Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Today's conversation is with Bougainville, East Timor and Middle East veteran Dave Stafford Finney. Dave served as a marine technician and was medically discharged in late 2017.
Dave returned to the podcast in the episode Panel - Life After Service, and again in Christmas on the Line.
Dave tragically passed away in February 2019. Find out more here.
Season 2 of LIFE ON THE LINE begins next week! Subscribe to get all content. We have stories from the army, navy, air force, commandos and SAS; from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, peacekeeping operations, Afghanistan and Iraq. Listen to Australian stories as you've never heard them before.
World War II veteran Barney Greatrex passed away on 17 February 2018. This podcast is a short eulogy to this hero, and some highlights of his story, including recordings of the great man himself.
9 April 1920 - 17 February 2018. Vale Barney Greatrex, Lest We Forget.
Listen here to our interview with author Michael Veitch about his career of writing about Australian airmen, including Barney Greatrex; and listen here to highlights from the BARNEY GREATREX book launch. We also produced a book trailer. We spoke to Barney's nephew, Charlie Mort, about their 2013 trip to France.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Most weeks we also have a bonus episode, where we speak to historians, authors and others in the veterans community. Today's bonus episode is with Charlie Mort. For the final episode of Season 1, we’re back to the story of Barney Greatrex. Barney was a bomb aimer in Bomber Command, the sole survivor of his Lancaster being shot down, and then spent eight months fighting the Germans with the French Resistance in Occupied France. In 2013, his nephew, Charlie Mort, orchestrated an incredible family trip to France to retrace Barney’s crash site, the places he went to on his journey, and meeting the relatives of those with whom he fought. Ninety-three-year-old Barney was the guest of honour in this epic tour of remembrance. Alex Lloyd spoke to Charlie about the trip, and how they went about retracing the Resistance.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Today's conversation is with Afghanistan veteran Chris May. Chris was a war veteran at nineteen, and is a survivor of driving over an improvised explosive device. Now in his late twenties, his story is an impactful tale of a young soldier at war.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Most weeks we also have a bonus episode, where we speak to historians, authors and others in the veterans community. Today's bonus episode is with Hugh Riminton. We spoke with Hugh about his career of frontline reporting from war zones, and his new book MINEFIELDS.
BARNEY GREATREX is the biography of World War II veteran Barney Greatrex, written by bestselling author Michael Veitch, based on the research by Alex Lloyd and Angus Hordern. This podcast is a highlights compilation from the book launch on 8 November 2017. See more photos from the launch at www.lifeonthelinepodcast.com/book. Buy the book now by clicking here.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Today's conversation is with World War II veteran Hugh Kelly. Thomas Kaye spoke with ninety-eight-year-old Hugh in his home, days before he moved into a retirement village. This is the first time Hugh has spoken with someone outside the family about his wartime service.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Most weeks we also have a bonus episode, where we speak to historians, authors and others in the veterans community. Today's bonus episode is with historian David Sutton. David works at the Australian War Memorial and his area of expertise is on conflicting Soviet and Nazi accounts of the Eastern Front in World War II.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Today's conversation is with WO1 Elizabeth Matthews, who is currently serving in the Australian Army. We spoke to Elizabeth about her service in peacekeeping operations, her deployment to Afghanistan and life in the modern military. Our thanks go to Defence Media for organising the interview.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. For today’s bonus episode of Life on the Line, Alex Lloyd spoke with Norton Duckmanton, a World War II veteran. Alex met Norton at the Reserve Forces Day Parade held at Sydney’s Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park. This is the they had chat while they waited for the parade to start.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Today's conversation is with Vietnam veteran Ron Aitken. Ron flew 261 operational bombing missions over Vietnam.
Ron returned to the podcast in the episode Panel - The Vietnam War.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Most weeks we also have a bonus episode, where we speak to historians, authors and others in the veterans community. Tomorrow is Remembrance Day and to talk about this very special day of reflection and commemoration, Alex Lloyd spoke with a very special guest. The Honourable Dr Brendan Nelson has a long and distinguished career in public service. Just to name a few prominent positions, Dr Nelson was the Federal President of the Australian Medical Association before serving as the Federal Member for Bradfield from 1996 to 2009, where one of his portfolios in the Howard government was Minister for Defence. After a key ambassadorial role, Dr Nelson was appointed as Director of the Australian War Memorial in 2012.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Today's episode is the second instalment of the conversation with Andrew Robertson, covering Andrew’s experiences in Vietnam, a near-death flight in London, and the career of a senior navy officer.
Click here to listen to Volume I, before you hear this episode.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Today's conversation is with World War II, Korea and Vietnam veteran Andrew Robertson. This is the first of a two-part episode.
Click here to listen to Volume II, after you've heard this episode.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Today's conversation is with Iraq and Afghanistan veteran, Eddie Robertson. A former member of the 2nd Commando regiment, Eddie saw multiple deployments to the Middle East as an elite soldier. Alex Lloyd spoke to Eddie about his combat operations, the life of a Commando and about his good friend, the late Cameron Baird VC, MG.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Most weeks we also have a bonus episode, where we speak to historians, authors and others in the veterans community. Today’s bonus episode focuses on Rex Ward, Vietnam veteran, who was Angus Hordern’s history teacher at school.
