Military history of Seymour and Puckapunyal - post-WWII, Korea and the First National Service Scheme

At the conclusion of World War II, the Allied nations provided occupation forces to Japan as part of the armistice conditions.

Accordingly, in January 1946, the First Armoured Car Squadron was raised at Puckapunyal for service in Japan as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces.

The squadron was issued Staghound armoured cars and Canadian scout cars.

The squadron returned to Puckapunyal in December 1948 and in July 1949 it provided the nucleus for the raising of the First Armoured Regiment at Puckapunyal.

The regiment moved into the old World War II lines in the ‘Grid’, where living conditions were basic.

The Churchill tanks, and later the Centurions, were left out in the open and servicing of the vehicles took place in the open tank park.

The Korean War began in June 1950, which resulted in Australia committing troops to the United Nations forces.

The government called for volunteers with military experience to enlist for three years of service with one of those years in Korea under a scheme called K-Force.

The purpose was to provide rapid reinforcements to the Third Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment, which had been sent to Korea while on British Commonwealth Occupation Forces duties in Japan.

At this time the regular army's First Infantry Brigade was located at Puckapunyal and soldiers from this brigade made up the first Victorian contingent of K-Force which left for Korea.

On August 31, 1950, the Seymour train station was the scene of another teary farewell as Seymour once again sent soldiers off to war.

While the regular army was focused on Korea, the Seymour camp was still very busy with additional funding provided to upgrade the facilities for the Citizen Military Force troops, the School of Tactics and Administration and the School of Infantry, which had relocated to Seymour from Bonegilla in 1947.

The School of Tactics and Administration was the precursor to the modern Command and Staff College, which trained officers for command and administration in the field during times of war.

In November 1950, general staff chief Lieutenant General Sydney Rowell hosted an exercise at the school for senior British, New Zealand and American officers, as well as practically all of the senior Australian regular and Citizen Force officers.

The School of Infantry was also tasked with training officers and warrant officers in the administrative and instructional requirements for employment in the CMF units.

The School of Infantry would remain at Seymour until 1960, when it relocated to Ingleburn in Sydney.

The First National Service Scheme was implemented in March 1951 and Puckapunyal would become the epicentre for National Service Training in Victoria.

The 14th, 15th and 20th National Service Training battalions would cater for the thousands of national servicemen who completed a 90-day course at Puckapunyal before continuing their training at their local army depots.

The first intake marched into Puckapunyal with regular army and K-Force soldiers in August 1951.

Dysart Siding was once again put into action with soldiers detraining at the siding for clothing and equipment issues before moving out to Puckapunyal by bus or truck.

The base engineers worked overtime to construct additional sporting ovals and 27.4 m rifle ranges in the side of Mt Certainty, install cool rooms and renovate sleeping huts for the trainees and regular soldiers.

However, many national servicemen and staff would be allocated to marquee tents as there was not enough permanent accommodation for the sudden influx of personnel.

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One of the 14th National Service Training Battalion instructors in 1951, Captain John Quantrill had to live in a tent with his family for 27 weeks with no water, electricity or toilet while he waited for a married quarter building to become available.

Large parades and inspections have always been a fixture on the military calendar of Seymour and Puckapunyal and 1952 was no different with Lieutenant General Rowell visiting Puckapunyal with more than 5000 regular, K-Force and national servicemen on parade.

The following day, Lieutenant General Rowell also visited the ‘Old Seymour’ camp, where 1000 soldiers from the Citizen Military Force's Third Division were attending a camp.

Due to the post-World War II downsizing of the numerous Seymour camps, many Citizen Military Force soldiers lived in tents during their training at Seymour, in a similar fashion to the World War I soldiers.

National Service training would continue at Puckapunyal until the scheme ceased in 1959.

The Second Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment had been stationed at Puckapunyal since its return from British Commonwealth Occupation Forces duties in 1948 and was one of the battalions of the First Infantry Brigade.

In mid-1952, the battalion was given notice for a deployment to Korea in early 1953.

In June 1953, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II was celebrated at Puckapunyal with a 6.30 am service at Buckler's Hill on the training range.

The 14th National Service Training Battalion had been planning for this occasion for some time and had built a rock cairn on Buckler's Hill as part of the celebrations.

The cairn was unveiled by Mrs Kappe, wife of National Service Brigade Commander at Puckapunyal, brigadier Charles Kappe.

The cairn would become well known to all national serviceman and permanent staff posted to Puckapunyal for the next 60 years as Buckler's Hill would become part of the field training area and the cross country running track.

The remains of the cairn are still visible on the hill and the bronze commemorative plaque has been moved to the remembrance park on Blamey Ave.

In 1956, the Olympic Games were being held in Melbourne.

As part of the lead-up training for the athletes, various regional track and field meetings were held around the state and Puckapunyal was included in this roster.

On November 10, 1956, one of the races held was the 5000 m track event.

The Citizen Military Force's Second Armoured Brigade trained at Puckapunyal throughout the 1950s with regular camps which included the national serviceman allocated to the Royal Australian Armoured Corps.

The two regiments which comprised the brigade, the 4th/19th Prince of Wales Light Horse and 8th/13th Victorian Mounted Rifles, trained predominantly on surplus World War II vehicles with the obsolete M3 Grant tank featuring on many exercises until they were withdrawn from service before conversion to the Centurion tank in 1956.

However, with limited Centurions to train with and a re-organisation of the army structure, the brigade was disbanded in 1957.

The two regiments would continue as part of other formations and be converted to reconnaissance regiments equipped with scout cars and a small number of Centurions but they would continue to train at Puckapunyal for many years to come.

The end of the 1950s saw many changes to the original layout of Puckapunyal as the regular army units began to spread out from the central ‘Grid’ system of buildings into new purpose-built facilities.

This resulted in many of the wartime buildings being torn down and others being refurbished or sold to local land owners.

Many of these war-era P1 huts can still be seen on properties around the Seymour area.

The Second National Service Scheme from the 1960s and the deployment of the regular army units based at Puckapunyal to Vietnam would once again see Puckapunyal as the epicentre of training in the state and will be the focus of the next and final article in the series.

- Captain David Adams, Army Knowledge Centre