This was taken when we were kitted up with a full set of new gear, before the winter arrived. What is in that load is what I wore, slept in, and carried wherever I went from then on until Spring. No wonder we were fit.

This snap has me wearing the most battered hat, God knows how it got like that! Geez we were truly called " baggy arses."

Fellow behind me is Bluey Drayson, a bren gunner. The night the Chinese tried to push B coy. back off The Hinge in October, Bluey had ten dead Chinese in front of his fighting pit when they gave up. Lord knows how many more may have been further down, the Chinese removed all of their dead and wounded if possible. To look at Bluey some might not expect that, but I reckon for the Chinese most of 3RAR were an unpleasant surprise.