Chaplain Cudmore then spent a year in Far Eastern Land Forces (British Army) FARELF before returning to the Liverpool area. Following a couple of years at Puckapunyal, Gerry joined the character guidance section of the Australian Chaplains Conference which again took him back to FARELF, saw him living in the Officers’ Mess at the School of Artillery at North Head and all around Australia from then onwards. There were very few Gunners who did not meet Father Cudmore in the late 1960s and 1970s. His capabilities and nature eventually led him to the appointment of Chaplain General of the Army. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day Honours in 1988 in recognition of service to the Australian Army as Principal Chaplain
Gerry retired from the military but continued parish work with a vengeance in Melbourne and was made parish priest of the Armadale and Toorak partnered parishes at the time of his untimely death.
Gerry was a good personal friend who would do anything for ‘his Diggers’. His thoughtful and astute advice to generations of students, subalterns and staff at the School of Artillery was legendary. |
