Veteran reflects on what Remembrance Day means to him
When the clock strikes 11am on November 11, distinguished army veteran and Deception Bay RSL Sub Branch President Steve Hilton will pause to remember those who served before him, alongside him, as well as those who are still serving to keep our nation safe.
Having proudly served in the Australian Army for almost 30 years, including five overseas deployments, Steve understands how important it is to reflect on the atrocities and loss of life from all wars and conflicts.
“This Remembrance Day marks the 106th anniversary of the Armistice which ended the First World War,” Steve says.
“After 52 months of slaughter and loss, the guns on the Western Front fell silent at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918.
“The First World War had been a long and destructive conflict for all nations involved – it involved 35 countries and mobilized more than 70 million people, of whom some nine million were killed, more than 21 million wounded, and eight million reported missing or taken prisoner.
“Of the 330,000 Australian soldiers who saw active service, more than 60,000 were killed, 82,000 were wounded in battle, and a further 88,000 suffered a variety of illnesses and injuries.
“After World War II, the Australian and British governments deemed it more appropriate to commemorate the sacrifices made in all conflicts and changed the name of the day from Armistice Day to Remembrance Day.
“Sadly, Australia has lost more brave men and women in subsequent wars and conflicts – like the war in Afghanistan, which was our most recent conflict, so it’s important all those brave men and women are in our thoughts as well.”
While ANZAC Day is observed only in Australia and New Zealand, Remembrance Day is observed across the Commonwealth, as well as in France, Belgium and Poland.
To commemorate the day, Steve invites residents from across the city to attend the Deception Bay RSL Sub Branch Remembrance Day Service, which will be held at the War Memorial on Captain Cook Parade.
“The service is not as long as ANZAC Day, but it is your opportunity to give thanks,” Steve says.
The service will commence at 10.45am and will include the laying of wreaths, the playing of the Last Post, and the observance of a minute's silence at 11am.
A distinguished military career
Steve enlisted in the Australian Army on March 23, 1989, following a bet with his dad. He was 23 years old.
“My dad said to me, ‘you don’t have the guts to join the service – I don’t care if it’s the military, police, fire or ambulance, but you don’t have the guts’, so my brother and I went down to the Enoggera Barracks to the Army Reserve Artillery Unit and started filling out the paperwork,” Steve says.
“I then started thinking about the regular service, so I applied and was accepted, and was told to go home and pack my bags because I was to leave that afternoon.
“My dad was really proud of me.”
Steve completed his training at Kapooka in Wagga Wagga where he became a logistics manager.
His first posting was to the 5th Aviation Regiment in Townsville, which at the time “was in the transition of handing over the black hawk helicopters from the Royal Australian Air Force 9th Squadron to the Army”.
“My first job, as a private soldier brand new to the Australian Army, was to bring every nut, bolt and washer that was fitted to the black hawks onto the Defence Force’s accounting system – every single one of them,” Steve says.
“I had to sit there with a microfiche and scan for every stock number and then write it out on a form so we could input that into the computer.”
Throughout his career Steve was sent to various units and battalions across the country including Oakey, Toowoomba, Darwin, Sydney and Canberra, moving up the ranks to become a Warrant Officer Class 1.
He was also deployed to Bougainville in Papua New Guinea as part of the Peace Monitoring Group, spent six months in Egypt for Operation Mazurka - which is part of the Multinational Force and Observers in Sinai - plus did three tours of Afghanistan.
“I was part of the Mentoring Taskforce 2 with the 5th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment where I mentored two Afghanistan Majors – one as a supply and support logistics officer, and the other as an administration officer,” Steve says.
“The Afghanistan Army did not know how to sustain themselves, or know how to get food and fuel to their soldiers who were deployed out in the field because they were worried they were going to get taken over by the Taliban.
“While I was there, I managed to get them to go out on their first ever resupply, which was a big achievement.
“I was only supposed to be there for eight months but ended up staying for 10.
“When I was sent home, I was only here for about three weeks before I got the call to go back again to do relief work for a month.
“I then returned home, this time to Sydney, and no sooner had I got there, I was deployed back to Afghanistan with the Special Forces.”
Steve was discharged on April 1, 2017, and after attending a barbecue put on by the Deception Bay RSL Sub Branch, he joined the branch and became Treasurer before being elected President.