House debates

Monday, 24 August 2020

Statements by Members

Saunders, Dr Norman (Sandy)

4:07 pm

Photo of Pat ConaghanPat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Thank you. I've been honoured to have spent quite a bit of time with veterans in my electorate, recently, commemorating significant anniversaries of the Korean War, World War II and the Vietnam War. One of the highlights was presenting 94-year-old Norman 'Sandy' Saunders with our government's commemorative medal for this year's 75th anniversary of Victory in the Pacific. Mr Saunders has given a life of service to our nation and, initially, to his country of England. In 1943, when Sandy was just 16, his home town of Portsmouth in England was regularly bombed by the German forces. Sandy joined the Royal Navy and trained to be a naval communicator and later worked as a technician, fitting the newly invented radar into Royal Navy ships. Sandy was involved in the allied invasion of Normandy in France—the famous D-day landings—the largest seaborne invasion of our history. He went on to serve in the Royal Navy and, later, the Royal Australian Navy for almost 40 years, participating in military tours of Malaysia, Borno and Vietnam. Two years ago, Sandy was presented with the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur from the French President, Emmanuel Macron.

We owe a lot to brave servicemen like Sandy, and I thank each and every Australian veteran, and serving defence men and women, for their service and sacrifice to our nation. Sandy, thank you very much.