Vale Mick and Kevin
17 February 2016
In the space of a few weeks Vasey RSL Care has seen the passing of two stalwarts of our community: Mick Hayes from Vasey House, Bundoora, and Kevin Berry from RSL Park, Frankston South.
Mick Hayes had been a resident of Vasey House for eight years. He served in the RAAF during World War II and he loved nothing more in his time at Vasey House than to sit out in the sunshine, “getting some rays”, as he called it.
Mick was 99 and there were high hopes that he would celebrate his 100th birthday in early May with family, friends and residents. Sadly, it wasn’t to be.
Mick became the first resident of Vasey House to be draped in the new Dignity Quilt, designed to cover the deceased as they leave the home.
The Dignity Quilt was presented to Vasey House by the Quilters and Patchworkers Guild of Victoria only days before Mick’s death. It is made up of more than 60 individual patches displaying military emblems and symbols of Australiana. The material for the quilt was donated, including the sashing, wadding and backing, and a group of quilters led by Jann Haggart did the piecing of the quilt, while Helen Daboul and Mary Phillips completed the actual quilting.
Kevin Berry was a resident at RSL Park for just two years, and although he was 87, he didn’t look it. He was one of the six veterans from RSL Park who made the pilgrimage to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra in 2015 to attend the Dawn Service for Centenary of the ANZAC landing.
Kevin saw action in the Korean War, serving with 2RAR. He was in the horrendous battles of the Hook in the final few days before the cease fire was negotiated between the North and South. In a desperate, last ditch bid to capture the heights above the major road south to Seoul, the Chinese launched wave after wave of men against securely entrenched Australian and American troops.
After two days of almost non-stop fighting, the Chinese gave up the battle having lost upwards of 3000 men killed and possibly 10,000 wounded. The next day the armistice was signed and both sides withdrew two kilometres from the 38th Parallel, creating the De-Militarised Zone.
Kevin and Mick each uniquely epitomises the veterans in the care of our staff: men from another era who served their country during some of the most significant events of last century; modest men who returned to civilian life and, when the time came, became part of the Vasey RSL Care community, receiving the committed care and respect of our staff.
In leaving us, they will be missed, but at the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.