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Police Lieutenant Tom Turnbull - Part 2
Part 2 The above photographs, from left to right, show images of Tom Turnbull in his life both before and after his long service with the Federation of Malaya Police during the Malayan Emergency:
The first two pictures show Tom in the uniform of a ‘Mounted Constable in Palestine as part of the British Colonial Police Service there. He still has fond memories of patrolling Khan Yunis Sub District with his horse "Dizzy" and good companions, one of whom stands with him and Dizzy in the second picture. Tom is on the right. He commented “Khan Yunis Police Post is a heap of rubble now, as is so much of Gaza”. One memory he does not talk about is coming under fire while on patrol on his 21st birthday.
The third picture (top right) is of Tom as Flight Lieutenant Thomas Turnbull, RAAF and his Royal Australian Airforce colleague taken at Point Cook, home of the RAAF. As he put it, he is “the bloke with the sword on the right”. He adds. “These photographs cover the range of uniforms I wore other than jungle greens.”
Finally, bottom left, is a picture of Tom and his wife, Maggie, on Australia Day, 1981 or 82, in what she calls “ Colonial dress-up!”. She was christened Margaret Hepburn McLachlan and they were married in 1979. They have lived on the Queensland Sunshine Coast since 1980. It was her that mentioned the 21st birthday in Palestine and concluded, “Being shot at never really stopped as he spent all his working life in uniform.”
To go to Part 3, click here.