Michael Reid – Employee of Opteon Property holding a photo of his Father: Stanley Francis Reid, WW2.
Stanley Francis Reid enlisted in 1939 at Boorowa. He enlisted with a mate named Khoury, the son of the Lebanese owners of the local milk bar. The uptake for their enlistment was not until 1940 and they trained at Ingleburn army base near Sydney. Stanley was a Bombadier in the 2nd 6th of the 7th Division AIF. He fought in the Middle East, New Guinea and Borneo. He never talked much about the horror of war, mostly he would tell funny stories but sometimes he spoke of sorrowful things. His mate that he enlisted with was killed by the Vichy French very close to the village where his parents had emigrated from. Dad’s commanding officer sent him to stay with young Khoury’s family when they came looking for him and found he had been killed. Stanley’s other best mate was named Moshie and he was Jewish. Moshie’s wife was a French Jewish lady named Denise. Moshie had his wife’s name emblazoned on the truck which passed to Stanley after Moshie was killed with friendly fire when the Free French bombed a rest camp well behind the lines. Stanley called his first child Denise. He took part in the last seaborne invasion of the war at Balikpapan in Borneo. He said the local people were happy to see them as they could get their women back from the Japanese. He described the occupiers as ‘poor half starved bastards’. Our father emerged from the war with a fine sense of humanity which he imparted to many people throughout the rest of his life. He was very active in Legacy.
We still miss that dear man.
