Vale 215001 LT COL Igors (Gus) Pauza AM – 1RAR & 7RAR
23 Sep 1945 – 3 Dec 2022
Gus was a friend we served in the same company in 1RAR 65-66. In 1985 when he was the XO of 5/7 RAR we worked together on the committee that arranged the first 1RAR Reunion and Memorial dedication at Holsworthy, sadly now only two members of that committee remain.
I received the sad news of his death from his son Matt, “Dad passed away on the night of the 3rd of December and has left an enormous hole in their hearts.”
Gus served in 1RAR 1965-66 and 7RAR 1970-71. In the 1991 Australia Day Honours he received the Order of Australia (Military Division) for service to the Australian Army as Director of the Royal Australian Army Pay Corps
His service will be held at 13:30 on the 15th of December at the Norwood Crematorium 65 Sandford Street, Mitchell ACT.
A bit of a shock, I shared the same tent with Gus and Barry Adams who were both attached to the company from Sig Platoon. Now both are gone. I ran into Gus later in his career and had a good Mag.
Gus joined our section in Holsworthy as a young private straight from Inf Centre. Big Sid Davis was our section commander.Sid a pom was much older than us young diggers.He said to Gus “Puza that sounds German” “Yes Cpl says Gus” “Was your father in the war ” inquires Sid “Yes Cpl
He was in the Luftwaffe ” Sid then bellows at him “Your bloody father bombed my chiikens”.
Gus was batman for Lt Danalinko when I was platoon sig
we spent a lot of time together.Always thought he would make a good officer when he went to OCS.
Very sorry to see his passing we go back a long way.
Another good man down. Gus and I went to the same high school but different classes. One of my favourites stories at veterans get togethers is when in 7RAR as a nasho, because I had worked in a club in Wollongong, Gus assumed that I must know something about wines. Gus was the officer in charge of the officers mess at the time, and as there was a big do prior to going to Vietnam, he needed to put on a good show. Anyway Gus got me a driver and my instructions were to order everything from the sherry through to the ports, and visit all the wine merchants in Sydney. A full day in Sydney tasting wines in every wine merchants in Sydney, an infanteers dream.
Anyway the wines were all ordered from the last merchant, and the big do was a big success and we even got a few freebies delivered later which Gus shared, well I got 2 bottles. Yes, the driver and I got quite drunk, and Gus never sent me out again.
RIP Gus.
I worked for Gus when he was the director of DPAY in 1990 as an Army Reserve on Full Time Service supporting the CENRESPAY II project. I was lucky that he saw potential in me that saw me follow him to the Directorate of Personal Computing – Army from which I established a 32-year career in IT. I owe Gus a lot. I would occasionally run into him at the supermarket, and he always took the time to ask me how I was and to hear about what I had done. My deepest sympathies for Susan, David and Matthew on your loss.
I remember accompanying him to a conference in Melbourne to aid where required. He and I were in the hotel lounge waiting for the rest of the party to arrive, we shared coffee, and he told me some stories about his experiences in Vietnam, something that I would have not felt able to do such was the differences in rank, age and experience. Despite those differencess I never felt the distance. I will always remember his kind and welcoming smile.