Australian Dictionary of Biography

Felix Fazekas, c. 1949

NAA 1955/10268

Felicián Fazekas (1928–1998), nurse and army officer, was born on 2 August 1928 at Szolnok, Hungary, son and older child of Károly Fazekas, teacher, and his wife Teréz, née Vaczy. Felix, as he became widely known, attended school from 1937 and, as World War II engulfed central Europe, had by 1943 entered the newly established Military Academy High School for non-commissioned infantry officers. When Hungary sought to negotiate terms with the Allies in 1944, Nazi Germany installed a puppet government and the Hungarian army came under direct Wehrmacht control. Fazekas was conscripted into the Hungarian army, and after the fall of Budapest to the Soviet army in February 1945 was among those who surrendered to advancing American forces in Bavaria rather than risk capture by the Soviets. On his release he joined a camp run by the International Refugee Organisation, where he learned English and Polish from other inmates, adding to his German and rudimentary French. He resumed his schooling, and in 1948–49 studied medicine at the University of Heidelberg. Identifying himself as a radio technician, in 1949 he—along with his parents and his sister, Flora—was accepted as a displaced person for migration to Australia.

The family arrived in Melbourne on 15 September 1949. After moving to South Australia, Fazekas fulfilled his two-year work obligation as a labourer before being employed at Northfield Mental Hospital, Adelaide, as an attendant from February 1952, while also studying to become a registered psychiatric nurse. In April 1955 he was naturalised and in November joined the Citizen Military Forces as a nurse with the 27th Infantry Battalion, while continuing to work for the South Australian Hospitals Department. On 21 March 1958 he married fellow Hungarian émigré Margit Gyerkaszay. After progressing in the ranks of the CMF, in September 1959 he was appointed with a short service commission in the Australian Regular Army as a male nurse officer with 16 National Service Training Company. Standing six feet tall, and moustachioed throughout his military career, he proved his aptitude and enthusiasm during several instructional postings with the national service training scheme. His performance at the 1st Recruit Training Battalion at Kapooka, New South Wales, led to his being attached to the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, based at the Infantry Centre, Ingleburn, and his promotion in December 1962 to the temporary rank of captain (substantive September 1963).

In September 1965 Fazekas was posted to the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV). He joined a group of experienced warrant officers and American Special Forces soldiers advising South Vietnamese forces, a role that had come to involve participating in combat alongside this sometimes unpredictable ally. His assignment to a post in Trà Bồng in the central north of Quảng Ngãi province placed him in very hazardous circumstances. On 13 November he led South Vietnamese troops under heavy fire, showing remarkable courage and leadership. His actions—repelling enemy forces and locating fallen comrades—earned him the Military Cross for gallantry in December 1966. The same action led to his successful recommendation that Warrant Officer Kevin Wheatley be awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. American commanding officers considered Fazekas a remarkable soldier, praising his courage, ‘aggressive spirit … and ability to size up the situation and get the job done’ (NAA B2458). He returned to Australia in September 1966, and on 15 May 1967 married Meredith Margaret Lawson at Malvern, Victoria, having been divorced from Margit in August 1964. Promoted to temporary major in May 1967 (substantive 1970), he joined the Battle Wing staff at the Jungle Training Centre, Canungra, Queensland—a compulsory rigorous testing ground for units progressing to Vietnam.

Fazekas’s superiors consistently assessed him as performing well above average throughout his military career. In 1963 his then commanding officer had rated him ‘every inch a soldier … happiest when he is serving with troops,’ and eleven years later another remarked on ‘his love of regimental soldiering and all that goes with life in a regular unit’ (NAA B2458). The then lieutenant Peter Cosgrove, who encountered Fazekas in 1969, recalled him to be ‘an extraordinary man … a bit older than the average major, craggy, crewcut and tough as nails, with a thick Hungarian accent to boot’ (2006, 52–53). Fazekas’s forceful and confident powers of decision compelled action. Although intolerant of those who did not rise to his standards, beneath his mask of gruffness lay the camouflaged caring attention of a mental health nurse.

Ultimately, Fazekas’s age denied him the chance to attend staff college and so seek further promotion. He served as second-in-command of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, in Malaysia and Singapore in 1973–74 before returning to the Royal South Australia Regiment until being placed on the retired list on 2 August 1976.

Having been recently divorced from Meredith, on 6 September 1977 Fazekas married South Australian-born retail worker Diana Louise, née Thomas, in Adelaide. They retained a house in Adelaide, but he became a cattle and sheep farmer at Langhorne Creek, while also serving as South Australian president of the AATTV Association. In 1977 he was made a member of the civilian Hungarian knightly Order of Vitéz for his military service in 1944-45. On 13 November each year he lit a candle to remember the sacrifices on that day in Vietnam in 1965. He died of liver cancer on 29 March 1998 and was buried in Centennial Park cemetery, Adelaide, survived by Diana and his sons, Charles from his first marriage, Christopher and Nicholas from his second, and Robert from his third.