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AUSTRALIAN GUNNER
OBITUARY RESOURCE
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Major (Retd) Jeffree Seymour RAA
28 Mar 1945 to 7 Mar 2022 |
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By Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Brian Armour
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| Printed Version |
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I reasoned that I would have first met Jeff at the School of Artillery somewhere in the early 1970’s but looking at his Statement of Service, any meeting then is hard to pinpoint. What I can say with some certainty, is that we met in Townsville in 1976 when Jeff was the Battery Captain (BK) 107th Field Battery then part of 4th Field Regiment RAA.
I was serving in the Directorate of Artillery in Canberra in 1976-77 and was on my annual tour to promise all manner of future success to unsuspecting Gunner Officers. I advised Jeff that he was in the frame to be a Battery Commander and instead of falling gratefully at my feet he said, “Can I speak frankly”.
Jeff’s response was at the time a bit surprising; he said, “I appreciate the opportunity, but I am not in the Army for a star-studded career, I just want to enjoy life.” So, I said “What do you want to do?” He said, “I would like to go to the UN”.
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| So, on 3 Feb 78, off he went to UNTSO in the Middle East where he remained until 28 May 79. That was a brief insight into Jeff’s attitude to life as exemplified by entire career in the Army and after that. He also thought I was a miracle-worker which was an idea I did not seek to discourage. |
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| Jeff’s number came out of the National Service Scheme barrel, and he duly proceeded to 1st Recruit Training Battalion at Kapooka for Army Basic Training on 28 Sep 65. |
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Jeff was a Graduate of the Hawkesbury Agricultural College so was quickly identified as “Officer potential” and he moved on to the newly established Officer Training Unit (OTU) at Scheyville NSW on 15 Oct 65. Lt Col Jim Box (Retd) recalled that he and Jeff were on the same OTU Course, and both joined the RAA proceeding to the School of Artillery to attend their Young Officer’s Course in Jul 66. Jim recalls they almost went to Woomera together but a late change in posting meant that Jim went 111th Air Defence (AD) Battery at Woodside SA and Jeff proceeded on to the Army Guided Weapons Trials Unit (AGWTU) at Woomera a bit further west in SA in Oct 66.
The photo provided by the family shows Jeff second from the left among a group of eminent Gunners at Woomera. I think daunting to be a brand-new Second Lieutenant in that company.
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| In Mar 68, he was posted briefly to 133rd Divisional Locating Battery which would have been at Padstow NSW but returned later that month to AGWTU. Jeff’s National Service obligation had expired on 27 Sep 67, and he transferred to the CMF (now Army Reserve) until Dec 70, and then to the Regular Army until Jun 86. After that, he remained active finishing his service back in the Reserve retiring on 8 Apr 90 |
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In Jun 71, he was posted to 1 Civil Affairs Unit at Nui Dat in South Vietnam. As the Australian involvement in the war was ending in 1971, he was posted to HQ 1 Australian Task Force in Nov 71 and remained there until Mar 72. A small force had withdrawn to Vung Tau to oversee the complete withdrawal and Jeff was there during the very last days of our long involvement in that conflict |
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On his return to Australia, he was posted to 16th Air Defence Regiment (16 AD Regiment) at Woodside SA. Brig (Retd) Gerry Warner and Col (Retd) Bob McEvoy recalled that he was initially in Headquarters Battery then Battery Captain (BK) of 111th Air Defence Battery. He remained in 16 AD Regiment until Feb 74 when he moved to 113th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery; a Reserve Unit located in Newcastle where he would have been on the ARA Cadre |
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In Jan 75, he was posted to 7th Field Regiment, a Reserve unit in Sydney where he was the Adjutant and later that year, he was posted to 4th Field Regiment in Townsville as BK 107th Field Battery. He remained in 4th Field Regiment from Nov 75 until Feb 78. During his time in Townsville, he was selected to take part in Exercise “Long Look” which involved an exchange of personnel between units of the Australian Army and the British Army. Jeff spent almost 4 months with 25 Field Regiment RA in Germany which was a great experience.
As mentioned at the beginning of this account of Jeff’s service, he then had 15 months in the Middle East with the UN.
On return to Australia in May 79, it was back to Reserve Field Regiments in Sydney until Aug 80. He was then posted to HQ Field Force Command and then HQ RAA Ist Division until Nov 82. Both units were located within the historic Victoria Barracks at Paddington NSW. He was soon off overseas again as the Ground Liaison Officer for 65 Ground Liaison Section in Butterworth Malaysia where he remained until Jan 85. The RAAF had long maintained a presence at this base from Malayan Emergency days and one of the few places in Malaysia where you rely on fresh milk from Australia every day. John Paget, an Infantry officer who was Jeff’s neighbour in Townsville in the mid 1970’s was by now the Defence Attaché in Kuala Lumpur and renewed his contact with Jeff in this period.
Jeff returned to Australia in Jan 85 and was posted back to HQ Field Force (later Land) Command in Paddington until Oct 89. This posting saw his transition from the Regular Army back to the Reserve as mentioned earlier.
His final posting was back to the School of Artillery at North Head in Oct 89 where he retired a year later after 24 years of service.
In later civilian life he was a HR Executive in Telstra which involved some time in San Francisco, and he also ran a Newsagency on Sydney’s lower North Shore in a partnership with the late Major Jeff Evans, a fellow Gunner and close friend. He purchased a haven in Moncalvo, Piedmont in Italy where he spent his time between Italy and his unit at Kirribilli.
He was a larger-than-life personality in the town and had the locals eating out of the palm of his hand. (This an observable first-hand account). He was an active Member of the Royal Australian Artillery Historical Company at North Head which had a few gaps to fill after the School of Artillery departed North Head for the dubious charms of Puckapunyal Vic. In late 1997. He was a Secretary for the Governor of NSW, Peter Sinclair and in his spare time drove a taxi. A true all-rounder in every sense of the word.
Jeff’s awards include Australian Army Active Service Medal 1945-75 with clasp “Vietnam”; Vietnam Medal; Australian Service Medal with clasp “Middle East”; Defence Force Service Medal with First Clasp; National Medal; Australian Defence Medal; Anniversary of National Service 1951-72 Medal; Vietnamese Campaign Medal; United Nations Medal with Ribbon “UNTSO” and the Returned from Active Service Badge.
We became good friends having hooked up at the Coronation Hotel on Anzac Day in the mid 2000’s and have repeated that ritual (and others) most years since. A good man and a genuine “people’ person who will be sorely missed.
I also acknowledge the contribution made by the Gunners cited in this Obituary and many others who are not mentioned.
In recent days, I became aware that Maj (Retd) Neil Leckie who as the Editor was writing an Obituary for Jeff for inclusion in “The Scheyvillian”, the Journal for OTU Graduates. We have discussed a single Obituary for Jeff on the RAAHC Website and in the Scheyvillian but in the end we agreed the interest groups were different, but we would each acknowledge this point in our writings.
Ben covered Jeff’s entire life in his Eulogy. Jeff was born in Bathurst on 28 Mar 45 while his father Keith Seymour was on Active Service in WW2. Keith was a Sergeant in the 2/31 Battalion having enlisted in 1940. He was killed on 7 Aug 45 at Balikpapan just 8 days before the end of the War. Jeff never knew his father but visited his grave with Ben in Sandakan and was very assiduous in attending all many of Ceremonies to honour the Fallen around the World.
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