Down a Country Lane

Gary Blinco

Description

In the winter of 1948, a poorly educated jack-of-all-trades moved his ever- increasing family to a small vegetable crops farm on the Darling Downs, in Queensland. They arrived in a horse and wagon to begin an extraordinary life of hardship and challenge in the bush.This book follows the harsh life of poverty that is eclipsed by the threads of dry humour, love and warmth that embraces a large closely-knit family. The living conditions endured are almost primitive, even for the nineteen fifties, as they fight to carve an existence from the land.His fathers lingering fight with lung cancer compounds the pain of his own battle, as a National Service Soldier in the Vietnam War. The accounts of the war are graphic and poignant, and could only emerge from one who has experienced the frightening reality of combat. Highlighted through the suffering and dreams is a mothers undying devotion to her family, as she struggles to raise them, more or less on her own.

Sujets

• Lettres et linguistique

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 26 décembre 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781456600334
• Langue: English

Extrait

DOWN A COUNTRY LANE
 
An impoverished childhood in the bush, and a journey to the
Vietnam War
 
By GARY BLINCO
 
 
Cop y right Gary Blinco 2003
Cover design: Greg Sheehan
 
Published by Zeus Publications 2003 http:/www.zeus-publications.com P.O. Box 2554
Burleigh MDC Qld 4220
Australia
 
Published for the Internet by eBookIt.com
http://www.eBookIt.com
 
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0033-4
 
No part of this book m ay be reproduced in any for m , by photocop y ing or by any electronic or m echanical m eans, including infor m ation storage or retrieval s y ste m s, without per m ission in writing from both the cop y right owner and the publisher of this book.
This is a work of non-fiction.
 
DOWN A COUNTRY LANE TO WAR
 
In t h ese m y precious m iddle y ears, t h e truth is hard to grasp,
I hide from pain and fut u re tears, by dwelling in t h e past,
And m isty drea m s of y esterda y , call out to m e once m o re,
To walk again that m o ttled way, down a country lane to war.
 
Poor in all but hope and courage, in a world t h at see m ed so wide,
W h ere we fought as one to sal v age, broken drea m s as m o t h er cried.
W arm da y s of love and laughter, when hearts and m inds were raw,
Gave m e strength for what ca m e after, down a country lane to war.
 
Lost carefree da y s of childhood bliss, too sheltered to be sad,
For t h ings unknown we do not m iss, no gauge of good or bad,
Those si m p le da y s alas are gone, now m anhood’s calls i m plore,
And sole m n voices call m e on, down a country lane to war.
 
A child and now too soon a m an, life’s lesson’s harsh and stark;
It’s ti m e to face so m e m aster plan, go forth and m ake m y m ark.
B u t f u t u re’s p ath lies v eiled in d rea d , t h at c h ills m e to t h e c o re,
I heed t h e call with ti m id tread, down a country lane to war.
 
The stea m ing jungle blocks the sky, endless twilight in the gloo m ,
M en who’ve not li v ed and y et t h ey die, in silence to t h eir doo m .
S u n d re n c h ed d ay a n d m oon lit n i gh t, will c o m f o rt m e n o m o re:
I fight to li v e and li v e to fight, down a country lane to war.
 
Sweat soaked day and sleepless night, t h e scent of blood and fear,
No question now of wrong or right, as death and pain draw near.
Our blood with t h eirs a river free, t h rough stagnant jungle floor,
I curse t h e drea m s t h at called m e, down a country lane to war.
 
Those hungry days of bitter youth have passed al m o st from view;
A n d s o l d ier’s h earts t h at year n ed f o r tr u t h , with years fall sile n t t oo .
And ti m e is unforgiving; it won’t heal t h e festering sore;
That has grown from y ears of li v ing, down a country lane to war.
 
Bitter p ast p r ov i d es n o reas on s, a n d b leak f u t u re p ays n o du e,
As I face the waiting seasons, life’s re m ains are calling through.
M u st I harbour sad obsess i ons, from t h e da y s t h at went before?
W h ile I search for pai n ful lessons, down a country lane to war.
 
In these m y precious m iddle years, the truth dawns clear at last,
I’ll t u rn away fr o m po i n tless tears, d raw less on s fr o m t h e p ast,
A n d t h e m isty d rea m s o f yester d ay, will gu i d e m e as b ef o re,
To hold t h e truths t h at ca m e m y wa y , down a country lane to war.
 
