Canberra were wanting to honour the Australian Second World War Veterans’ so they went about contacting all the surviving veterans’ and nurses to arrange a photo shoot.
Photographers contacted Mr Wallis to schedule a photo shoot. Mr Wallis being Mr Wallis, and never one to become involved in or talk about anything re the war, was in the garden on their arrival doing his thing.
He was invited to join them inside and his wife stated; “they were amazed, when he entered, at his level of fitness.” The resulting photo is attached and now hangs proudly in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Mrs Wallis tells us that under the suit jacket he is still wearing his garden shorts.
Mr and Mrs Wallis were invited to attend the opening but declined due to ill health. His family have since searched the internet and located this photograph for them and visited the museum and described to their parents “how beautiful all the photographs were, especially the one of their Dad.” Melville Cares Veterans Services is proud to assist this couple to continue living independently in their own home by providing assistance with the household tasks.
Mrs Wallis thanks us on a regular basis for organising the two lovely support workers that visit them weekly. The amount of assistance given is a testament to their character of the Builder Generation.
– Story as told by Mrs Iris Wallis.