Combat - Ep V - Life on the Sea

Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Life on the Sea is a special miniseries of this podcast, interviewing Royal Australian Navy veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars. 'Combat' continues the navy stories of the Vietnam War, until war's end in 1972.

John Lord

John Lord

David Dwyer

David Dwyer

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Collision - Ep IV - Life on the Sea

Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Life on the Sea is a special miniseries of this podcast, interviewing Royal Australian Navy veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars. The fourth episode of this miniseries, 'Collision', hears a sailor on HMAS Melbourne during the tragic 1969 Melbourne-Evans collision give his testimony of the day that saw 74 sailors lose their lives. It also features an interview on the subject with the Melbourne's captain, John Philip Stevenson.

You can listen here to the Season 2 bonus episode with short clips from Captain John Philip Stevenson's 2012 interview with Angus Hordern.

Phil Stevenson's World War II service was chronicled in the World War II documentary miniseries FOR SCHOOL AND COUNTRY.

Mark Kinder

Mark Kinder

John Philip Stevenson

John Philip Stevenson

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Vietnam - Ep III - Life on the Sea

Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Life on the Sea is a special miniseries of this podcast, interviewing Royal Australian Navy veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars. 'Vietnam' recounts veterans' experiences in the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation and the first four years of the Vietnam War.

Jim Dickson

Jim Dickson

Willie Beattie

Willie Beattie

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Beginnings - Ep II - Life on the Sea

Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Life on the Sea is a special miniseries of this podcast, interviewing Royal Australian Navy veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars. 'Beginnings' introduces the other 7 veterans of this series - their gripping family military histories, how they found themselves in the navy, their training days and early postings and action.

Doug Symes Jnr

Doug Symes Jnr

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Korea - Ep I - Life on the Sea

Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Life on the Sea is a special miniseries of this podcast, interviewing Royal Australian Navy veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars. 'Korea' recounts two veterans' stories of service in that conflict.

You can listen to the story of Doug Symes Snr’s experiences in World War II, and his family’s extensive military history, in the Season 2 bonus episode.

Stan Goldsmith

Stan Goldsmith

Doug Symes Snr

Doug Symes Snr

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Trailer - Life on the Sea

Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Life on the Sea is a special miniseries of this podcast, interviewing Royal Australian Navy veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars. This is the trailer for the upcoming 7-part collection of episodes.

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Replay - Remembrance Day with Dr Brendan Nelson

Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. This is a re-release of the 10 November 2017 bonus episode to mark Remembrance Day and to talk about this very special day of reflection and commemoration.

Alex Lloyd spoke with the Honourable Dr Brendan Nelson, Director of the Australian War Memorial. Dr 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 was Minister for Defence. After a key ambassadorial role, Dr Nelson was appointed as Director of the Australian War Memorial in 2012.

Dr Brendan Nelson participated in and launched Thistle Productions' documentary miniseries FOR SCHOOL AND COUNTRY in 2015.

Korean War MIA with Michael Kelly

Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. In Season 2, Angus Hordern spoke to Australian War Memorial historian Michael Kelly about Australia's involvement in the Korean War. In this podcast, Michael caught up with Alex Lloyd to give an update on the developing situation in regards to recovering Australian missing in action from that conflict.

A Journey of Resilience with Matt Williams

Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. This bonus episode is a conversation with Matt Williams, an army veteran who had one deployment to Afghanistan. Matt now has incurable brain cancer. He spoke to Alex Lloyd about his military days, his journey post-army and outlook on life.

Willy returned to the podcast in Season 4, two years after his original interview, to give a career and health update.

Voodoo Medics with Mark Donaldson VC, Dr Dan Pronk and Kristin Shorten

Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. This bonus episode covers the upcoming 8-part documentary VOODOO MEDICS, a short series of webisodes published by The Daily Telegraph Online starting 22 October 2018. Alex Lloyd speaks with the documentary's creator and host, journalist Kristin Shorten, as well as two of its interviewees, Australian veterans Mark Donaldson VC and Dr Dan Pronk. VOODOO MEDICS looks at the lives post-army of medics who served with Special Forces, and interviews such former medics, the operators they fought alongside, and more, in an insightful expose on the cost of modern war.

To watch the documentary, click here!

If you enjoyed these conversations with Mark and Dan, you can catch their original interviews in Season 2:

And for more conversations with Dr Dan Pronk:

Invictus Games with Adrian Talbot

Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. This bonus episode is with Adrian Talbot, a veteran of the British Royal Marine Commandos, twice-gold medallist at the 2014 Invictus Games, and now Ambassador for the upcoming Sydney Invictus Games of 2018.

Adrian returned to the podcast in Season 3 to share his story of service, as an Australian in the British Royal Marine Commandos.

Panel - Returning Home

Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Today's panel conversation is on the topic of what it means to be a veteran in the modern era, public perception, support systems and transitioning to the workforce. Angus Hordern moderated a discussion between previous podcast guests Garth Callender, Michael Wright and Glenn Kolomeitz.

Horst Haase - German WWII Veteran

Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Every week we also have a bonus episode, where we speak to historians, authors and others in the veterans community. Today's bonus episode is with a German World War II veteran, Horst Haase. Horst spoke to Alex Lloyd about events he witnessed, the terror he felt and the silence he had to maintain to save his life during the war. Thanks go to Oliver Heuthe and Martin Luther Homes for helping to arrange this episode.

Jens Milbret - German Cold War Veteran

Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Every week we also have a bonus episode, where we speak to historians, authors and others in the veterans community. Today's bonus episode is with a Cold War veteran from East Germany, Jens Milbret. Jens spoke of growing up in a communist regime, the propaganda, his military service, the lies that shaped his life and the escape he made from life in East Germany. Thanks go to Oliver Heuthe for helping to arrange this episode.

These photos are of the military academy Jens served at in Dresden, created by Lysippos and shared here (and on our social media) under a Creative Commons license.

Eugen Pichurra - German WWII Veteran

Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Every week we also have a bonus episode, where we speak to historians, authors and others in the veterans community. Today's bonus episode is with a German World War II veteran, Eugen Pichurra. Eugen spoke to Alex about Germany in the 1930s, why he joined the army, his incredible wartime stories, atrocities he witnessed, and his reflections on the war. Eugen also served in the West German military for a time, during the Cold War, before migrating to Australia. Thanks go to Oliver Heuthe and Martin Luther Homes for helping to arrange this episode.