To die peacefully is surely a God-given blessing, but the prospects of doing so must be long-odds when one’s wartime battles included the trenches of Tobruk during a 241-day siege and the barbed jungles of Kokoda, that killed 600 of your mates. (Last post for rat of Tobruk, 30/11). With the Nazis’ obsession for a Thousand-Year Reich, there is something telling about Ernie Walker, a single antagonist in this battle of good versus evil achieving one tenth of that period all by himself. The human properties of morality, mate-ship and unremitting sacrifice must be more self-sustaining than the wishful thinking espoused at the Nuremberg arena in 1936. For a well blessed life, our prayers must extol the life and times of the impressive Ernie Walker. RIP. Alan Sexton, North Parramatta. 1Dec2022.