A contingent of Navy veterans is raising the sails for what could well be their last voyage to march in Wagga's Anzac Day commemorations.
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A team of five who served on the historic HMAS Wagga WWII-era corvette are finalising plans to return to the city this April.
Every two years, veterans of the former wartime vessel visit Wagga to commemorate their colleagues who have now passed on.
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HMAS Wagga Association president David Williams served on the corvette in the Royal Australian Navy between 1958 and 1960, when it was finally decommissioned.
Now in his 80s, Mr Williams, who lives in Sydney, is one of the youngest veterans and said it's becoming increasingly difficult for them to make the journey.
"This Anzac Day trip could be the last of our formal reunions," he said.
Mr Williams said a few years ago there were as many as 35 veterans who showed up, and many more still alive who didn't.
"In the last few years something like 70 fellows who were on the boat during war and peace have passed away because they were all in their 90s," he said.
Mr Williams said the five who are coming to Wagga this year all served in different branches on the ship's last voyage in October 1960.
Beside himself, the contingent will include Frank Boyd, Barry Nesbit, John Lynch and James Donohoe.
After marching in the Anzac Day commemorations, the contingent will meet the following day to remember their mates at the memorial anchor in the Victory Memorial Gardens.
Commissioned at the height of WWII in 1942, HMAS Wagga evacuated prisoners of war from Stanley Prison in Hong Kong, but spent most of the wartime around New Guinea and Bougainville.
Mr Williams joined the ship as a 17-year-old and in his two years with the then training vessel, he worked in the engineering department.
"I spent my time watch keeping in the boiler room and engine room four hours on, four hours off," he said.
"When you did training, they did everything from practice gunnery when at sea to man overboard.
"In training runs it was always pretty intense."
Mr Williams said there was some respite during the ship's final voyage to New Caledonia in 1960.
"When we got to Noumea, we had four or five days leave before we were back off to sea to conduct more exercises," he said.
When HMAS Wagga retired from service, it became the longest serving corvette in the Royal Australian Navy.
As the number of surviving veterans dwindles, Mr Williams hopes a way can be found to continue the legacy of HMAS Wagga.
"The Navy is building a new fleet of offshore patrol boats which will be about the closest in size to the old WWII corvettes," he said.
"The first ship is named Arafura but we can't find Wagga's name among the rest of the new ships.
"That's a pity as the only way the HMAS Wagga Association can carry on is for the Navy to name a new ship Wagga. We can only hope."
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