Veterans of Season 7 share their stories of a Christmas in uniform.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Veterans of Season 7 share with the Thistle Productions team their experiences of Christmas in uniform, from deployments overseas and back home in Australia. Featured guests include John White, Rod Henderson, Mark Direen, Rebecca and Ashley Semmens, Ray James and Doug Sheridan.
This episode was edited by Sophie Hu and Alex Lloyd.
The episodes these veterans were featured in earlier this season include:
Alex Lloyd interviews navy veterans Rebecca and Ashley Semmens.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Rebecca Semmens served in the Royal Australian Navy for 18 years, and was medically discharged in 2020 at the rank of Chief Petty Officer. Bec was a medic, and deployed to Timor and Afghanistan. Her husband, Ashley Semmens, was a Clearance Diver, also serving in the navy for 18 years. Ash had multiple deployments, including to Afghanistan. He was a Clearance Diver, an Explosive Ordnance Disposal expert and was in Kabul during the evacuation as the Taliban retook the country in 2021. He medically discharged in 2022 as a Chief Petty Officer. Bec and Ash spoke jointly with Alex Lloyd at the Gaythorne RSL in Brisbane.
Episodes referenced at the end of the podcast include:
FOR SCHOOL AND COUNTRY is a five-part documentary miniseries about 12 World War II veterans who went to school together, and then to war. In the fifth episode, 'You Do Your Part', John Hore-Lacy fights in Borneo at Tarakan and Balikpapan; Lysle Roberts has a brush with death; Arthur Pardey sees the destruction of Munich; Phil Stevenson surveys Nagasaki after the atomic bomb; and Richard Miles reflects on the sacrifice of his peers. The 12 men, once schoolboy friends and now war veterans, return home. They adjust to life after service and reflect on the war.
FOR SCHOOL AND COUNTRY is a five-part documentary miniseries about 12 World War II veterans who went to school together, and then to war. In the fourth episode, 'Terror in the Jungle', Eric Thew battles the Japanese and disease in the New Guinea jungle; David Nesbitt flies in the Burma campaign; John Hordern is part of the largest naval battle of the war; and Lysle Roberts begins perilous flight training.
FOR SCHOOL AND COUNTRY is a five-part documentary miniseries about 12 World War II veterans who went to school together, and then to war. In the second episode, 'Scuttled & Sunk', John Reid sees more action in the Mediterranean Fleet; Ted Carter fights at El Alamein, Lae and Finschhafen; and Japan enters the war and attacks Australia.
FOR SCHOOL AND COUNTRY is a five-part documentary miniseries about 12 World War II veterans who went to school together, and then to war. The first episode, 'Books to Arms', tracks their schoolboy days and the World War I veterans who taught them in the classroom, and their early experiences at war. Phil Stevenson stalks the Admiral Graf Spee and the Bismarck; Ted Carter fights in the siege of Tobruk; John Reid serves in the Mediterranean Fleet in the evacuation of Crete and the Tobruk Ferry Service; John Hore-Lacy meets Rudolf Hess; and more...
Veterans of Season 5 share their stories of a Christmas in uniform.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Veterans of Season 5 share with the Thistle Productions team their experiences of Christmas in uniform, from deployments overseas and back home in Australia. Featured guests include Chris Oxenbould, Greg Hopgood, Mark Wales, Wes 'H' Hennessey, Commando Jamie, Keith Wolahan, Sir Peter Cosgrove and Wayne Bemet. This episode is hosted by Thomas Kaye.
The episodes these veterans were featured in earlier this season include:
Alex Lloyd interviews Royal Australian Navy veteran Kasey Mumford.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Kasey Mumford was an officer in the Royal Australian Navy. She deployed to Timor, the Arabian Gulf and was on HMAS Manoora during the MV Tampa incident in 2001. Kasey spoke with Alex Lloyd for Season 5’s final episode.
For more episodes related to the MV Tampa, listen to:
Catherine Walsh (#121) is featured on the second photo on the gallery above, to the right (with Kasey in the centre).
