In Memoriam - WO1 Wally Thompson, OAM (1932 - 2012)
WO1 WALLY THOMPSON, OAM
(1932–2012)
Wallace Talbot Claxton Thompson was born in Sydney on 9 November 1932, to Albert and Alice Thompson. In 1950, aged 17, he was conscripted under the National Service Scheme into the Citizen Military Forces after having completed his schooling at Ashfield Technical School. In 1954 he relinquished the rank of Sergeant and enlisted in the Australian Regular Army where he was posted to the 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (RAR), serving with the battalion on operations in Malaya. Thompson saw active service with the 2nd Battalion in Malaya during the period 1955–57 as a section commander and was promoted to Sergeant.
In 1958 he married Judith Edwards with whom he had a daughter, Sharyn, followed eleven months later by a son, Brett, in 1960. In November 1961 he was posted to the British Army Jungle Warfare School in Johor, Malaya, and the couple had two more daughters, Catherine and Elizabeth, who were both born in Singapore. Thompson returned to Australia in 1963 and was posted to the 1st Battalion RAR. In July 1964 he was promoted to Warrant Officer Class Two. In the following month of August he was posted to the Australian Army Training Team in Vietnam. For service during this time Thompson was awarded the South Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star for action with 3rd/5th Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, Army of the Republic of Vietnam.
After his first tour of Vietnam in 1965, Thompson was posted to Sydney University Regiment as an instructor. In 1967 he was posted to Headquarters 10 Task Force as Company Sergeant Major, Headquarters Company. In 1968 he was deployed on a second tour of duty in South Vietnam where he fought at the Battle of Coral and was mentioned in dispatches. During the battle he was wounded by a rocket-propelled grenade after which he returned to Australia. He was then posted to the Infantry Centre at Ingleburn in 1969 and Scott, his second son, was born.
In 1970 he was promoted to Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) 4th Battalion RAR where he did his third tour of South Vietnam. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list 1977, honoured Warrant Officer Class One Wally Thompson with a Medal of the Order of Australia. Between 1970 and 1983 Thompson held numerous RSM appointments before being appointed the inaugural Regimental Sergeant Major-Army. The then Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Sir Philip Bennett, decided there was a need to create the position of WO1-A. Thompson was the ideal candidate as he had completed three tours of Vietnam, had mentions in dispatches, and had been wounded and awarded as a result of combat. He was described as having readily displayed the qualities of courage, initiative and teamwork. He was said to be a man that led by example and was a highly regarded RSM. In his appointment as WO1-A, he was able to give a solders’ perspective to the Chief of General Staff, as well as communicate the General’s direction and strategy to the ranks. Those who knew him best said he belonged to the ‘grin and bear it’ generation and that he could be best described by Rudyard Kipling’s poem ‘if—’.
IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
‘ Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!
He held the position of WO1-A until his official retirement in 1987, but many maintain he never really retired. Wally Thompson passed in Bankstown on 19 April. He is survived by his wife Judith, his sons Brett and Scott as well as his daughters Sharyn, Catherine and Elizabeth.
