It’s amazing who you bump into at Halcyon.

Barry Adams and Bruce Midson reignited their friendship at Halcyon Greens more than 50 years after they first met at National Service (‘Nasho’) training in late 1966.

They reconnected after Barry recognised Bruce’s name on the homeowners’ website and wondered if it was his old roommate from the Army’s 1st Recruit Training Battalion (1 RTB) at Kapooka, NSW.

“A few days later, I was down at Happy Hour and I was talking to some of his neighbours, and I asked them what he looked like,” Barry explained. “They said, ‘oh he’s a mad horse man’ and I knew that it was him, for sure, because we used to live at the racetrack when we were  in Sydney.”

Almost certain that he was living in the same community as his old mate, Barry took a walk around  to Bruce’s place. “He was standing in the street so I walked up to him and I was a bit unsure, but as soon as he opened his mouth and I saw that cheeky grin, I knew,” Barry said.

Bruce said he was surprised and thrilled to see Barry after so many years. “It was weird, I was out the front of the house and I saw this fella walk up the road and I had that feeling that I knew him,” he said.

“As soon we started talking, I began remembering the races, the guard duty and the whole lot.
“He’s the nicest fella you could ever meet – honest and genuine, and nothing’s changed, he’s still exactly as I remember him.

“The odds of bumping into someone you haven’t seen for more than half a century would have to be 10 million to one, it’s just mind blowing.”

The pair last saw each other in early 1967 when the luck of the draw saw 20-year-old Bruce posted to a unit that was deployed to Vietnam while Barry, 21, a welder by trade, stayed in Australia and was transferred to a specialist engineering unit.

They vowed to keep in touch but life inevitably got in the way and their paths didn’t cross until a few months ago at Greens. Now living within a few hundred metres of each other, Bruce and Barry catch up regularly.

“It fills a little gap in your life,” Barry said. “I often used to wonder where he was, and 
here he is.”