From the 1 YLI (Class of 1971) FB page:

“Happy 96th Birthday Uncle Norm!

We have been sitting on this for some weeks, but it is now in the public domain.

This email today, Norm’s 96th birthday, from Roger Wainwright (via Uncle Max) says it all.

Hello everyone,

Many of you will know Norm well, so I advise you that he is in hospital in Canberra after a fall at home in late November. Since then, he has been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer in multiple places so the prognosis is not good.

His daughter Louise told me this morning that he will not be able to return home and they are looking at transferring him to an aged care facility in Calwell ACT. She says he is doing as well as can be expected but his memory is failing him, probably due to the cancer diagnosis and alzheimer’s/dementia disease. I had a long chat to Norm about two months ago and I thought his memory was fine at that stage. He lost Lois, his wife of 66 years a few years ago and that has also impacted him.

Norm was a drilly at RMC for many of us in the early 1960’s and was also at OTU Scheyville. He served with 1 RAR in Korea and was CSM of Charlie Coy 5 RAR in Vietnam in 1966-67. Norm returned to RMC as RSM from late 1967 to 1971 so has had an impact on generations of officers.

Today (20 Dec) is Norm’s 96th birthday so let’s raise a glass to this fine old soldier. I’ll let you know of any further developments.

Regards and season’s greetings to all.

Roger (Wainwright)”