‘We share it’: Dick Wills reflects on Australia Day honour
Ballina veteran Dick Wills says his Order of Australia Medal is the greatest honour of his life, and one he shares entirely with his wife Colleen.
The Australia Day honour was the only national award bestowed on a Ballina Shire resident this year, recognising Dick’s service to veterans and their families.
While he has received many honours over a lifetime of service, Dick says this one stands apart.
Next week, Dick and Colleen will also mark another milestone, celebrating 60 years of marriage.
After long careers with the Australian Flying Corps and the Royal Australian Air Force, the couple retired from service life and settled in Ballina, where they raised their four sons and put down permanent roots.
Dick and Colleen Wills
For Dick, the honour reflects not just decades of service, but the quiet partnership that sustained it.
“It’s always been shared,” he says.
Dick’s career began early.
At just 16, he joined the RAAF as an airman apprentice, completing an electrical fitter apprenticeship at Wagga Wagga before postings across Australia and overseas.
That service included time with No. 2 Squadron during the Vietnam War.
Despite later becoming a senior flight engineer and instructor, Dick remains self-effacing about his path.
“I was never that bright at school,” he says, still surprised by where the journey led.
After returning from Vietnam, Dick retrained as a flight engineer when the role opened to all trades.
The transition was challenging, but transformative.
Within a short period, he was promoted, became an instructor, and later assumed the role of senior flight engineer instructor, responsible for training others with greater formal qualifications.
In 1979, he was awarded the British Empire Medal for service to flight engineering, his first vice-regal honour.
He describes that recognition as unexpected.
“This one is different,” he says of the OAM.
The Medal of the Order of Australia was awarded to Richard Noel Wills for service to veterans and their families.
The official citation details decades of commitment through the Ballina RSL sub-branch, where he has served as president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer and committee member, often stepping into leadership roles when needed.
His work has extended well beyond titles, assisting veterans and their families to navigate complex systems around compensation, wellbeing and aged care.
“The real reward is helping people,” he says.
“Sometimes it’s just paperwork, but it can make a big difference.”
Dick is particularly conscious of the long-term impact of service, especially for Vietnam veterans.
He speaks candidly about the lack of recognition many experienced on their return, and the importance of dignity, support and care later in life.
After leaving the Air Force, Dick worked as a flight engineer with Qantas and later in local industry, while continuing deep involvement in Ballina’s sporting community.
He became a life member of the Ballina Soccer Club and contributed administratively across rugby league, cricket and athletics.
Colleen, equally engaged, became a life member of Ballina Hockey and represented the region at state level.
“When we get involved, it’s usually in administration,” Dick says, smiling.
“We just can’t help ourselves.”
Even now, at age 81, he’s not slowing down much.
Dick continues to assist with historical and veterans’ projects, including helping senior officers document their service and prepare manuscripts for publication.
One such project took five years to complete.
“I didn’t know anything about publishing,” he admits.
“But the story mattered.”
Despite the breadth of his career, Dick remains uncomfortable with praise.
Asked how the honour sits with him, he pauses.
“To be honoured among fellow veterans,” he says.
“That means something.”
For Dick, the measure of service remains simple.
“If you can help someone,” he says.
“You should.”
