Lester Coyne

Lester Coyne

Lester Coyne discusses his uncle’s service, and his family and people’s relationship with war. Lester’s uncle Jack served in the Pacific during World War 2 including a period as a POW. Jack disliked Japanese people and things for the rest of his life and he would not talk about his service after the war. Lester’s father was in charge of Italian internees and POWs during the same war. Lester’s family did not receive soldier settlement, much to their disappointment, but did work on land clearing on others’ plots. Lester discusses at length themes such as the environment, the evil of war, the Stolen Generations, the concept of ‘blood’ in determining aboriginality, family discipline and African-American soldiers in Australia.

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