Fazekas, Felix (Major, b.1929 - d.1998)

Two letters relating to the Vietnam War service of 48049 Captain (later Major) Felix Fazekas MC, Australian Army Training Team Vietnam, 1965-1966.

The letters, written in Hungarian, were sent by Fazekas to Dr Anthony Endrey QC, a lawyer, author, and prominent member of the expatriate Hungarian community in South Australia. Like Endrey, Fazekas had arrived in Australia as a 'Displaced Person' (refugee) from Hungary in 1949 and settled in South Australia. Fazekas joined the Citizens Military Force as a private in 1955, was commissioned a lieutenant in the Australian Regular Army in 1959, and deployed with the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam from 1965 to 1966. Fazekas was awarded the Military Cross during this tour and was involved in the battle in which Warrant Officers Ronald Swanton and Kevin Wheatley were killed. Wheatley was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross on Fazekas' recommendation.

The two letters were written during Fazekas' time in Vietnam. The first, from December 1965, thanks Endrey for sending a newspaper clipping and holy picture, and remarks that Fazekas is still fighting the "Bolshevist hordes" as he had (as a teenage conscript) in the Hungarian Army during the Second World War. The second letter, from January 1966 (but erroneously annotated 1965), thanks Endrey for sending further newspapers and comments on Fazekas' activities in Vietnam.