ALAN JOHN LOOMES

Four years gone but never forgotten.

Anyone interested in the battles Alan was involved in might like to go to:
http://www.tom.pilsch.com/Vietnam.html

One of the smartest, best read, kind hearted, honourable & brave Men I have ever met.
I identified with him strongly. He felt the same way, though I could never claim to be half the Man he was, but his recognition of me is one of my proudest achievements.
Alan did not deserve the hand the fates dealt him, but he also accepted that you get what you get in life, not what you deserve, & he was not embittered by his misfortune.
When I was stranded in Canberra once in 1999 he...

Alan being the eldest of my brothers was 19 when I was born.
A few days after I turned a year old Alan commenced National Service with the Australian Army and lived away from home. So we never grew up as boys together and I only ever knew him as an adult.
To me Alan was a tall well spoken bloke who almost had an English accent and a voice that would have been great for radio.
I recall as a young boy flying down to visit and stay with him several times when he lived in the suburbs of...

Alan ..So glad I knew you..so happy I shared in your wedding. So pleased to have know your sensitivity,wit, rascalness,and your humanity. Vale sweet brother-in-law."He was only 19"

Alan was born on 28.11.46 to Phyllis Rae and Frederick John at Crown St Womens Hospital Sydney.
At the age of 2 he contracted polio- this led to extended stays in hospital ( during which time maternal visits were limited to Sunday afternoon- heartbreaking for mother and child), several operations and a period wearing leg calipers. Al carried the scars of these operations all his life particularly on the foot and although the treatment was successful his right leg was3/4 of an inch...

I had the honour of Alan as my elder brother and I have the honour of Liz as my sister in law and Bob and Pete as brothers. Here is in three parts due to space constraints is the eulogy I gave.

1.Al used to joke that the only lottery he won was the conscription ballot. He was enlisted in the Army during his Commerce degree the University of NSW.
Why he was accepted when he could have deferred to complete his course, and had a leg withered and shortened with Polio we will never...