Anthony W. Pahl
“Aussie Bard” or “Bushranger”

Anthony enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force in December 1967 as an Airfield Defence Guard and was posted to Vietnam in June 1969, originally with No 1 Operational Support Unit at Vung Tau where he was mainly tasked with airfield security, perimeter patrols and perimeter maintenance. Included in this period was an attachment to No 1 Australian Reinforcement Unit with the Australian Army in Nui Dat. In August 1969 he applied for and was accepted as a helicopter gunner with No. 9 Squadron RAAF based out of Vung Tau and working out of Nui Dat. In the succeeding 10 months, until repatriation in June 1970, he few a total of 650 hours on “Slicks” and “Gunships”.
During his 20 years service, Anthony was stationed on many Australian bases including Richmond, Edinburgh, Hobart, Laverton, Point Cook, Amberley, and Support Command in Melbourne. He also spent 3 years in Butterworth, Malaysia from 1973 to 1976. He remained in the RAAF until January 1988 but is now retired through ill health.
Since creating the IWVPA website in January 2001, its development and maintenance has been his means of remaining an active participant in society. On Australia Day, January 26, 2006, fellow Australians honoured Anthony with the Medal of the Order of Australia “for service to veterans through the International War Veterans Poetry Archives”
Index of Writings
- A 9/11 Prayer
- A Different Eleven Thousand Days
- A Friend Indeed
- A Question of Being Me
- A Question of Evil
- A Soldier’s Hands
- A Thousand Yards Ago
- Agony’s Breath
- Allies
- Altar of War ~ A Response
- An Ode for “Mother”
- Answer!
- ANZAC
- ANZAC Dawn
- ANZAC Day, 2002
- ANZAC Day, 2004
- ANZAC Haiku
- ANZAC Veteran
- Arena of Warriors
- Art of War Interview - English Version
- Art of War Interview - Russian Version
- Atomic Hope
- Australia Remembers (A Tribute)
- Autumn Fall
- Away Alone
- Bill
- Black Rain from the Window
- Blast from the Past
- Boredom on Hold
- Borrowed Time
- Bow of Freedom
- Bridge from Then to Now
- Buried Alive
- Ceremony of Death
- Charge of the Night Brigade
- Cherry Tree Walk
- Christmas: An Aussie Vietnam Veteran’s Perspective
- Closure
- Combat…
- Coming Home
- Commando
- Confirmation…
- Cross of Freedom
- Damn Rain…
- Dare to Mourn
- Dawn Parade
- Days End at Day’s End
- Dead Right
- Dearest Robin,
- Death
- Death of a P.O.W.
- Death of Innocence
- Do You Remember?
- Do You See…?
- “Doc”
- Double Tap
- Doug ‘n’ Me
- Dust Off
- Dyin’ to Get Home
- Dyin’ to Stay Home
- Farewell
- Fire Eaters
- Fire Watch
- Flavour of Freedom
- Forty-Five Minutes
- Freedom’s Fleet
- Freedom’s Price
- Freedom’s War
- From the Sky…
- Future Ambushed
- Future Assured
- He Lays With Heroes
- Heroes
- Hi Dear, I’m Home…
- History Report
- Home…
- House of the Unloved Stranger
- House or Home?
- I Am…
- I Know the Angels
- I Remember…
- I Too, Remember
- In Country… Discoveries
- In Gods They Trust…
- Innocence…
- Inside the Wire…
- Inter-Service Rivalry
- It’s True…
- Language of the Rotor Blade…
- Last Night
- Laterite and Leaves
- Legacy
- Legacy of a Veteran
- Letter to a Friend
- Letter to Sunshine
- Life on the Murray
- Listen! Hear the Silence?
- Lofty
- Look What’s Happened to Me…
- Lost Warriors
- Love and Death
- Naive
- New Memory For Old Blokes (RAAF Vietnam Remembered)
- Night Words
- Nihilism Exhausted
- No!
- No Consolation for Col
- None for Your Money
- Nothing Changes!
- Ode to the Unknown Veteran
- Odyssey Gained
- Offering
- Oh My God!
- Old Glory
- On “The Man in the Doorway”
- On the Wind
- On Wings of Angels
- Our Australia
- Our Flag
- Panic
- Papa Tango Sierra Delta
- Parting
- Peace or Freedom?
- Perseverance…
- Persevere
- Perspectives About Thoughts in the Night
- Pilgrimage
- Post War Cynicism
- Pretence of Will: Memories in Abeyance ~ POW/MIA
- Private Fisher: M.I.A.
- PTSD: Healing or Coping?
- Pucker Factor
- Racism and Rejection (Reminiscences… and Reminders)
- Rainbow
- Ralph
- Reality… A History
- Reason to Pretend
- Red and Green Christmas
- Remembrance Parade
- Reminders
- Response to a Friend
- Responsibility!
- Rest and Recreation – My Truth
- Reunion
- Right Now…
- Sea of Tears
- See You at the Bridge
- Semper Fidelis?
- Sentry
- Silent Chat
- Silent Sentinal
- Solitude
- Son to Dad
- Sonnet Of Denied Reality
- Sound of Death
- Sound of Memory
- Spirits of Freedom
- Spirit of the Eagle
- Stained Snow
- Stand To
- Stranger
- Steel Valkyries
- Survivor
- Survivor
- Taciturn Veteran
- Talking of Wire…
- Team Ralph
- The Call
- The Dark Side of Tomorrow
- The Grand Parade
- The Last Christmas
- The Lines I See
- The Memorial
- The Moon Saw Me Home
- The Nek
- The Past
- The Pewter Race
- The Photograph
- The Pig Has a Poke at the Admirals
- The Poetry of Air
- The Reunion
- The Shrine
- The Stone
- The Stripper
- The Thousand-Yard Eyes
- The Trade
- The Vietnam Roar
- The Warrior’s Question
- The Young Have Gone
- Today…
- True Blue
- Twilight (Part 9)
- Walk of War
- War and Politicians
- War Poetry – The Healing
- War’s Discography
- Was It Worth It?
- We Are!
- We Remember
- Welcome Home!
- What Price Us?
- Where is Freedom?
- Whispers
- Wild Flowers
- Witness…
- Woody
- Words of War… Or Peace?
- Write of War!
- Writer’s Block

For outstanding writing and service to other veterans
Anthony Pahl is awarded the DVO Eagle Quill Award for April 2007
Mark I. Kirkmeyer
Poet, Retired Light Weapons/Medical Specialist, Canon City, CO
Dysfunctional Veterans Outreach International