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 Glasby
I 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.
