Bob Brown and Rusty Marquis celebrate 50th anniversary of Warrant Officers rank

Across the RAN, 87 Chief Petty Officers were made up to WO - 12 in the Fleet Air Arm, including six at Nowra's HMAS Albatross.

Fifty years on only two of that original six from Albatross survive, Bob Brown, 92, and Rusty Marquis, 96, who both still live in Nowra.

A special function to mark the occasion will be held at the Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre on Friday, December 17 organised and hosted by the Keith Payne VC Veterans Benefit Group.

The new rank came above Chief Petty Officer and brought the navy into line with the army and air force, who both already had the WO ranks.

At the time the principle function of the Warrant Officer was managerial - to plan, allocate and control work within their particular specialisation as well as other additional tasks such as leadership and administration of all branches.

The rank even led to the designing of a new insignia.

The pair met recently to relive old times and admitted they "couldn't believe it had been 50 years."

"It certainly doesn't seem that long," said Bob, who in early November celebrated the 70th anniversary of joining the RAN, while for Rusty, January next year will mark the 79th anniversary of "joining up".

Joining them in the initial six were Don Simpson, Doug Eastgate, Geoff Beardsly and Paddy Linton, while another well-known local Len Bolden who was in Sydney, was also made a WO as was Victor Baugh, who also has Shoalhaven ties and still lives in Nowra, but was posted away from Albatross at the time.

"We had to undergo a special training course at Cerberus, where they were going to teach us how to run things," Bob said.

"We were experienced - we knew how things worked - my last job in avionics I oversaw 35 sailors and 13 civilians - we knew the systems and we knew how things worked."

"Experts," said Rusty exasperated.

"They tried to tell us about the pyramid method.

"They can tell you the square root of a pickle but probably couldn't get it out of the jar. They couldn't undo the lid," he laughed.

There had been a Warrant Officer branch in the RAN during the war but it had been disbanded, Bob said.

"They were a commissioned rank and known as Mister.

"There were a few Misters here [at Albatross] at one stage.

"But then they decided to bring the three services in line, there were WOs in the army and air force but they didn't have non-commissioned officers in the navy, so they commissioned us from the lower decks.

"There were 80 odd of us made out in the navy and we had six at Albatross but they really didn't know what they wanted us to do.

"No one out at Albatross knew what to do with us."

"They made us up and never knew what to do with us," Rusty agreed.

"We had no duties."

"They didn't know if they should make us second officer of the watch or on guard house watch," Bob said.

"Eventually they decided we should stick to our trade and they gave us at least four years in the rank."

So Rusty returned to the electrical air weapons section and Bob as a systems artificer air weapons.

"On board ships we were made the beer bosun at sea and dished the beer out," Rusty said.

"I was even a permanent loans officer at one stage."

They agreed Albatross was certainly a different operation today.

"We were only saying the other day how things have changed," Bob said.

"I think we were closer as a group. We all lived together. We were like a big family."

"Now, they all live separately or off base," Rusty said.

They reflected on not having a Chief's Mess, then the Chiefs and Petty Officers getting a 'tin shed" and later the combining of the Ward Room and the Chief Mess.

"I think there was more camaraderie then compared to what there is now," Rusty said.

"There was only a small group of people in the Air Arm compared to the whole navy as such - everyone knew each other," Bob said.

"There would have only been just over 1000 by the time everyone went to sea," Rusty said.

"The base was busy - at dinner time there was a queue down the street - paydays were the same.

"If someone was away at sea, those left behind would help each other - mow the lawns or look after everything if anything was needed.

"We'd all go ashore and have drinks together at a local hotel."

"At one stage we even had the White Ensign Club," Bob said.

"We all played a lot of sport, both locally and interservice."

"We could have up to 40-50 people staying in the one hut - now they live in single accommodation or the majority off base," Rusty said.

"Gee, on the ships we lived in each others' pockets.

"I don't know that they mix as much nowadays and that might be part of their undoing."

Bob recalls how there was only one bus that headed into Nowra on the 'dusty Albatross Road', which many of the personnel's wives caught, and all the strollers used to be hung on the back of the bus.

Bob's connection with Albatross actually goes back to 1948-49, when he would come to Nowra from Moss Vale to play hockey against teams from the 'local base'.

"Never thought I would end up there," he laughed.

Sport was also a big part of life in the navy, Bob said, who played hockey for Albatross in the Wollongong comp and interservice lawn bowls.

Many would probably not know but Rusty's real name is Alfred, but a nickname given to him as a 15-year-old "stuck and remained."

"It came just after I left school and was working for a bus company while waiting to join the navy," he said.

"One of the jobs was to change engine oils etc - this big Daimler Benz we had usually had 12-13 threads - three threads and it came down and I was covered in the dirty, rusty oil - four gallons of it and from then on I was Rusty. Being in the navy you always got a nickname, so that stuck."

Originally from Western Australia, Rusty joined the navy in January 1943, still during World War II as a 17-year-old.

"I signed up for the duration of the war and six months," he said.

"When the war finished they called for volunteers and I thought 'this'll do me so I stayed in' - for 33 years."

Initially after joining and doing three months basic training at Flinders at HMAS Cerberus, followed by stints at Penguin, the coal burner HMAS Adele in Sydney and then onto HMAS Assault, where he was part of the 'navy commandos'.

