General News
6 May, 2026
Dad let me wear his medals ... they were heavy
PAUL Knoblock remembers the first Anzac service he attended.
PAUL Knoblock remembers the first Anzac service he attended.
“The parade began down at the post office and I was walking beside dad. The best part for me was he let me wear his medals and I couldn’t believe how heavy they were,” he told more than 300 people at Saturday’s Dawn Service in Bridgewater.
Paul and sister Yvonne were guest speakers at the service, sharing memories of their father Les who served in Papua New Guinea during World War Two as an infantryman, driver and cook.
“He used to say they asked if he could cook, he replied he could boil water. Good enough was the response,” Paul said.
“Like most soldiers, dad never spoke about the things he had seen but he confided to his brother Geoff that he had found their mate wedged against a tree, Bren gun between his legs and a fatal bullet wound to the head.”
Paul and Yvonne said their father was fortunate to survive the war - for every four riflemen in the field, one was killed’ for every five riflemen three were wounded or later died of wounds.
Les was part of the 39th Battalion that saw action at Kokoda.
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