QUEEN Elizabeth II presented Norm Ralston with the British Empire Medal (BEM) for his dedication to training up and coming officers in the Australian Army, and the Ulladulla resident remains passionate about including young people in Anzac Day services.
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Mr Ralston said he had been advised how to greet the Queen during the 1970 investiture ceremony at Government House in Sydney, but told the Times his preparations went out the window once the nerves kicked in.
“I shook the Queen’s hand and she said ‘you look scared’ and I said ‘I am’,” he explained.
“I didn’t say yes ma-am like I was supposed to, I was so nervous.”
Mr Ralston was recognised for his meritorious service to the Sydney University officer training unit over 12 years.
“At least twice a year I would take three or four hundred troop on camps where they would learn about the army and becoming an officer,” he said.
“I enjoyed working with the young students.”
A patron of the Ulladulla ExServos Club, Mr Ralston said he was looking forward to Friday’s Anzac Day morning service.
“It’s great to see the many young personnel that take part in the service,” he said.
“Anzac is a day to remember those who fought and also those who are still representing Australia overseas.”
Mr Ralston joined the Army at the age of 18, and was shipped off to Korea just before his 20th birthday as part of the 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) in 1951.
Australian troops served three years in the defence of South Korea, but private Ralston was sent home after only two months because of a broken leg.
The company was planning a barbecue and he and a few others were sent to pull down an abandoned timber hut to use as firewood when the roof collapsed and fell on him.
“My leg was broken in four places, so I was evacuated and sent home,” he said.
Three years later, Corporal Ralston returned to Korea and spent 12 months in the 1st Battalion Royal Australia Regiment as part of the multi-national peacekeeping force.
He recalled one evening when “all hell broke loose” across the river and he was about to launch into action when he discovered a Japanese film crew was making a war movie on the bank opposite his barracks.
Corporal Ralston returned to Australia before being deployed to the Malayan Emergency with the 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment in 1957 where he spent 12 months chasing enemy couriers in the jungle.
“We would go out and try to catch the couriers who were carrying money for the enemy,” he said.
“The company shot one and captured two.”
It was tough going and the troops were often isolated.
Corporal Ralston was hiding out in the jungle when he drank polluted water out of a creek and contracted the bacterial disease leptospirosis.
“The creek water was infected with rat urine,” he said.
He was sent to a mountain camp to recuperate for a couple of weeks before going back to the army base at Kuala Kangsar.
Mr Ralston spent 12 years in the regular army and 12 years at the officer training unit before he was discharged in 1974.
His military career meant he never married or had children.
Mr Ralston retired to Ulladulla 15 years ago and joined the Milton-Ulladulla RSL sub branch and TPI Association.
Mr Ralston will stand proudly alongside his fellow veterans on Friday and remember those who fought and died, as well as those currently serving overseas.
He will proudly wear his medals, including that special silver medal with his name on it – the BEM.
