SHANE STORER CAN CLEARLY REMEMBER THE SUMMER OF 1970, WALKING ALONG ST GEORGE’S TERRACE, PERTH, AND SPOTTING A SIGN THAT READ ‘THE AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE NEEDS YOU’.
It was the Vietnam War era and he thought it was his destiny calling as he’d always wanted to be a war photographer.
“I enlisted into the Royal Australian Air Force on Australia Day 1971, completed my photography courses and was posted to 77 Squadron, which was a Mirage jet fighter squadron based in Newcastle,” he recalled.
“Ironically that was the same squadron my uncle was killed in flying Meteor jets in Korea – ‘The Forgotten War’.”
Shane, who moved into GemLife Pacific Paradise with wife Sandra a day after Anzac Day in 2023, said his photographic duties in the Royal Australian Air Force were exciting.
“I’d take air-to-air photos (in an aircraft taking shots of other aircraft) of the Mirage for public relations, load and unload photo reconnaissance and gun cameras, then process and develop the film to practise intelligence gathering.
“The Vietnam war was coming to an end and, along with becoming a war photographer capturing moments in conflict, I also underwent extra weapons training and remastered to helicopter crewman in the winter of 1975.
“I was employed on Iroquois helicopters with 9 Squadron, which had recently returned from Vietnam.”
In 1978, Shane was attached to the United Nations Emergency Force in Egypt patrolling the conflict borders between Egypt and Israel, where there were plenty of “hairy moments”.
Upon returning to Australia, he was posted to 12 Squadron for eight years, with heavy lift Chinook helicopters operating throughout Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia.
With an impressive career in defence, a highlight of Shane’s included becoming the first S-70 A Black Hawk helicopters Warrant Officer in Australia after undergoing research and training in America. Shane’s last posting in the Royal Australian Air Force was in Canberra where, as a warrant officer, he was responsible for the posting and career management of some 3,500 people.
“This is where I lost my hair,” he joked.
After the RAAF, Shane became a Mission Coordinator with Coastwatch Surveillance out of Thursday Island, planning and organising the flying missions. In 2000, he became a radio operator and logistics coordinator on offshore oil and gas drilling rigs until his retirement in 2014.
He was Vice President of Sunshine Coast & Regional District RSL for one year and is a current life member with Coolum-Peregian RSL Sub-Branch.
Anzac Day for Shane is about quiet reflection.
“I gained so many friends during that era of my life and lost so many friends during conflict and after. Anzac Day to me is a real time of reflection and I will never forget.”