"We were the first set up trained for an invasion - it was at a secret place at Nelsons Bay out of Fly Point called HMAS Assault," he said.

"We were all volunteers as per navy. We lined up three abreast and then the order 'from this man left, left turn, quick march, you've all volunteered for special service'.

"They taught us the basics of unarmed combat, and things like that, how to blow up things and to be able to drive everything from trucks to ducks.

"Our job was to be in the first wave onto the beaches and set everything up and maintain it."

When the war finished he was in Borneo, Tarakan and Balikpapan.

"The war finished when the Yanks dropped the big bomb - the war was over, they gave us a bottle of beer each - after we drank it they said the war's still on and we had another couple of days but we never got another bottle of beer," he laughed.

"We were coming home from Borneo to Morotai on an old dutch transport and then got onboard HMAS Manoora [a passenger liner that served the RAN].

"They were bringing the blokes home from Changi - we came home in the hold - they were up top - poor buggers were skinny as buggery."

From there came stints on HMAS Adelaide, Hobart and Murchison as a torpedoman, who dealt with everything electrical on ship.

One deployment included a trip to Hiroshima.

"That was just seven months after the bomb went off," he said. "The place was devastated."

"Torpedomen was the best branch in the navy, you could go anywhere on the ship from the top of the mast to the lower deck, you had access to all areas," he said.

"We dealt with anything to do with electricity - lights, ventilation, generation, gun circuits, torpedoes, depth charges all came out of the torpedomen, who was kingpin of everywhere."

The section was eventually split in two, half continuing in the electrical field, the other half moving to submarine detection.

Rusty stayed in the electrical field.

He even ended up at the Woomera Rocket Range for 18 months when it was opened.

Then a signal about the Fleet Air Arm sparked his interest, however he did initially question "who would want to be in the air force".

"It was '49-50 and included a posting to the UK for a year," he said. "I'd been living in the desert for 18 months so thought 'why not'."

After that year of training he returned to Australia's Fleet Air Arm, based at HMAS Albatross, as well as stints on Sydney and Melbourne, working on a variety of aircraft including Sea Furies, Fireflies, Wirraways, Sea Venom, Gannets, "everything bar the Tracker,"

"I even worked on the Skyhawks, and the Iroquois and Wessex helicopters."

Rusty married Marg, who passed away in early November this year.

They had a son Craig who went on to serve 26 years in the RAN, working in the gunnery.

Rusty paid off from the navy in 1976 after 33 years service.

Bob Brown was originally from Nabiac, just out Taree, where his father was a bank manager.

As a youngster during the war, Bob moved to Sydney where his father was transferred and attended Drummoyne public and high school.

"I remember the Japanese sub being brought to school on the back of a trailer. I think I was 13-14 at the time," he said.

A further move to Moss Vale as a manager by his father saw the family again relocate and Bob finishing his schooling at Bowral High and eventually taking up a trade as an electrical fitter, working at the cement works as a fitter and on electrical cranes.

"A mate and I had enough of the coal and cement dust and so we joined the navy - the Korean War was on," he said.

"It was 1951, I was 21 or 22 at that stage and had done my trade, so I started in the electrical recruit branch on November 8, 1951.

"When they realised I was a tradesman, I was taken off course and kept at Flinders [HMAS Cerberus] as an electrical artificer tradesman, before eventually being posted to Albatross as a Petty Officer workshops tradesmen, working in workshops repairing units that came out of various aircraft the RAN was flying at the time or servicing units for all types of aircraft, including eventually the Trackers."

With his new wife, Gwen Lorraine Moncrieff, a former Lance-Corporal who worked in drafting section of the Signals branch, they moved to Nowra in 1954, living in the White House in Junction Street, until receiving accommodation at the married quarters (a Nissan Hut of three bedrooms) just outside Albatross.

They stayed there for two years, during which time their daughter Robyn was born.

In 1956 he was posted back to Cerberus where their other daughter Roirda was born at Hastings Bush Nursing Hospital.

Not long after the couple returned to Nowra, with Bob again at Albatross.

In 1965 he and the family travelled to America, living in San Diego for 14 months, where Bob trained on the Trackers and their daughters attended school.

Bob also served on HMAS Melbourne during the Vietnam War.

"My first posting was Electrical Officer at 723 Squadron was quite a challenge," he said.

"During my stay at 723, they decided to convert HMAS Sydney as a commando courier with the 5RAR (Royal Australian Regiment) returning from Vietnam. We sailed to New Zealand but it appeared a failure, we returned to Albatross."

During the next two years he was posted to the avionics workshop in charge of maintenance, overseeing 35 personnel and 13 civilians.

"That was quite a responsible job," he said.

He also moved into the inspection of aircraft.

One achievement he carries dear was working on establishing and implementing tool control, where each tool in a tradesman's kit used for working on aircraft had to be accounted for.

If tools kits were not complete when returned, the aircraft were not cleared to fly just in case a tool had been unwittingly left onboard, which could have catastrophic results.

His next posting was to HMAS Melbourne, which would mean he was away from the family for too long, he decided to retire after 24 years in 1975.

After completing their time in the navy, Bob and Rusty remained in the Shoalhaven undertaking various jobs and have become entrenched and respected members of their communities.

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