Commemorative Veterans' Dinner
Honouring All Who Serve

In celebrating our many differences, Americans and Australians have always come together under a common belief in freedom, openness and optimism to unite our two countries.

Within the broader context of the Battle of the Coral Sea anniversary (4-8 May), widely regarded by many as the ‘Battle that saved Australia’, the American Australian Association will host an inaugural American – Australian Commemorative Veterans’ Reception & Dinner Honouring All Who Serve.

The American Australian Veterans’ Commemorative Reception & Dinner will honour the service and sacrifice of all American and Australian veterans. It will highlight the close ongoing allied partnerships between Australian and American services, governments, and industry, promote and showcase the American Australian Association Veterans’ Scholarship Fund, and it’s American and Australian veteran scholar recipients. The event will philanthropically help support the American Australian Association Veterans’ Scholarship Fund, through charitable donations, and the opportunity to create new ‘Named’ Scholarships.

Wednesday, 7 May 2025
Reception 5:30 PM
Dinner 6:30 PM

Australian War Memorial
Treloar Crescent
Campbell ACT 2612

Contact
Debbie Chappel
[email protected]

Table Enquiry
Individual Tickets

Patron of Australian Veterans

VADM Mark Hammond AO, RAN
Chief of Navy
Royal Australian Navy

Vice Admiral Mark Hammond joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1986 as an Electronics Technician sailor, before commissioning as a Naval Officer in 1988. He graduated from the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) in 1990, and served in frigates before volunteering for submarine service and qualifying in the Oberon class.

He is a dual qualified officer, graduating from the Royal Australian Navy Principal Warfare Officers Course, and both the Netherlands and US Navy Submarine Command Courses.

Vice Admiral Hammond has spent a significant portion of his career working alongside US counterparts, including in US Navy nuclear attack submarines. As a Commander, he was posted to Washington DC as the Assistant Naval Attaché. He later returned to the US as a Commodore to serve as the Australian Defence Force’s Liaison Officer to the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, for which he was awarded the United States Legion of Merit (Officer).

Both of his children attended school in the US, with his daughter graduating from James Madison High School in Virginia before the family returned to Australia.

Other notable appointments have included Command of the Collins Class Submarine HMAS Farncomb, Submarine Capability and Joint Exercise Staff roles, Chief of Staff to the Chief of the Defence Force, Director General Maritime Operations, Deputy Chief of Navy, and Commander of the Australian Fleet.

Vice Admiral Hammond assumed Command of the Royal Australian Navy in July 2022, becoming the first Recruit School and Australian Defence Force Academy graduate to do so, and only the second submarine Commanding Officer to serve as Chief of Navy.

In 2023, Vice Admiral Hammond was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service in senior command roles. In April 2024 he was awarded the Republic of Korea’s Order of National Security Merit Gukseon Medal for outstanding and meritorious services rendered to the Republic of Korea. In October 2024, Vice Admiral Hammond was honoured with the Republic of Singapore’s Meritorious Service Medal-Military for distinguished performance in furthering links between Australia and Singapore.

Vice Admiral Hammond holds a Bachelor of Science, a Master’s Degree in Management and a Master’s Degree in Maritime Studies, and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program.

Away from the Navy his interests include antique wooden boats, cricket, rugby league (South Sydney Rabbitohs), AFL (Port Adelaide), chess, and submarine warfare in World War II.

Patron of American Veterans

Erika Olson
CHARGÉ D’AFFAIRES
U.S. EMBASSY IN AUSTRALIA

Erika Olson is the Chargé d’Affaires, ad interim for the United States in Australia, where she manages the U.S.-Australia bilateral relationship through the Embassy in Canberra and Consulates in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth. From 2021-2023, she held the post of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State overseeing policy for Southern Europe and the Caucasus. As Director for Regional Political Military Affairs in Europe she guided U.S. participation at NATO and the OSCE. From 2019-2021 she directed the Office of Northern Europe, the Baltics, and Arctic Security.

While serving as Economic Counselor for the United States Mission in Turkey from 2016-2019, she won the Department’s Herbert Salzman Award for Excellence in International Economic Performance. She served as Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Bratislava, Slovakia; Deputy Political Economic Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia; Political Economic Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and Consul and Economic Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic. In Washington she was Senior Advisor and Acting Chief of Staff to Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Heather Higginbottom and worked in the Secretary of State’s Operations Center.

Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Ms. Olson worked alongside Ambassador Robert Oakley at the National Defense University on conflict and resilience. She advised the Director General of the Foreign Commercial Service at the U.S. Department of Commerce and worked for Microsoft and the Mitsui Corporation. Erika holds a M.A. in Foreign Affairs with a concentration in international economic policy from The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs and a B.A. with Honors in psychology and Japanese studies from Whitman College. She studied at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan. She speaks Turkish and Russian, and has studied Japanese, Georgian, and Slovak.

Entertainment

John Schumann

John Schumann AM is one of the very few songwriters who have changed the way a nation thinks. He is best known for his leadership of the legendary folk-rock band Redgum, and his Vietnam veterans’ anthem, I Was Only 19.

In over 40 years in Australian music John Schumann has received almost every award the industry has to offer – some twice over.

John and his band have participated in five ADF Forces Entertainment Tours, travelling to East Timor, Afghanistan and the Middle East (twice), the Solomon Islands and Tanzania to entertain the Australian forces deployed there.

In mid 2014, John was commissioned by the then Chief of Army, LTGEN David Morrison, to write a song commemorating the service of Indigenous soldiers in World War 1 and beyond to coincide with the Anzac Centenary. Recorded with his new band, The Vagabond Crew, “On Every Anzac Day” has been widely acclaimed as the “Only 19” for serving Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders – and their families.

John Schumann is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a member of the Flinders University Distinguished Alumni and was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to music, social justice and the veteran community.

Described by rock historian Glenn A. Baker as “one of the finest songwriters this country has produced”, John’s songs have been paid the ultimate compliment by becoming the property of the people and the country they were written about. His lyrics are on reading lists in schools, colleges and universities throughout Australia.

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