Commando News Issue 13 2018

Jim Geedrick was an extraordinary
Australian soldier
When severely wounded by mortar fire during an
armoured assault in Vietnam in August 1968, Australian
Army adviser Jim Geedrick thought his soldiering days
were finished.
He had earlier been photographed at Gio Linh on
Anzac Day proudly displaying an Australian flag, in
what would become one of the most iconic images of
the war.
Now fighting for his life, the veteran of every
campaign since World War II found himself medically
evacuated home.
Six months later, however, he would return to Gio
Linh to complete his unfinished tour.
For Geedrick, getting wounded was just part of a
job he had been doing for three decades seeing
combat in all Australian military conflicts from World
War II through to Vietnam.
Last month an illness managed what scores of
Australia’s enemies could not: Geedrick died on July 22
in Rockhampton, at peace at the age of 94.
His death saw the passing of an extraordinary
soldier whose career is unlikely to be matched by
today’s soldiers.
Although described as indigenous, Geedrick was
born into a large family of Ceylonese descent in coastal
Yeppoon, central Queensland in 1924.
In March 1943, Geedrick enlisted in the AIF as an
infantryman, where his natural skills and personality
marked him out as a potential leader.
By the time Geedrick retired 30 years later he had
received every campaign and service medal then
available in the Australian Defence Force. For his
Vietnam service he also received US and Vietnamese
gallantry awards.
In Borneo at the end of WWII, lance corporal
Geedrick enlisted in the regular army and was sent to
the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces in
Japan.
There he met and married his first wife, Shizue, who
had survived the Hiroshima atomic bomb blast. She
later died from when in her 60s from cancer her family
believes was caused by being exposed to indirect
radiation from the atomic blast.
In 1951 the now sergeant Geedrick joined his old
battalion, 3RAR in Korea, fighting in the significant
battles at Kapyong and later Maryang San.
Geedrick served with 3RAR d u r i n g t h e
Malayan Emergency, then later during Confrontation
with Indonesia, returning to Borneo where he had been
during WWII.
On May 21, 1968 now Warrant Officer Class II
Geedrick joined the Australian Army Training Team
Vietnam.
Former WOI Neil “Lofty” Eiby who served with
Geedrick in Malaya and during Confrontation
described him as “a great
soldier and a wonderful
man.”
“Because he was Jim
Geedrick he seemed to be
able to get away with
saying and doing things
other people might not
have,” Mr Eiby recalled.
“He was blunt but he was fair and above all he was
humorous.”
Geedrick’s final army posting was as RSM of the
Australian Army cadet battalion based in Rock hamp -
ton, a perfect segue for his later career as school
sergeant at Rockhampton Grammar School, where he
served from 1973 until 1997.
He remarried Jurin who was from Thailand and the
pair shared 25 years of marriage. He is survived by Jurin
and his three children from his first marriage, Gene, Kim
and Sheree.
A spokesman for Rockhampton Grammar said the
school had planned a dinner this weekend to honour
his 25-years service to the school.
“We knew he had been ill recently and weren’t sure
whether he could attend,” the spokesman said.
“He was a great mentor to generations of students
at our school.”
VALE
It is with a very heavy heart that I inform you of
the passing of AB Jack Mackay OAM of Z Special
Unit on Saturday, 11 August 2018.
Jack served as part of the build up and training
for Operation Jaywick, however he became ill and
was not able to join the Operation
COMMANDO NEWS ~ Edition 13 I 2018 9