By Mikayla van Loon
Mooroolbark Grammar students had a special visit from a local war veteran to help commemorate and learn about Anzac Day upon returning to school for term two.
Navy commando Ken has been visiting the school for about 12 years now, telling his story of service in Vietnam.
Growing up in a small country town in Victoria, Ken was accepted to college on a scholarship and not long after, received a scholarship to go to law school but instead he took a different path.
“When I was 17 I joined the Navy, much to my mum’s disappointment,” he said.
The idea of choosing the navy, Ken said, came from a love of the seaside and having lived next door to a seaman.
“I went down with a mate called Jimmy Murray and we were both going to join up and I got in and I said to Jimmy ‘are you in now mate? And he said ‘no I’m colourblind’, they wouldn’t take him so I went by myself,” he said.
Undertaking survival skill training, Ken said “the government and Navy realised I had a special skill and decided to transfer me over into the Secret Service and then train to be a commando”.
Between bush hikes, submarine drills and jumping out of helicopters, Ken learnt it all, preparing him for high risk missions in Vietnam between August 1960 and October 1961.
Upon arriving in Vietnam, Ken said landing in the wrong led them to being shot at from the moment they touched down in the country.
“We caught up with the French and about 100 people, families, kids, French and South Vietnamese people,” Ken said.
“Then me and the South Vietnamese Major were told we were going to be Lead Scouts and we had to get them out of Vietnam into Laos, where they were picked up by pilots and taken into Cambodia.”
Although some people lost their lives, both civilians and soldiers, Ken said they were very lucky to save 300 people’s lives by getting them out of Vietnam.
While he remembers the good, the bad and horrific from his time in service, Ken said one little girl, who would follow him around remains stuck in his memory.
Of all the people he served with, Ken said he knows four are still alive, living across the country.
Coming each year around Anzac Day to conduct a small service and tell a range of stories, Ken said has just become something he loves doing to see the engagement and reaction from the students in all year levels.
“Over the years, with my kids and other kids and grandkids and kids, I’ve become a king of the kids,” he said.
Mooroolbark Grammar principal Gabby Agosta said Ken is a valued member of the school community and the students find great joy in hearing his stories.
“Hearing his stories and the kids hearing that firsthand really shows that things can get tough but you can still have a lot of compassion and love,” she said.
“It definitely brings some life experience and makes it more real for them rather than hearing a third hand source or reading about it.”
School Registrar Alicia Riera said it also allows the students to have a greater understanding of what Anzac Day means.
“[It gives them] a greater appreciation for what those soldiers did for us and a greater level of understanding of the freedoms that we have, they’re not just a privilege or just given to us, they’ve been fought for,” she said.
