By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
THE nephew of a British soldier killed in the Vietnam War used a Berwick News article to track down his uncle’s best mate from Australia who he fought alongside more than 40 years ago.
Machine gunner Eric Halkyard was killed in February 1971 by a grenade as he lay next to his close friend Bill Rogers during a battle in the high hills of Phuoc Tuy province in South Vietnam.
On the eve of Anzac Day last year Bill, 69, of Berwick, shared with the News the agony of losing his best mate.
Bill was medevac’d out of the battle with severed nerves in his arm and shrapnel in his back but still lived to tell the tale.
In last year’s story Bill said he’d never been able to find Eric’s family.
That was until he saw the story in the news.
While researching his family history a few months after the News story was published, Eric’s nephew John Moores, who lives in Manchester, England, came across the article on the internet and tracked down Bill, a former president of Melbourne Legacy, through the Legacy group.
Even better, he and his wife, Sheila, had already planned to travel to Melbourne and were able to meet up with Bill for one day last August.
“It was a bit emotional,” Bill said.
“They were only here for that day, so we only spent probably a couple of hours together but the couple of hours seemed to be enough in as much as it filled a hole that was there.
“And I feel now that I know them, we email, I’m not quite on the Facebook stage yet but they are so we’ve mentioned a few things, caught up a bit there.
“It’s filled a hole… I’ve met someone of his family.”
Over coffee Bill told John and Sheila about his memories of sharing a hooch with Eric and fighting alongside his cherished companion.
“I told them how we spent our time together, the closeness that we had,” Bill said.
“You share everything together.
“While one’s manning the gun pit the other one’s making a brew. So you become really close, you watch out for each other.
“I rarely spoke about how we got on together, how important he was in my life, and still is.
“I don’t need a photograph to know what he looks like, I can see him, as clear as looking at you, I can see him.
“That’s never diminished.”
When they met last year, Bill said he knew as soon as he spotted John walk through the door that he was Eric’s nephew.
“Now whether it was just an assumption, oh well here’s a couple coming in but, no, there was a resemblance there,” Bill said.
“That was good. It was really nice.
“And it was good to… there was no sort of thought of what do we talk about?
“There was a connection straight away.”
They spoke of Eric’s life growing up in England and serving as a soldier in the 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards and of his postings to the British Army of the Rhine and to South America.
Eric also carried out ceremonial duties as a guardsman at Buckingham Palace but he soon felt the urge to put his military training into practice and the Vietnam War gave him the opportunity to fight among his brothers in arms.
“He and a mate came out here to join the Australian army ’cause they thought, well they’ve got Vietnam going here,” Bill said.
“This is where the action is, instead of standing outside the gates of Buckingham Palace.”
Sheila told the News this week that John and his family only had “vague information” about Eric’s time in Australia, and meeting Bill helped answer many unanswered questions.
“Bill is a wonderful man and as soon as we came into reception at the Mercure Hotel I turned to John and said that’s Bill,” Sheila said.
“Bill stood in the crowd, an ex-military gentleman, very smartly dressed and friendly.
“Bill said he was so pleased to finally meet members of Eric’s family, and he had waited such a long time for this moment.
“He went on to ask what John knew about Eric’s death and John basically said the family had been told a sniper had shot him, which turned out to be not the case.
“We learned from Bill the actual details of the events that led to Eric’s death and we were able to tell Bill details of Eric life in the UK and how he came to join the Australian Army.
“I’m sure we will keep in touch with Bill.”
But while last year’s meeting helped Bill get a better understanding of Eric’s past, there are some questions still unanswered – both for Bill and Eric’s family.
Bill distinctly remembers Eric telling him he had a wife and two children, but John said no-one in his family was aware of this, as far as they knew.
What Bill does know is that Eric saved his life that day in South Vietnam 40 years ago. And he will never forget it.
“We got on really well, it was as if we were brothers together. We had a really good relationship,” Bill said.
“It was the fact that he got sliced open with a grenade, if it had of gone between us we’d have both been dead, and I would say that he… he saved me.
“That’s probably the best way to describe it.”
