Maxwell Stenson - WWII Vetran - Aussie Digger Since I have moved over to a new blog I was thinking about what posts I really wanted to hold onto. There is a lot of stuff on the old blog that was good, and that I eventually want to move over to this new blog. I’ll be sorting through them slowly, but it will take me a while as there are over 400 articles on the old blog.

This is one post that I was thinking about today that I wanted to move to this new web-site.

I wrote this original article in July 2005. About a year after I wrote it Tamara’s Pop had a stroke, which has left him in a weakened physical state, and with dementia. He has since been admitted to a nursing home and just isn’t the man that he was when I first wrote this article …

 


 

I just got back from having lunch with Tamara’s Pop, her Mum’s father. I asked him a lot of questions, and got a lot of amazing answers.  I can’t help but think about how much our generation owes to their generation.

His Dad was a WWI veteran who instilled some amazing values into Tamara’s Pop.  During the Great Depression in the 30s he left school after grade 7 to go to work and help support the family.  He started out there as a messenger boy in a hose fitting company.  When he retired in the late 70’s he was the manager at the Adelaide Postal Exchange, with over 700 employees that he was responsible.  I already respected him a lot, but that respect grew as I sat and just listened to some of his stories.

Pop joined up with what would now probably be the Australian Reserve Forces in 1938 as soon as he could, at 16. He said that in ’38 they thought that there was a possibility of an upcoming conflict. As soon as he turned 19 he joined the AIF (Australian Imperial Force) and was put into the Signals Corp as he had taught himself mores code by the time he was 10.

How do you think our generation respond during a time like that? Would we sign up, or would we run? Does our generation still have the same sense of values and responsibility that his generation did?

He taught me a lot today as we spoke and I could probably write for pages. I wish that I had some more time with him but they are heading back to Adelaide tomorrow, but I am very grateful for the hour that we had today.We owe so much to the generation before us, but we don’t acknowledge it enough. We don’t show them the respect that they deserve. We don’t know the hardships that they went through so that we could have it as easy as we do now.

The VP60 (Victory in the Pacific – 60 years) Celebrations are coming up here in Townsville this month.  There aren’t many of the veterans left and we can’t forget what they and the generations before them have done for us…

After serving in YWAM here in Townsville for most of the last 10-years we are now moving to Canada to continue ministering there with YWAM.

In Canada I will be working primarily with the Youth With A Mission International Chairman’s Team (YWAM ICT). The work with the YWAM ICT will involve:

  • Communicating what God is doing in YWAM around the world and assisting locations that do not have the means to communicate themselves.
  • Developing ways to help YWAM to communicate and coordinate better between the over 1200 locations around the world.
  • Evaluating cutting edge technology through a biblical filter and applying it within YWAM.

I will be also tying in with the local YWAM base in Calgary a bit in addition to the work I will be doing for the YWAM ICT.

Before I did my YWAM Discipleship Training School in 1998 I did a YWAM Niko through YWAM Calgary, which was a great personal development opportunity for myself, and a good introduction to YWAM. Ironically when I went back to Calgary in June 1999 after my YWAM DTS I spoke to the leaders of YWAM Calgary about joining staff there in 2000, but that never eventuated. Now it looks like I will be working them after all, only 9-years later than I originally thought …

You can read more about the YWAM ICT here and YWAM Calgary here.

Welcome to my new blog, now hosted on www.billhutchison.org. I had started to loose momentum with the old site over at Journal Home because of some frustrations with the service over there, so this new site is now a self-hosted WordPress blog.

The main frustration that I was having with the old site was the random insertion of advertisements by the host. They detracted a lot from the design, which had some of my own carefully integrated ads.

WordPress offers a lot of customisation options and flexibility. I will continue to change the site as I get used to this new theme and what can be done with it.

If you are currently subscribed to the site via Feedburner RSS or e-mail updates you will continue to receive updates. If you are not already subscribed you can do so on the right hand side of this page.

Thanks for reading the site. Let me know in the comments here what you think of the new design.

Shannon Noll in TownsvilleEarlier this year we went down to the Strand here in Townsville for a welcome home concert put on for Australian Soldiers who have served overseas in the last few years. Townsville is a “garrison” city, and a lot of our troops have been in Afganistan and East Timor in the last year. The city put on a well deserved concert and parade for them.

At the concert was Shannon Noll, Claire Clarke, Garry Bradbury, 1RAR band, and Beccy Cole. The music was fantastic and the general feel at the event was one to celebrate and thank the troops and their contribution to Australia and the world.

Beccy Cole in Townsville

I think that Beccy Cole’s song “Poster Girl” highlights the general feel of most of us in Townsville towards the troops:

For that song Poster Girl Beccy Cole won three “Golden Guitars” for Single of the Year, Song of the Year and Female Artist of the Year. You can listen to more of Beccy Cole on her MySpace page here.

Note: The comedian Garry Bradbury was very inappropriate for a family event. His jokes may have been funny in the field for just the troops, but definitely not for all the kids at the event. He got very few laughs after the first few minutes.