RSL state president won’t let a broken foot interfere with SA Anzac Day preparations

BRIGADIER Tim Hanna is the RSL’s man in command as SA mounts one of its biggest Anzac Day tributes — and ironically he’s currently one of the walking wounded.

22/04/15 State President of the RSL Tim Hanna was in a car crash saturday and suffered a broken foot and ribs. chances are he wont be attending any Anzac events now because of it. Has handed off responsibilities to his staff.pic RoyVanDerVegt

BRIGADIER Tim Hanna is the man in command of logistics as South Australia mounts one of its biggest Anzac Day tributes — so it seems almost appropriate that he’s currently one of the walking wounded.

The RSL state president was the victim of a recent car crash and is confined to a bed in Royal Adelaide Hospital with a broken left foot, two broken ribs, severe torso bruising and a black and blue body.

Brigadier Hanna was back working the day after the crash, driven by his unwavering sense of duty.

“It hit home straight away everything I would be missing,” he said. “It’s a whole week of activities during the biggest time of the year for us.”

While he is of course loath to compare his injuries to the suffering endured by wartime Diggers, there is no doubt that the retired soldier has invoked the Anzac spirit to ensure that SA’s salute does our veterans proud.

Brigadier Hanna, who served in the Australian Defence Force for 34 years, was involved in a crash north of Kadina on Saturday and had to be flown to Adelaide for treatment.

He’s spent every waking moment in his bed with mobile phones and documents sprawled across the sheets.

“I’m determined to keep everything on track. I’ve got a phone for work, RSL and personal and the three of them have been ringing non-stop,” he said.

But his worried wife, Susie, is still waiting for her husband to take a break and focus on his recovery.

“Throughout the week, I had to keep saying to him that he can’t do this but he’s just so dedicated,” she said.

“It’s been heartwrenching looking at him trying to accomplish all this stuff. Even from the day after the crash, he’s been working. I went in to see him in hospital and he had printed out a calendar with all the things he was proposing to do.

“I remember thinking: ‘Are you crazy? It’s day one of the accident and you’re still working?’”

Brigadier Hanna said he didn’t stop to think about recovery, he was simply focusing on what needed to be done.

“I remember brushing off the idea that it would affect me. I figured I’d just hobble up the steps and maybe give the March a miss,” he said.

“If not for a seatbelt, I probably wouldn’t be here today — and I'm not trying to compare it to a warlike situation, but what would Australia have been like when 60,000 young men didn't come home?

“I know what the community felt about me just from an injury in a car accident — what effect would it have had on the whole country back then? It makes you wonder.”

Brigadier Hanna was born in Gumeracha and graduated from the Royal Military College in 1980. During the first Gulf War, he was appointed senior liaison officer on the Golan Heights, where the Israeli army occasionally fired warning shots to keep his team away from sensitive areas on the border with Lebanon. He is now a Project Manager at Toll Energy, in addition to his RSL duties.

But as well as his key logistics role for Anzac Day, he still has every intention of participating.

“I can’t remember the last time I missed a Dawn Service. I probably won’t make the Adelaide Service but I’ll try to head down to my local service in Walkerville,” he said.

“If worst comes to worst, we will listen to it on the radio, but I really don't want it to come to that.”

Originally published as RSL state president won’t let a broken foot interfere with SA Anzac Day preparations