ANZAC Day's special meaning for EMD

For Toowoomba Operation Centre Emergency Medical Despatcher David Hartshorn, ANZAC Day has very special and personal meaning – given he is an ex-Army veteran, having served also as an international peace keeper.

Tuesday 25 April is Australia’s and New Zealand’s national day of commemoration for victims of war and for recognition of the role of their armed forces.

It marks the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.

Before working at the QAS, Staff Sergeant David Hartshorn was a Communications Supervisor in the Royal Australian Corps of Signals and his role was to operate and supervise army telegraphic and radio communications assets supporting military field and strategic operations and to operate and manage army cryptographic assets.

He also served as the Australian Army cryptographer during peacekeeping service with the Multinational Force and Observers in the Sinai Desert in 1994.

One of David’s significant postings saw him serve in the Force Duty Centre monitoring the peace accord between Egypt and Israel from 1994-95.

As the duty officer, he wrote the Force Duty Centre log, including the day Yasser Arafat made his first visit to Sinai since his expulsion from the area in the 1960s and his observations can be read on the Australian War Memorial’s website here ‘under experiences of Australians’.

David also supervised communications support for the 1987 Vietnam Veterans Welcome Home parade in Sydney – a significant parade recognising Australia’s involvement in the war and the start of reconciliation and community acceptance for veterans.

The Australian War Memorial also holds a number of David’s letters, documents, and articles and also has his peace keeping jacket in its collection.

David changed career 26 years ago to QAS because while he felt he was helping people in a peacekeeping or combat environment, he had a young family and wanted something less demanding, but which still helped people.

Having his words recorded and his peacekeeper jacket included in the Canberra War Memorial’s collection was very special for David and his family.

“It’s a complete honour and I feel chuffed and privileged they chose me,” David said.

“When it comes to our defence forces, we don’t hear as much about the peace keeping work we do and there’s a misconception peacekeeping is not combat-related but there are terrorist incidents that do occur which have targeted our bases, particularly the Sinai base I was at.

“In many respects, for me this is closing a book – closing a part of my life so I can fully enjoy this chapter with the QAS.”