Geraldton veteran and pigeon fancier Ian Heberle strafed by birds on Anzac Day

Ian Heberle was wounded in action while fighting in Vietnam and returned to Australia. On Anzac Day the Geraldton ex-serviceman was wounded in action again — while going to check on his beloved pigeons. After organising the Anzac 2020 Tribute in the front yard of his home, Mr Heberle went into his coop in the backyard to collect a couple of birds from his flock of 80. But not used to seeing him in military dress, and with ribbons on his coat, they made a beeline for him. He came out with blood streaming from the left side of his face. “They’re not used to seeing me like this and didn’t know who it was,” Mr Heberle, a former president of the Geraldton RSL, said. “Luckily, I didn’t try to get them before the service, who knows what they would have done in the dark.” The Heberle’s Anzac Day service in Eric Street, in the shadows of the HMAS Sydney memorial, has a wide following, with everyone in the street standing out the front of their homes.