OUTBACK heroes seem like historical figures that can only be remembered by books and new touchscreen kiosks – not from personal memory.
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But sometimes it’s the insights of a family’s personal memory that captures a person.
For example, aviation pilot Eric Donaldson completed three tours in France flying unreliable planes during World War I and returned with a Distinguished Flying Cross.
He became a pilot in the Royal Flying Doctor Service when he returned to Cloncurry.
His son Eric Donaldson and grandson Eric H Donaldson attended the Anzac100 Touchscreen Kiosk ceremony at John Flynn Place in Cloncurry last Wednesday, which acknowledged their father and grandfather as an Outback Hero along with Clifford Peel, Grace Francis and Jim Stevens.
Mr Donaldson, 79, said his father was a war hero but also a gentle man.
He remembered as a child asking his father how many planes he shot down during World War I.
“And he said ‘I hope I never hurt anybody’,” the Outback Hero’s son recollected.
“He was typical of the age of which he lived really.”
Grandson Eric H Donaldson said he was a child when his grandfather died so mostly knew him from his father and the internet.
“When I look back in retrospect I wish I had the opportunity to talk to him about those things.
“As a school boy I was excited about what he got up to.”