad news to see the passing of Brigadier Phillip Davies, AM. Phil was the final Commandant of OCS. He worked very hard on the integration of our female graduates of Dec 1985. Phil also had a major input into the transfer of the OCS role to RMC, having pioneered the combined training of the final OCS mixed female/male courses during Portsea’s final year of operation, again in 1985.
He brought to the Commandant’s appointment a wealth of Army experience, including his Active Service, particular with 1 RAR in Vietnam where his unit was awarded the Unit Citation for Gallantry. He also held important training postings, including Portsea.
Vale Phil Davies. Rest in Peace!
8th October 2019 saw the passing of Colonel Graeme Burgess, MBE. Graeme was a Graduate in the December 1955 Course, the first 44 week course at Portsea. He held the cadet rank of CSM, the highest rank in the early days of OCS until the change in the mid 1960s when the cadet rank was upgraded to BSM. Graeme also won the prestigious Governor General’s Medal for his class as well as the Staff Prize. On graduation he was allotted to RAA.
Only two OCS Graduates held the appointment of Commandant OCS. Colonel Brian Florence AM MC [1978-81]was the first, handing over to Graeme [1981-83]. It would be remiss not to acknowledge these achievements of two Portsea Graduates.
RIP, old friend.
I can echo the Congrats and thanks of such as Ossie Kleinig and Bryan Roach, the two names I can see as I type this
Hi Nicoll Gwyn Mason-Jones,
Thanks for your kind words. However, the congratulations should go to a very “strong team” headed up by our Webmaster in Rob Murray [with support by Ray Trevisan on website intricacies]. Paul Asbury continues to provide the amazing administrative support he has given since the founding of the OCS Alumni in 2002 when he and Bob de Haas [dec’d] took up the challenge to get the “show” up and running. The current joint effort is a tribute to Bob de Haas.
The OCS Statue Organising Committee also have done a great job and deserve a great big thanks!
Ossie Kleinig
OCS Class of Dec ’57
Congratulations to Rob and the OCS Statue Committee on all of your excellent work – great progress, thanks! Roachie Dec 80
Great progress Rob in “quick time” too!
Rob, thanks for taking up the challenge.
Great to see a new beginning for the OCS Portsea website.
Thank you, webmaster Rob.