One of the most unifying aspects of 7 RAR was its nickname. To some the nickname was a triviality and an annoyance. Corporal Roy ‘Doc’ Savage gave this explanation of its origin:
The single men of 3 RAR were sent to Puckapunyal to form a new battalion, 7 RAR. I arrived there on 11th November 1965. At first there were only regular soldiers. We used to keep the boozer open all weekend having the cooks bring our meals there. Anyway, on my second week there the new CO (Colonel Eric Smith) decided to inspect his new battalion area on a Sunday. He immediately closed the boozer. The next day he called a muster parade of the whole battalion and commenced to tell us what he thought of us. Half way hrough his speech he said and I quote, ‘You are nothing but a mob of pigs’. Then from the back rank someone called out ‘oink oink’. From that time onwards we became the Pig Battalion.
From ‘Conscripts and Regulars’ by Michael O’Brien
under honours you have only two listed eg Vietnam and Afghanistan yet in heading you show Timor and Iraq what is correct 2 honours or 4
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If you click on Vietnam or Afghanistan in the ‘Honours’ box then it shows awards for bravery etc. I am not aware yet of any such awards for 7RAR guys who served in Iraq or Timor.
The heading is only meant to denote where the battalion has served
Last week former original members of 7RAR from 1965 attended the reburial of Arthur Ruduss in Springvale War Cemetary in Victoria, also attended by Rudy’s youngest brother, two sisters and nieces and nephew. In 1965 one platoon of 7RAR soldiers was transferred to HQ Company, 1ATF as D&E platoon and deployed to Vietnam, where Arthur ‘Rudy’ Ruduss was killed 12 June 1966. We are grateful to those current members of 7RAR who were chosen to come to Victoria as bearers and an Honour Guard for Rudy, one of 7RAR’s original brothers. You all showed dignity and respect to a good soldier, and as a group, we expressed our thanks to those who were there. A tribute page to Rudy is in progress, which will have video of Rudy’s re-burial, plus additional news footage of the Repatriation ceremony at Richmond earlier in the week. Our website is http://www.hq1atf.org. Lest we forget.