News Article

Henry Andrews: From Vietnam to the Alexandra RSL

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May 16, 2025

HENRY Andrews joined the Alexandra Returned and Services League (RSL) when he moved to Alexandra in 2003 from Melbourne with his wife Yvonne, and became president of the Alexandra RSL in 2009, at a delayed AGM due to the Black Saturday bushfires.

“The 2009 AGM was postponed due to the fires, as the RSL hall was used as a clothing distribution centre.

It was in March that I went down to see Keith Bennett [then Alexandra RSL president] and he was in terminal, down at St Vincent’s Hospital. We came back and had our AGM in March, and that’s when I took over as president,” Henry said.

“It was quite interesting, my first ANZAC Day service. I was a bundle of nerves, being the first time I’d ever done it. I got through it, and I inaugurated a Vietnam veteran’s service up here as well.”

He served as president until 2017, when he stepped back to become vice-president due to health issues.

At the time he was also on the boards of the Murrindindi Climate Network and the Murrindindi Cancer Support Group. These health issues continued, which has led to the decision to soon leave the Alexandra area.

Long before coming to Alexandra, Henry served in the Signal Corps in the Vietnam War, working as a technician.

“I went to Vietnam in April 1966 and came home in May 1967. I had nearly 14 months there. I was in the Signal Corps, one of the technicians operating the transmitter station on the outskirts of Saigon. That was 12 hours on, 24 hours off. I did that from mid-April all the way through to October without a break,” Henry said.

“The reason I finished up then was because I got dengue fever. That put me into hospital, but they didn’t know what was wrong with me. I got two days off and a few Panadol and a ‘you should be okay’. I was just going downhill.

“They took me into 17th field hospital, which is an American hospital, and they started doing the tests. The orderly came and put a thermometer in my mouth.

They took the thermometer out and everyone started running, I was 108, which is about…..

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