A Fairy Meadow husband and wife who have devoted 15 years to helping veterans and their families have received Australia Day honours.
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Peter Pioro and Ann Elizabeth Pioro were each awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to veterans and their families.
They both became involved with the Woonona Bulli RSL Club Sub-Branch after they moved to the Illawarra in 2012.
Mr Pioro is the Sub-Branch vice-president as well as its welfare and compensation advocate, and is a member of the Illawarra Sub-Branch, Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia.
Mrs Pioro was the president and director of the Women's Auxiliary of the Woonona Bulli RSL Club Sub-Branch, where she is a military rehabilitation and compensation advocate and welfare and compensation advocate. She is also a member of Illawarra Sub-Branch, Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia.
Mr Pioro, 74, was a member of the Citizens Military Force (CMF), now the Australian Army Reserve, when he was called up for national service in 1968. During his two-year commitment, he was deployed to South Vietnam, where he served about eight months before his tour was cut short.
It was enough time though to suffer physical injuries and emotional scars that stay with him today.
After returning to a career in insurance, where he became a senior claims manager - he received a full military pension in 2008, in recognition of ongoing back injuries from his service.
"I decided to help other veterans and we started up in Townsville, where we were living," he said.
He joined the Townsville branch of the Totally and Permanently Incapacitated Veterans' Association (TPI), and served as the welfare co-ordinator from 2008 to 2012.
Mrs Pioro said she had always had a special insight into the suffering of veterans. As well as supporting her husband of 38 years, her parents met while they were both serving in the British armed forces during WWII, while her grandfather also served in both world wars.
So she said it made sense that she too would join the TPI in 2008, serving as an associate member, volunteer welfare assistant and applied suicide intervention assistant.
After moving to the Illawarra to be closer to their daughter, they continued their efforts to support veterans here.
Mr Pioro said they had each undergone appropriate training to help veterans process claims, as well as offer welfare support to them and their families, including widows.
"We have supported widows whose husbands have committed suicide to ensure they and their children have been looked after," Mr Pioro said.
"We helped the widow of one veteran who died in a fall. We were able to help her get the war widow pension and her own Gold Card."
Mr Pioro said they had worked with returned service men and a growing number of women who had been deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq and Timor to access the help they needed.
He said many suffered mental anguish, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and depression - some severe - with the effects sometimes not recognised for 40 years.
He said his own experiences had helped him understand what others were going through.
"We are all suffering. That's all I will say," he said. "We all go through the same thing and we are trying to help them the best we can."
Outside their work with veterans and their families, both also have decades of community service under their belts, including with Rotary, Coastal Patrol and the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard Association.
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Merryn Porter
Journalist with more than 25 years' experience in print and digital media who has covered most news rounds, including health, education, politics (local, state and federal), police and courts, with a special interest in women's and family matters. Highly-skilled interviewer and storyteller.
Journalist with more than 25 years' experience in print and digital media who has covered most news rounds, including health, education, politics (local, state and federal), police and courts, with a special interest in women's and family matters. Highly-skilled interviewer and storyteller.
