Sawdust – Part 2

“I’ve been travelling since I was 21.

“It all started one night I went to post a letter at the post office. I got talking to a guy, and I said, ‘what do you do?’ He said ‘I’m the Commander of the Navy, down in Antarctica and the top of Alaska.’ He said he didn’t have anywhere to stay. I said, ‘come and stay with me!’ So he stayed with me for a week and he was very interested in old tractors, we had a 1929 Caterpillar which we’re working on.

He said to me, ‘if you can get yourself over to Anchorage in Alaska, I’ll arrange for you to go up when the Navy guys are up and check the weather stations.’ They had weather stations in Greenland and Iceland, it was a remarkable trip.

Then I came back, and got a phone call from this guy.

He said ‘the C17’s is going down to the ice in a fortnight’s time. You can go down with him if you want to’. Yea right! ‘You’ll have a pretty strict medical test.’ So I went down there with these guys and I stayed for three weeks at McMurdo. I worked on the bulldozers, on the airstrip pushing out the soft spots on the runway and pushing the fresh snow and compacting it all down.

In the middle 60’s I became a member of the fire brigade and I climbed up the ladder to a stage where I was deputy chief officer. I couldn’t take on the chief officer role, I just didn’t have the time. I stayed there for about 17 years.

Then I got involved in local politics, I was on the community board for three years and then I went for the Community Board and the Council. I got on both, then I became Chairman of the Town Council.

You had to be hands on, it was extremely rewarding. I joined the Council as the youngest member that had ever been on the council, I was about 34, most of the guys were in their 60’s and 70’s. I thought, how am I gonna get along with these guys trying to change things? I went from the youngest to the oldest around the table; 27 years; I probably stayed one term too long. I thought I’d better get out of here while I’m on top, you cannot satisfy everybody.”

– Don (Sawdust)

Charity registration number: CC57701
Nominate