Location: Australia
Member Since:
Feb. 03, 2013
Don Dennis
Biography
Biography
Born in Sydney Australia, Don spent his youth surfing the east coast's beaches and also became a top ranked competitive swimmer. He studied electronic engineering but on graduation opted for a career as a creative copywriter, a job at which he excelled. His main achievements included designing a baked bean campaign that persuaded the Army to buy the brand for their ration packs...a decision that later came back to haunt him.
Gaining his private pilot's license at 19, he hoped to become an airline pilot, however fate intervened when in 1965 at age 20, he was drafted into the Australian Army. Subsequently he served in Army Aviation during the Vietnam war and achieved a certain notoriety for implementing a soap powder bombing raid on Vietcong fish farms that nearly developed into an international incident when a reporter accused his unit of chemical warfare.
Known for his dry wit and tendency to "draw the crabs" because of his disregard for authority - including refusing to salute Prime Minister John Gorton when he visited Vietnam in 1968 (because it was his political party who'd drafted him) his military career had its ups and downs.
After returning to Australia and publishing an article in a national newspaper labeling the then Australian Minister for Defense a hypocrite, he left the army to among other things, pursue writing - including humor, science and fiction. In 1992 the first book about his war experiences "One Day at a Time" was published, subsequently being published in Poland and extracts used in educational material in the USA. He has since published several books including The Guns of Muschu in 2006, which precipitated a successful search for Australian Z Force commandos lost in an island raid in 1945.
He now lives in Queensland on the Gold Coast. There he's dedicated his retirement to lampooning as many politicians as possible.
"In Australia we have so many politicians who are idiots, that I'll be writing 24x7 for the next thirty years..."
Born in Sydney Australia, Don spent his youth surfing the east coast's beaches and also became a top ranked competitive swimmer. He studied electronic engineering but on graduation opted for a career as a creative copywriter, a job at which he excelled. His main achievements included designing a baked bean campaign that persuaded the Army to buy the brand for their ration packs...a decision that later came back to haunt him.
Gaining his private pilot's license at 19, he hoped to become an airline pilot, however fate intervened when in 1965 at age 20, he was drafted into the Australian Army. Subsequently he served in Army Aviation during the Vietnam war and achieved a certain notoriety for implementing a soap powder bombing raid on Vietcong fish farms that nearly developed into an international incident when a reporter accused his unit of chemical warfare.
Known for his dry wit and tendency to "draw the crabs" because of his disregard for authority - including refusing to salute Prime Minister John Gorton when he visited Vietnam in 1968 (because it was his political party who'd drafted him) his military career had its ups and downs.
After returning to Australia and publishing an article in a national newspaper labeling the then Australian Minister for Defense a hypocrite, he left the army to among other things, pursue writing - including humor, science and fiction. In 1992 the first book about his war experiences "One Day at a Time" was published, subsequently being published in Poland and extracts used in educational material in the USA. He has since published several books including The Guns of Muschu in 2006, which precipitated a successful search for Australian Z Force commandos lost in an island raid in 1945.
He now lives in Queensland on the Gold Coast. There he's dedicated his retirement to lampooning as many politicians as possible.
"In Australia we have so many politicians who are idiots, that I'll be writing 24x7 for the next thirty years..."