Sydney remembers its Jewish ANZACs
Sydney Jewish Community’s Annual Anzac Day Wreath Laying and Commemorative Service was held at the Sydney Jewish Museum with special guest Margaret Beazely, the Governor of New South Wales.
NAJEX president Roger Selby, CEO of the Sydney Jewish Museum Kevin Sumption and Charles Aronson laying tributes Photo: Sam Babus
Roger Selby, President of NAJEX, opened the event by naming many of the distinguished guests including the Governor, Ron Hoenig, Minister for Local Government, Vice President of the Executive Council and Leader of the House in the Legislative Assembly and the Member for Heffron, MPs Kellie Sloane, Allegra Spender and Matthew Cross.
Others attending included The New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip and CEO Darren Bark.
Guest speaker was Dr Howard Roby, a retired doctor who specialized in anesthesia, intensive care and aviation medication
He was also the medical director of Australia’s largest international medical assistance company, being responsible for the management of aeromedical evacuation of ill and injured Australians. In 1991, Howard joined the RAAF as a squadron leader, becoming later a Wing Commander as a military critical care and transport specialist. In this role, over 15 years, he made multiple journeys to war zones and other trouble spots, evacuating injured members of the military and civilians back to Australia.
NSW Liberal MP for Vaucluse Kallie Sloane, The New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Darren Bark and Federal Independent MP for Wentworth Allegra Spender Photo: Sam Babus
In his address, Dr Roby said: “This is not a day for celebration. As a doctor, I don’t see much to celebrate about war. At best war is the better of the series of alternatives. At worst, it’s a disaster for those who are involved in both sides of the conflict and their families. According to the Australian War Memorial, in our short European history, about 103,000 service personnel have died in the defence of Australia, and in order of magnitude, more have been wounded physically or mentally or both. Mark Dapin writes in his 2017 landmark history, “Jewish Anzacs, Jews in the Australian Military”, that by the end of the Second World War well over 400 of those who had died were Jewish Australians. Judaism was no barrier to this people are dying for country.
If wars are so universally disastrous for all those who serve, why does anyone ever sign up? I’ve recently finished reading the best seller from the 1930s, “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. One of my children decided that I could benefit from reading one chapter of the book which somewhat aggressively concludes that it’s impossible to convince anyone to do anything unless they’re rewarded. So what’s the reward for volunteering to fight in a war?”
He said that most of the Australians fighting for their country had been volunteers. He asked: “Why would anyone volunteer to put their lives at risk?
As a young man, I certainly had no idea. Perhaps it was simple ignorance or delusion. Historians tell us that for the first World War, there was a lot of unrealistic expectations of what was awaiting the troops. Some thought they were going on a grand adventure for King and country. The majority of those who volunteered did so out of a sense of service to their fellow citizens.
Dr Howard Roby Photo: Sam Babus
Service is a strange and nebulous sentiment. My belief now, after my military experience, is that a sense of service comes from the philosophy that you’re part of something bigger than yourselves. We are, as it were, all small components of a big organism and the health or continuation of that organism is more important than us. That greatest self may be one’s friends, family, state or country or even mankind itself. When that which we hold dear is threatened, our own safety becomes less important than ourselves.”
Howard Roby told the audiences of his late father’s experiences in the Second World War and how following his return to Brisbane, he established the Queensland Association of Jewish Servicemen or Women.
He recalled: “After some specialised military training, I became a military Critical Care Transport specialist, and in 2001, was assigned as a reserve officer to the medical evacuation squadron in Richmond. In Sydney my life for the next 15 or so years involved going off to St Vincent’s Hospital every day to do my day job. Every so often, whilst I was at work, I’d receive a phone call from the operation room of my squadron saying something like there is a flight to the Middle East leaving this evening, and you’re on it. Usually, I’d know where I was going and what injuries the patient had. Occasionally I found out my destination only when I picked up my ticket at the airport. The next morning I’d be landing in a foreign country. I usually had about 24 hours to diagnose their injuries and start to stabilise the patient. We’d load the patient onto an aircraft, and manage their injuries while flying back to Australia. I dropped them off at a hospital and I’d be back at my day job.”
He spoke of his involvement in the tragedies of the Bali bombings and the White Mountain volcano eruption in New Zealand which caused Australian deaths and horrific injuries.
He said: “So, was Dale Carnegie, the author of How to Win Friends Influence People, correct when he said that it’s impossible to get people to do things without reward? What rewards did I get from volunteering to spend several months working in a military hospital near Baghdad when the retrieval tempo was slow?
A hefty pension equivalent to one cappuccino a fortnight.”
The Governor joined other dignitaries in laying a wreath in memory of those who gave up the ultimate sacrifice for their country,
