G’day all,
it is with a heavy heart that I let you all know that our old mate Ben passed away in Gladstone a couple of days ago. Sadly he out lived Pat his wife, and all of his siblings, he was 91. I only spoke to him a couple of weeks ago, and only then learned that he had moved into a high care facility in Gladstone. He seemed his old self at that time ,but his heart was not good. Lest we forget
Cheers Raylee and Don GlasbyI never had the pleasure of serving or knowing Ben, but I have had a bit of a search of his service records and DVA Nominal Roll and found the following details:
Willian Benjamin Fischer – R54352
Joined as a Stoker at HMAS Cerberus 23 May 1958. According to his records up until Feb 1970, he was a Chief Mechanician.
His Vietnam Service consisted of 2 x Gun Line Tours in HMAS Hobart in 67 and 68.
Ben was awarded a “Mentioned In Despatches” (MID) for his efforts during the missile hits in HMAS Hobart on the night of 17th June 1968.
I could not find any further official details from the AWM as the site has a warning saying it is doing upgrades at the moment.
Condolences to Ben's family and shipmates.
RIP Ben, your watch is done.