Kathy Gandolfi
“SHE was a beauty,” said retired Regimental Sergeant Major Geoff Baker last week when he and three colleagues of the 1st Armoured Regiment Association gave a facelift to the army tank which is on permanent display at Mount Gambier’s Returned and Services League (RSL) Bowling Club on Jubilee Highway.
Now living at Seaford, Adelaide, Mr Baker was crew commander for that actual tank in the 1980’s, something he discovered by accident during a return visit to Mount Gambier which was his home-town as a boy growing up.
“I was back in the Mount with my wife and we were walking down the street and she said, ‘look, there is a tank like you had’,” said Mr Baker.
“I thought, wouldn’t it be great if it was my old tank, and as it turned out – it was.”
Despite the chances being slim as Australia had about 100 Leopard tanks during their service, Mr Baker checked the serial number, painted on the exterior of the machine, and immediately recognised that 29395 was indeed his tank.
“I practically slept with her for two years,” Mr Baker said as he prepared to give the 46 year old tank a new coat of paint thanks to help from Mount Gambier’s RSL, Bunnings who donated the paint and tools through Taubmans Paint, and Paxford Canvas who made, fitted and donated a new cover for the tank, while the local Woolworths made sure the men were fed during their working bees last week.
Mr Baker said the tank’s name when it was in service was Coldstream but the repainting last week gave he and his colleagues the opportunity to rename it in line with the tradition of squadrons naming tanks with the letter of the squadron it belonged to – be it A, B or C.
As the tank was with C Squadron, and as the tank is now in Mount Gambier which was Mr Baker’s home town, it was decided to rename the tank Crater City.
Mr Baker went to school at Mount Gambier’s Reidy Park and North primary schools and then Tech School, now known as Grant High School.
As was common in those days, he finished school on the Friday and began work the following Monday as an apprentice mechanic with the highways department.
He left Mount Gambier when he was 17 years old and moved to Naracoorte where he was called up for national service in 1972 after which he joined the regular army with whom he served for 34 years.
Being a mechanic, it was natural fit for him to be allocated to the 1st Armoured Regiment based at Puckapunyal’s army facility in central Victoria and later Mr Baker moved to Darwin with the brigade there.
He also had non-corps postings in Kapooka near Wagga Wagga and Tamworth in New South Wales, and in Sydney.
Mr Baker said while the tank was made in 1976, his association with it was in 1983 and 1984 when he was posted back to the 1st Armoured Regiment at Puckapunyal as a troop sergeant to C Squadron.
“I was issued 29395 so it was basically my tank for two years,” Mr Baker said.
During that time, the tank and its crew, with Mr Baker as the crew commander, participated in training exercises, including a major one in 1983.
“My squadron loaded all our tanks and support vehicles on the HMAS Tobruk and sailed from Melbourne to Shoalwater Bay near Rockhampton in Queensland for an eight week exercise, including a dawn attack at Sabina Point.”
The tank stayed with the regiment for its entire life, never firing a shot in anger.
Replaced by the American Abrams tanks, the Leopard tanks were retired from service in 2007 and donated by the Commonwealth Government to RSL’s for display in towns around Australia.
Three of Mr Baker’s 1st Armoured Regiment colleagues helped him repaint Mount Gambier’s Leopard.
They included Roger Martlew, of Millicent, who was a 20 year old when he served as a gunner on a Centurion tank – the forerunner to the Leopard – in the Vietnam War and has vivid memories of his tank being blown up in his first two weeks of service, suffering bad burns but thankfully surviving and having to return to serve out the rest of his 15 month tour.
Richard James, of Naracoorte, was a tank driver on Centurions and and was a driver during tank trials to determine whether Australia selected the American or German tank.
Mark Reid, of Adelaide, was a crewman on Centurion tanks in 1972 and later was a commander on the Leopard tank after its introduction.
Despite or perhaps because of their experiences, the men obviously maintain a strong bond, meeting regularly through their shared association, and with Mount Gambier’s Leopard being a familiar reminder of that period in their lives, they gladly gave up their time to give it a fresh lick of paint.
“It’s a brilliant idea to paint the old girl – give her a face-lift – and get together at the same time,” they said.
