By Casey Neill
Mount Evelyn RSL has paid tribute to Raymond Moore, 50 years after his death.
The sub-branch held a service in his honour at the Mount Evelyn war memorial on Wednesday 24 July.
He was shot and killed while on patrol in Phuoc Toy Province, Vietnam, on the same day in 1969.
The tribute to Ray was the first in a series to honour local Vietnam Veterans 50 years after their deaths during the conflict.
It followed 63 services at war memorials in Montrose, Wandin, Mount Evelyn, Yarra Glen, Silvan and Lilydale from 2015 to June this year to mark the Centenary of Anzac.
The Mount Evelyn and Lilydale RSL sub-branches honoured local World War I soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice 100 years on from their deaths.
Ray was born on 26 October 1945, the eldest of three sons to George and Mary Moore.
The service heard that he grew up in the western district and attended school at the Harrow State School and then the Edenhope High School, followed by time at the Marist Brothers College in Mount Gambier in South Australia as a border.
In 1960 the Moore family moved to Kilsyth and, according to Ray’s father, Ray found casual and part-time work on properties around Mount Evelyn during the school holidays.
After finishing school he became an apprentice butcher at Oliver’s Butcher Shop in Main Street, Croydon.
The shop’s manager was the father of Michael Hannaford, another local casualty in Vietnam.
Ray played football with the Kilsyth under-16s team, was a member of the Box Hill Athletic Club and a cyclist with the Blackburn Amateur Cycling Club.
In 1965 he married Lynne Moore and they had three children, Rhonda, Craig and Garry.
Ray’s father, who served in World War II, remembered his son wanting to become a soldier from a young age.
At age 22, Ray enlisted in the Australian Regular Army, did his basic training at Kapooka, New South Wales, and was sent to Ingleburn, NSW.
He was allotted to 1 Platoon, A Company, 9th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment and arrived in Vietnam in December 1968.
They were based at Nui Dat and their first major operation, Operation Goodwood in Bien Hoa Province, was a response to the increasing presence of Viet Cong (VC) forces in the area.
It was during this operation that Michael Hannaford was killed.
The 9 RAR crew undertook 11 major operations during its tour, each lasting about a month, plus several minor operations.
The service heard that most were focused on isolating the enemy from the local population and creating a more secure situation to stabilise the South Vietnamese government.
After six months, Ray returned to Sydney for leave and spent time with his family, including his parents and brothers.
Once back in Vietnam, he was sent back on patrol with 9 RAR.
He was 23 years old when he was shot and killed.
Ray was given a full military funeral at the Presbyterian Church in Kilsyth and then a full military procession from the church to the Lilydale Cemetery, where he was buried alongside Michael Hannaford.
