CELEBRATING the connections many Riverland families have built with the Australian military remains a key aspect of Anzac Day in the region.
Renmark man Trevor Smith received his national service call-up on April 8, 1968, and served in the Vietnam War as part of the 106th Field Workshop at Nui Dat.
Mr Smith’s widow, Marianne, said Trevor’s passion for working with automobiles continued into the army, where he maintained a fleet of military vehicles.
“He was a mechanic to start with, did his apprenticeship and was deferred for two years to finish that first,” Mrs Smith said.
“Mechanics was his forte… but he wasn’t necessarily a very good do-it-yourself guy.
“But he was good in so many different aspects of his life. He was knowledgeable, he would listen and he would do research.”
Mrs Smith said Trevor was determined to continue the military service started by his father, who was part of World War II.
“When he got his call-up, he said to his father, who was a Rat of Tobruk, ‘I’ve got my call-up’,” she said.
“His dad, Dick Smith, said he didn’t have to go, but (Trevor) said ‘you’ve been there and done this, and I’m going too’.
“He followed on and the friendships they all made there turned those young boys into young men.
“It was a (bad) time, but it was amazing.”
Mrs Smith said support and encouragement from her parents helped her – and her newborn daughter – through the period of Trevor’s service.
“Trevor went in on the 8th of May, and it was soon after that I found out I was pregnant with Nicole,” she said.
“He was already in (Puckapunyal) then, so I shifted to Winkie where my parents lived, and I stayed there for the two years.
“Trevor was able to come back home once for R&R and he saw his daughter for the second time, which was mind-blowing.”
Trevor’s son, Brett, said his father was able to separate his time in the army from family life.
“I was born when Dad got back from Vietnam, and he was very good at keeping that to himself and not letting it show to us kids,” he said.
“My dad was just a normal dad. He was caring, giving, nurturing and nothing was too hard.
“It wasn’t until the end of Mum and Dad’s tenure at Kate’s Kitchen that things started to get on top of him, when his anxiety would come into play.”
Trevor’s daughter, Nicole, said her father remained proud of the military tradition throughout their family.
“His dad was a Rat of Tobruk, and Uncle Tom was in Papua New Guinea, so there was a family thing there and you were very proud of what they did,” she said.
“He was very proud of himself and his friends.”
Mrs Smith said Trevor, who operated the Eighteenth Street Caltex service station, then Kate’s Kitchen café in Renmark, was eager to reconnect with the Riverland following his service.
“He was born and bred here and we were very community minded,” Mrs Smith said.
“He was in the men’s Food and Wine Club, and he was chairman of Legacy.
“When he came back from Vietnam he played football for the Chaffey Football Club, which was something to behold.”
Mrs Smith said Trevor became dedicated to community organisations that supported returned servicemen and their families.
“We both joined the RSL and he was very involved with it,” she said.
“But I think he loved his Legacy more. We would go quite often to Legacy House in Adelaide and involve ourselves with what we could do in the Riverland.
“At that stage there were a lot of widows, but not a lot of legatees.”
Mrs Smith said a holiday to Vietnam – more than 20 years after his return from the army – was beneficial for both herself and Trevor.
“Trevor and I went back to Vietnam for the first time in 1991 with a Vietnam veterans group tour,” she said. “It was not just for Trevor, but it was also for me to put some ghosts to rest.
“We went everywhere. We went to where his workshops were… it was an amazing time for both of us.
“I think because of that, it settled Trevor a bit better.”