Greensborough couple Elaine and Keith Shaw were married only days before Keith shipped out to England with the Royal Australian Navy in 1948, 77 years ago.
The Bolton Clarke Home and Community Support clients were heavily involved in the military from World War II onwards with Keith enlisting in the Navy in 1945 and Elaine working in the Royal Australian Air Force headquarters.
“Elaine and I met on a blind date but it was meant to be my friend and Elaine’s friend meeting each other. In the end, neither of the friends could make it so Elaine and I decided that we should still meet,” Keith said.
“I thought being in the Navy was wonderful at the time but it wasn’t very good for Elaine because we got married on 15th January 1948 and I sailed for England for 12 months three days later.
“I had enlisted in the Navy when I was 17 in 1945 because my dad was in the Navy and I always wanted to join from when I was just a kid.
“I was in the engineering branch in the boilers and engines on mine sweepers, originally travelling up in Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby and places like that at the top of Australia.”
Elaine stayed in Melbourne while Keith was stationed across many parts of Australia and the world on ships including the HMAS Swan, Macquarie, Latrobe and the Gladstone.
“During that time we had four boys, which was a handful for Elaine but we ended up staying in the Melbourne suburbs. “After my 12 years of service, I spent five more years in reserves.
"Once I got out we ended up being caretakers at Heidelberg Girls Secondary School for 35 years and we loved it.” For Keith and Elaine, commemorative days like Anzac Day mean quite a lot to them because of not only their own service but their family connection.
“It means quite a lot, my dad got a severe dose of gas and was always a sick man,” Keith said.
“I had a brother who was on the Canberra when she sank – Anzac Day brings a lot of memories back.”
