Not included in the Official History of The Officer Cadet School Portsea

243491 Robert Norman FRY and His Association with the OCS

Robert Fry enlisted into the Australian Regular Army as an Army Apprentice on 25 January 1966 as a 21^st Intake Bricklayer. As an Apprentice he served at the Army Apprentice School, Balcombe from 1966 to 1968.

His direct association with the OCS began on 1 June 1967 when he was selected to be a Member of the Army Apprentice School’s Ground Holding Party for the Presentation of the OCS Colours at the South Melbourne Cricket Ground by HRH Prince Phillip as a Field Marshal of the Australian Army (Front Cover & Pages 199 - 201 of the History refer).

Also during 1967 the ‘first shot’ barrels were recovered, one from Port Wakefield and the other from a scrap metal yard, and were mounted on brick and concrete plinths at the Main Entrance Gates by the class team of 21^st Intake Bricklayers from the Army Apprentice School.

The team consisted of Apprentices:

Robert N Fry
Kevin Mitchell
Raymond T Reilly
Kevin R White and
Michael Wraith (Page 55 of the History refers).

On 7 December 1968 he graduated from the Army Apprentices School as a Bricklayer into the Royal Australian Engineer Corps (RAE). He served in the RAE, achieving the rank of Corporal, until he entered the OCS in July 1972.

On 14 July 1972 he entered the OCS as an Officer Cadet as a member of the 42^nd
Class.

In December 1972 he was appointed to the Senior Class position of Sports Sergeant. And, on 15 June 1973, he graduated as a Second Lieutenant into the Royal Australian Corps of Signals (RASigs).