By
LCDR Andrew Stackpool
 |
|
MAJGEN
Robert “Stoker” Mohr as a young sailor.
|
The
late MAJGEN Robert “Stoker” Mohr was a Solicitor then
Barrister before ultimately ending as Judge Advocate General of
the ADF in 1984 and a Supreme Court Judge for SA until his retirement
in 1995.
He was born in Adelaide on July 31, 1925 and as soon as he turned
17 in 1942 he enlisted in the RAN. After training he was posted
to HMAS Arunta as a Stoker.
Arunta must have had erudite engineering spaces. Two of his fellow
stokers, Ray Northrop and Richard McGarvie became judges in the
Federal and Victorian Supreme Courts respectively (McGarvie also
became Governor of Victoria) while a third, Peter Mann, became
Bishop of Dunedin.
Stoker Mohr saw considerable action in the Pacific campaign. He
resigned from the Navy in 1947 and studied law. Graduating in
1952 he joined two law firms before striking out solo as a Barrister.
In 1970 he was appointed as a Judge to the District Court in Adelaide
and then to the SA Supreme Court in 1978.
Judge Mohr returned to the defence realm when he joined the Army
Reserve in 1959. Here he cut out a distinguished career in military
legal matters.
In 1982 he was promoted MAJGEN and appointed as the Army’s
Judge Advocate General (JAG). Two years later he became the ADF’s
first JAG.
In
2002 he came out of retirement when, with former RADM Phillip
Kennedy he conducted a Federal Government review into the service
entitlements for personnel who served in South East Asia between
1955 and 1975.
Despite his spectacular career in law, Mohr considered his experiences
in Arunta as his proudest achievement. He was very proud of the
fact that he was a stoker and of his nickname.
He told the story of a trip around Sydney Harbour in a patrol
boat in the 1970s as a Colonel. On the bridge a Leading Stoker
spotted his WWII Medal ribbons and said: “You must have been
a CO of a battalion during the war, sir”?
Mohr replied, “No, I was in the Navy.”
The stoker said, “Well you must have been at least the captain
of a destroyer”, to which Mohr told him, “No, I was
just a stoker like you”.
The Leading Stoker replied, “Well there is hope for me yet!”
He marched every Anzac Day with the Arunta Association until the
last two years when he became a Grand Marshall.
He turned up to the Arunta group in his Major-General’s uniform
and was promptly told: “You were a Stoker with us - so that
must be your equivalent rank in the Army.”
Stoker Mohr laughed and said, “Of course it is!”
