He joined the RAAF in 1950 and spent 11 years plying his trade as a motor transport fitter, including the Korean War.

“Though I didn’t get to Korea until the thing was just about over in 1953.”

It was not until 1990, when the Air Force Association got started, that he began to march.

He might have had cause to not get involved for a more obvious reason, given he suffered devastating burns when a field tank exploded in his face in Korea.

But it was simply that he did not think about Anzac Day when he got out of the RAAF.

“I had lots and lots of operations,” he said of his injuries.

“When I was first burnt I was picked up by an American Marines helicopter and flown out to a hospital ship.

“I stayed on that and then they took me to the American Navy hospital in Japan.”

Mr Boase said the treatment continued for many years.

“I came home in July of 1954 and then I was in and out of hospital at the Richmond air force base,” he said.

“In the meantime, when I wasn’t in hospital I was out on a job — it was a few months out and a few months in.”

Mr Boase said he marched because of the mateship he had formed and because “it’s something to remember”.

“I see those bloody graveyards in France and you think of that,” he said.

“I lost friends in Korea too, but they were up there a long time before I was.

“One of the pilots is still there somewhere, missing.”

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