⎡ Gary Bli n co – June 2000
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
 
Gary Blinco grew up in the bush on the Darling Downs in Queensland during the fifties and early sixties. His large fa m ily existed in poverty stricken and pri m itive circu m stances in those da y s, and the author credits his harsh beginnings with his insight into landscapes and the hu m an condition. He is also a Vietnam Veteran, having co m p leted two tours of duty as an infantry soldier after being conscripted during the National Service era of the late sixties and early seventies.
His first two books, ‘Down a Country Lane’ and ‘The Wounds of War’ are largely about soldiering during the Vietnam War. But his writing also deals in sensitive ter m s with personal relationships, including conflict on and off the battlefield, and ro m ance, which provides a refreshing contrast against the harshness of m ilitary co m b at. In this sense the books offer m o re than just a blood and guts war stor y .
Blinco has four m o re books now in an advanced stage of develop m ent and these are planned for release during the next two y ears. ‘Under the Harvest Moon’, is a ro m antic m u rder- m y stery novel set against the backdrop of the first bulk wheat harvest on the Darling Downs in 1957. The book provides an entertaining journey across a spectrum of histor y , m y stery and ro m ance during a ti m e of rapid change.
‘Brennan’, is the first of two books on ‘The M y stical Swag m an ’ . The books follow the experiences of an orphan boy of m y sterious origins who develops m y stical powers while tra m ping the wallaby track with two old swag m en. The books give an insight into the bush and early colonial Australia.
‘A Place in Ti m e’ is a novel about Australia being invaded by another countr y , so m ewhere in the near future. The lead character is Ian Lane, a m iddle-aged business executive who decides to retire early and concentrate on his writing career while taking his wife and child on a caravanning trip around Australia. They are ca m ped by an isolated waterhole in the re m o te central northern outback when the invasion begins. An alliance of countries to Australia’s north strikes swiftly from within and without, bringing the nation to its knees in a m atter of hours. The defence forces are crippled, highwa y s are closed, co mm unication s y ste m s are taken down or closely m onitored, curfews are i m posed and all aircraft are grounded. Australia ’ s allies sit back and take a wait-and-see position.
Ian is a Vietnam Veteran and he longs to take so m e action to help save his country as he watches helplessly while great convo y s of invading troops swarm down the central highwa y . Then by chance or destiny he finds a fissure through a wall of desert rock that takes him 252 y ears into the future. There he finds an ally and access to technology that will help him in his quest to serve his countr y ; and he gains a gli m pse at the future that gives him hope for the present. He also finds a new but i m possible relationship that inspires and confuses at the sa m e ti m e.
While these later works are a departure from the author ’ s usual genre, they are still set in the Australian bush environ m ent that the author knows so well. Again, the books capture the wonders of the Australian bush.
Gary works in sales and m arketing in the financial services industry and lives on the Central Coast of New South Wales.
 
INTRODUCTION
 
These chapters e m erge from m e m o ries of m y early life and m y personal experiences until m y return from the Vietnam War in 1970. I have relied on discussions with m y parents and the older m e m b ers of m y fa m ily to form the accounts of the very early da y s on the old far m ; I was far too y oung to re m e m b er the m . The stories m y parents often told on cold winter nights around the wood stove, gave m e a deep insight into the pain, pleasure and challenge they endured in the beginning. So m e accounts, like the circu m stances surrounding the death of m y sister, are based on so m e supposition. I did not have access to all the relevant details. All I knew for certain was that she was seriously burnt and suffered greatly before she finally died.
 
We each see life ’ s events through our own e y es, and we live to our own m o tivations, beliefs and agendas. Any m e m b er of m y fa m il y , m y m ilitary co m rades, friends or business associates could write parts of this story from a different perspective. Most, however, will re m e m b er m y deter m ination to ignore the apparent status quo and follow a stronger vision into m y future.
 
My stories of the Vietnam War are based on the facts as I re m e m b er them and m y feelings at the ti m e. Where I have presu m ed to report from the perspective of our then ene m ies, the Vietcong, I have necessarily relied on so m e author ’ s license. The hardships, courage and fear described, I suspect, are real enough. In any case, I resolved to try and see the conflict from both sides as far as m y e m pathy and experience would allow. I wondered often how these soldiers coped, out- gunned and outclassed by a well-equipped ene m y as they were. They were the ene m y for the m o m ent – but one could not help feel a grudging ad m iration and m o m ents of s y m p athy as they fought without an end in sight. We at least knew that the tour would end in a y ear if we survived, or with our death or wounding if we did not.
 
The ene m y m ilitary units m entioned are real. I have a good knowledge of the Vietcong infrastructure from intelligence reports and from our da y -to-day contact with them on the rather obscure battlefield. The Vietcong soldiers depicted are, however, entirely fictitious and based on m y speculations at the ti m e. As a m atter of protocol, I have avoided direct reference to m o st people, used only first na m es or changed the na m es of so m e characters in this book, to protect the privacy of the people concerned.
 
I co m p leted two tours of duty in Vietna m , so one or two of the events described m ay be out of sequence or co m p ressed, ti m e so m eti m es clouds the m e m o ries. Otherwise the stories are essentially as they occurred.
 
FOREWORD
 
By Terry Mellington, Lieutenant Colonel Royal Australian
Infantry Corps [Retired]
 
When I first m et Gary Blinco he appeared to m e a self assured and confident y oung m an with a healthy disregard for authority - a trait not unco mm on in Australian soldiers. Initiall y , he was difficult to get to know but I was to learn that he was