Photograph and text. Photo labeled 'PROUD FATHER' shows man holding child. Text describes joining Air Force before August, training at Richmond, moving to Currajong on Slopes Road, neighbors helping with baby, births of daughters Judy and Cheryl.
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What the page says
THE AIR FORCE
Before August I decided to go into the Air Force. I spent three months in the initial training and I went to Richmond Air Force Base just before Christmas. So, I had eventually gotten into the Air Force and got what I wanted and did twenty-two years in the Air Force. I ended up a Warrant Officer Engineer by the time I left.
We moved to Currajong and got a flat in Slopes Road, off the base. We moved into the flat there, next door to an old lady. Thank God! She looked after Pat very well. It was one of those things that the young mother didn't have the experience for a new baby, especially to handle a new baby that was crying all the time - wouldn't stop- cried all night. The old lady came in one day and said, 'Hope you don't mind, just give him a sip of this!' (Brandy) She was Mrs. McMahon. The older people are definitely a help.
Our daughter Judy was born in the hospital in Currajong and so was our next daughter, Cheryl. And we thought that was the lot! Oh, how wrong!!!
People: Pat, Judy, Cheryl, Mrs. McMahon
Places: Richmond Air Force Base, Currajong, Slopes Road
Interesting facts
Rathmines. The recruit training unit was on Lake Macquarie, at what had been the RAAF's largest flying-boat base in the war. Australia stopped operating flying boats afterwards and the site was reused for training.
What the RAAF was doing in 1960. Between Korea and Vietnam, with the Malayan Emergency winding down. It was re-equipping - Hercules transports, Neptunes, and Mirage fighters coming - and recruiting tradesmen hard, which is why a man with an unfinished apprenticeship was welcome.
