AN INTERVIE W WITH JOHN LYALL
What did you do upon returning?
Were you an instructor?
No, I retired from the Air Force and returned to
my old job in the mining industry in Kalgoorlie
for a number of years, before returning to
Perth in 1952, where I have lived since.
You were recently awarded by the
French Government the French Legion of
Honour. What does this mean to you?
To qualify for this award you had to have
operated on targets in France between D-Day,
6 June 1944, and the end of August 1944.
I was operating on a B17 at that time so I
qualified over that period.
Why do you think it took so long to get
around to it?
I believe that earlier last year the Department
of Veteran Affairs sent a deputation of six
men, who operated on D-Day, to the 70th
Commemoration of D-Day, and presented
them with the French Legion of Honour.
From there, I think the French Government
reviewed how many more men were eligible
for the awards and they were issued to us.
What is the most lasting recollection you
have of the war?
I was young, just over 18, when I went into
uniform. I had a pretty blue uniform and
more money in my pocket than I had ever
had in my life. I could travel, and ended up
travelling around the world, and I enjoyed
flying. We had hard times of course, but
we got through that. We used to work six
weeks and have the seventh week on leave,
so I saw a lot of England and met a lot of
interesting people. We Australians were
accepted in virtually any part of the United
Kingdom. For me they were happy years,
happier of course when I met Cynthia.
She was in the British Air Force and we met
at the village dance.
As any ex-serviceman will no doubt tell you,
the best part of the whole experience was
the comradeship with your crew. Each one
of you depended on the other one and you
really did bond and become close.
Do you have anything you want to say
to the Guildford Grammar School boys?
I’d really like to say that if you all enjoy your
days at Guildford Grammar School as much
as I did, you’ll have a wonderful life ahead
of you, there’s no two ways about that. No
matter where you go, you are respected
as an Old Guildfordian. I loved my days at
school.
The Go Forward Portal
The Go Forward portal is constantly
growing and evolving with several thousand
hits annually, indicating that it is being used
on a regular basis by the School community.
This portal contains information regarding all
aspects of the School community and is also
the launch pad to many resources like Reach
(Boarding), PTO (Parent Teacher Online),
GGS Events and e-Maze. The community is
able to access information relating to any
aspect of life at Guildford Grammar School
by visiting the Go Forward Portal.
The Go Forward Portal is best accessed by
going to the Guildford Grammar School
web page (www.ggs.wa.edu.au) and
clicking on the link or directly via URL at
https://goforward.ggs.wa.edu.au
Judging by the feedback we have received,
most parents are becoming accomplished
users of SEQTA Coneqt.p in the Senior
More specifically;
School. The feedback we have received has
1. Preparatory School parents can discover been very impressive and this product has
relevant classroom information relating
further enhanced the collaboration between
to the education of their son/daughter
school, parent and student. Coneqt.p will
by visiting the classroom pages. They also
provide you with feedback statistics on your
have full access to policies specific to the
son’s performance in assessments, access
Preparatory School. Each section contains
to dates for future assessments, homework
staff images and hyperlinks to each of
and subject based programs. Senior School
their email addresses; connecting to all
parents can navigate to Coneqt.p by using
staff is efficient and easy.
either the link on the Go Forward portal
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