Allow me to introduce you to my dear friend and wartime mentor.
Sir Roden Cutler VC, AK, KCMG, KCVO, CBE.
He was a gentleman in every sense of the word, Military Excellence Absolutely, a true tactician he also had an empathy and compassion for the men, a deep thinker highly and extremely intellectual ! He was steeped in courage and was driven with an unbridled will to defend freedom and liberty at any cost. Putting his life on the line Time and time again to prove it. And when Queen Elizabeth II Bestowed the office of High Commissioner upon him, his credentials where above and beyond the criteria required. Most of all his moral standing was beyond reproach a man of pure ethic, from a noble and likewise family. Dedicated to public life and driven by a will to serve the people, charitable in every sense of the word, Gifted with the virtues we all should possess. A most worthy recipient, indeed,
On certain occasions when Ro was passing through Sydney he would ring one of us [the officers] and arrange a get-together for a drink and something to eat, On various particular occasion at some of these events an invited guest who may never have had the pleasure of his company before, they would start to Address Row as Sir Roden Cutler straightaway Row would cut the conversation short, By quickly interjecting and say something to the effect of, no no no Drop all the formalities just call me Row !
Now you may ask why I have told you this story and the answer is simple and that is to say that was just the kind of bloke he was, Down to earth, and just one of the lads. [Officers] Got it !
Watching Footy
Now what the offices did on this occasion was set up a knockout football competition. The chosen game was Rugby League, and how they did it was as such, they made teams up of the country boys, and teams up of the city boys, this would make it more interesting Country against city, and the rest of the teams were a mixture of country and city boys. Then they started the knockout competition, and let me tell you, what a competition it was. The country boys won the most games; they were “Tuff as Teak” and at times appeared to be bullet – proof. Some of the officers were concerned the men could get injured some of the games became very vigorous and intense, especially when the men packed down into the scrums. However, that concern was put to rest simply because those men who got injured wore their injury like a badge of honour, and still manage to do their duties, and after the games were over, they were all the best of mates. There was never a case of any animosity, and always a beer and a celebration at the end of the day, and a few grogs to lubricate any injuries! Got it
Now take 13 men aside a Referee and two linesman, a good crowd of spectators and you had nothing less than a bloody good game of Rugby League Football and I do mean bloody, with nothing less than the will to win. In the photo you can see Row and I watching an intense game of Rugby league football with intensely, in the background you can see spectators arriving from their barracks or duties to watch and cheer on their mates from the sideline, or sit on a stand the engineers had built so you could sit down to watch the game and cheer on your favourite team, and that’s the end of the section, okay!