Veterans of Season 4 share their stories of a Christmas in uniform.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Veterans and other guests of Season 4 share with the Thistle Productions team their experiences of Christmas in uniform, from deployments overseas and back home in Australia. These stories have not been previously featured on the podcast. Featured guests include Sarah Watson, Adrian Humphries, Ben Pronk, Tim Curtis, Bill Fitzgerald, Tony Park, John Cantwell, Tim Reynolds, David McCourt, Crystal Callender, Garth Callender, Glenn Azar, Alyssa Azar, Ian Roberts, Dan Keighran VC, Paul Cale, Renee Wilson and Bob Hunter. This episode is hosted by Angus Hordern.
Angus Hordern interviews submarine captain and Cold War veteran, Ian Roberts.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Ian Roberts served in the Royal Australian Navy for 25 years. He earned the coveted Dolphins badge, marking him as a submariner. He went on to become one of the first Australian-born officers to command a Royal Australian Navy submarine. This is his conversation with Angus Hordern about life under the waves.
Ian returned to the podcast in Christmas on the Line Vol III.
CORRECTION: When we first published this podcast, we said that Ian was the first Australian-born man to command a submarine. We’d read a couple of contemporary articles to that effect, but were misinformed. That honour goes to Captain Frank Getting, born in Sydney in 1899, and commanded the very first submarine to bear the name HMAS Oxley in 1928, the vessel that preceded Ian’s sub of the same name. Ian may have indeed been the second Australian to command an Aussie submarine - he’s definitely one o the first, and it was a great honour to record his story regardless.
Angus Hordern interviews legendary RAN Clearance Diver Bill Fitzgerald.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Today's conversation is with the first Australian Clearance Diving Chief, Bill Fitzgerald. Bill joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1946. He shared with Angus Hordern his stories of blowing up mines and massive ordnance, nuclear exposure, and fixing dams, submarines and ships, in his pioneering career in the navy.
Bill returned to the podcast in Christmas on the Line Vol III.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Life on the Sea is a special miniseries of this podcast, interviewing Royal Australian Navy veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars. 'Career' documents the lives in uniform for the veterans of this series after the Vietnam War was over.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Life on the Sea is a special miniseries of this podcast, interviewing Royal Australian Navy veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars. 'Combat' continues the navy stories of the Vietnam War, until war's end in 1972.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Life on the Sea is a special miniseries of this podcast, interviewing Royal Australian Navy veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars. The fourth episode of this miniseries, 'Collision', hears a sailor on HMAS Melbourne during the tragic 1969 Melbourne-Evans collision give his testimony of the day that saw 74 sailors lose their lives. It also features an interview on the subject with the Melbourne's captain, John Philip Stevenson.
You can listen here to the Season 2 bonus episode with short clips from Captain John Philip Stevenson's 2012 interview with Angus Hordern.
Phil Stevenson's World War II service was chronicled in the World War II documentary miniseries FOR SCHOOL AND COUNTRY.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Life on the Sea is a special miniseries of this podcast, interviewing Royal Australian Navy veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars. 'Vietnam' recounts veterans' experiences in the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation and the first four years of the Vietnam War.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Life on the Sea is a special miniseries of this podcast, interviewing Royal Australian Navy veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars. 'Beginnings' introduces the other 7 veterans of this series - their gripping family military histories, how they found themselves in the navy, their training days and early postings and action.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Life on the Sea is a special miniseries of this podcast, interviewing Royal Australian Navy veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars. 'Korea' recounts two veterans' stories of service in that conflict.
You can listen to the story of Doug Symes Snr’s experiences in World War II, and his family’s extensive military history, in the Season 2 bonus episode.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Life on the Sea is a special miniseries of this podcast, interviewing Royal Australian Navy veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars. This is the trailer for the upcoming 7-part collection of episodes.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Today's conversation is with World War II and Vietnam veteran Rothesay Swan. Rothesay fought in the largest naval battle in history, and went on to have a distinguished career as a Rear Admiral in the Royal Australian Navy.
Rothesay returned to the podcast in Christmas on the Line.
