Paul McCarthy

A leader at work and play
Karen Brown and Elizabeth Gosch		April 04, 2005
SQUADRON Leader Paul McCarthy, one of the air force personnel killed in the Sea King helicopter crash on Nias, once spent 45 days rowing across the Atlantic Ocean. The avid surf boat rower was inspired by a newspaper article about the 1997 transAtlantic rowing race and decided to compete in 2001 with his mate and fellow doctor Patrick Weinrauch. Despite never having competed in an ocean rowing event before, the pair finished second to a New Zealand team after leading for most of the 5560km journey. At the time, Dr McCarthy and Dr Weinrauch said they were looking for a new challenge after rowing surf boats competitively since they were teenagers. That dedication and determination also featured strongly in Dr McCarthy's career in the Royal Australian Air Force
.He trained as a doctor with the RAAF in Melbourne before moving to Perth to take up a position as the senior medical officer at Pearce Base in 2003. The 30-year-old left Brisbane last week to join the Kanimbla, having only recently returned from Banda Aceh. Wing Commander Stephen Bonney, Officer Commanding RAAF Base Pearce, said Dr McCarthy was well-liked. "He was a very fine doctor. He was not only a senior medical officer on base, he was also the officer in charge of the health services flight, so he was not only a doctor but he also had a managerial role," Wing Commander Bonney said. "More importantly he was a very nice man. He was very well-liked and highly regarded and I'm sure that would be the case in his previous postings. "He was very devoted to his career both as a doctor and as a military officer and he always thought of others before himself."


One of life's gentlemen
At Pearce Air Force base north-east of Perth, ADF personnel have gathered to mourn the death of one of their colleagues, Squadron Leader Paul McCarthy, 30. Originally from Brisbane, Squadron Leader McCarthy was the senior medical officer at the base, and also a champion ocean rower. He had only just returned to Perth from Indonesia last week, where he had been treating the victims of the tsunami. He left Perth the next night for Nias where he had volunteered to help the victims of the earthquake. One of Squadron Leader McCarthy's close colleagues told the ABC the doctor's death had been a terrible shock to personnel at Pearce. He described Squadron Leader McCarthy as a brilliant doctor and "one of life's gentlemen". Group Captain Ian Petkoff says Squadron Leader McCarthy was an excellent doctor and extremely well-liked. "There's a general air of sadness of course, in particular because we have lost one of our members, but in general because the Defence Force has lost a number of young people all of whom will be sorely missed by their units and by their families and by their friends," he said. The president of the Western Australian branch of the Royal Australian Air Force Association, Graeme Bland, says the accident is a devastating blow for personnel at Pearce. "It'll go right through the ex-service people as well as the current defence people at Pearce," Mr Bland said. "It'll hit Pearce very hard because being a medical officer he would have been well known up there - there's a real bond between service people. When you're on a base like that you're like a small family community. "Even if you've not had a lot of contact with the person, it really does hit you because they are one of yours."



Mates rue what could have been
April 5 2005		Shelley Hodgson
SQUADRON Leader Paul McCarthy's friends and family were excitedly awaiting his return home. Just three weeks ago he rang his best mate talking of a planned six-week holiday to his home state of Queensland After a three-month stint helping the survivors of the Boxing Day tsunami in Aceh, it was to be a well-deserved break. "We were all looking forward to it," friend Dr Patrick Weinrauch said. "We were talking about the things we were going to get up to. I was going to take a short break and we were going to do a bit of surfing." Dr McCarthy, 30, was one of nine Australian military personnel killed in the Sea King helicopter crash. A senior medical officer at the Pearce RAAF Base near Perth, Dr McCarthy had served in Afghanistan and East Timor before his recent assignments.
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He was in Australia only two days when he volunteered to go back after last week's earthquake. "He's got a huge circle of friends and family that are completely devastated, there's no other way of putting it," Dr Weinrauch said. Dr McCarthy was remembered as an athletic man who loved the water. In 2001, Dr Weinrauch and Dr McCarthy came second in a rowing competition across the Atlantic Ocean from the Canary Islands to Barbados -- a 5500km, 45-day trip. Dr McCarthy was also part of Queensland's Coolum Beach Surf Life Saving Club team that won an A-grade surf boat title at the Australian Surf Lifesaving Championship in 1999. While at medical school, he met Dr Weinrauch and they began surf boat rowing together. The pair, with two other defence force medical students, formed a rowing team at Alexandra Headland Surf Life Saving Club. Club boat captain John McNamara described Dr McCarthy as gentle, yet dedicated and fun-loving. 'He was the epitome of a really good Australian -- someone who loved sport and got on and had a go, but at the same time was very intelligent," he said. Dr Weinrauch said his friend was tenacious. "If he decided he wanted to do something, he would achieve it," Dr Weinrauch said. "But by the same token, he was a gentle and very kind man." After completing his junior doctor training at Nambour, Dr McCarthy was returned to service, with postings in Brisbane, Newcastle and then Western Australia. He also did several months' training in Melbourne. RAAF Pearce commanding officer Wing Commander Stephen Bonney said the fact that Dr McCarthy was in Indonesia proved his devotion to helping people. "He was a very fine doctor . . . he was a very fine manager and, above all that, a very, very nice person," Wing Cdr Bonney told ABC radio. with agencies