In 1943, George Bond signed up to defend his country like so many young men and women of his age.
Necessity is the mother of invention, or so the saying goes, and the Second World War brought much technological advancement on all sides of the conflict.
One such advancement was radar, a hitherto unknown quantity which played a key role in helping the Allies defeat Axis forces in both the Pacific and European theatres of war.
It was around this new technology Carlyle Gardens Retirement Village resident George Bond found himself working as a teenager, after signing up to defend his country like so many young men and women of his age.
After growing up in and around his birthplace of Murrumburrah, New South Wales, George joined the Royal Australian Air Force at the earliest opportunity.
“I left school when I was 14, and worked at the post offices at Young and Harden until 1943,” George said.
“I signed up as an 18 year-old and I thought it was a big adventure. I met a lot of decent people and had a lot of great experiences.”
After completing training at Point Cook, Victoria, widely considered the birthplace of the RAAF, George was dispatched to Darwin.
“I went to the Northern Territory in 1944 and was there until December 1945,” he said.
“I was operating in a radar station at the Cox Peninsula, just outside Darwin. We were tracking Japanese reconnaissance planes and reporting their positions. It was a very interesting job, and luckily not life-threatening for us.”
Vital to the defence of the northern coastline of the country, the station could detect enemy aircraft up to 160km away, and was manned by a team of six – three telegraphists and three radar operators.
“It could be a very lonely existence but was a very interesting one,” George said.
“We were out of circulation – only six of us were out on this radar station for a period of 14 months. We had searchlight stations all around us, so it was very active, and we were always on the job.”
After leaving the service, George spent 43 years with the Postmaster-General’s Department, before retiring in 1982. He also played A-grade golf, tennis, squash and football, and now focuses on the most important things in life – his wife of 66 years, Gwen, and their four children.
He makes an annual contribution to Carlyle Gardens’ Anzac service by laying a wreath and, like the vast majority of veterans, remains steadfastly humble about his service.
“You just don’t forget that sort of business,” he said.
“I enjoyed the two and a half years and I have been treated very well by the RSL ever since.”
