DIED IN SERVICE - 17 FEBRUARY 1960

On the evening of February 17, 1960, 74 commandos from 2 Commando Company set off in army watercraft on a training exercise from Point Lonsdale to Point Nepean in Victoria , simulating a raid which involved them crossing the infamous Rip at the entrance to Port Phillip Bay

The weather changed without warning and the watercraft were swept out to sea through the Port Phillip heads encountering massive seas and some capsized.

George "Taffy" Drakopoulos and Eddie Meyer drowned before they could be rescued.

Roger Wood, selflessly helped his fellow Commandos up a rope ladder on a larger rescue vessel to safety from a Zodiac inflatable, only then to be flung into the sea and lost somewhere beyond The Rip.

The three victims were all from Melbourne, and aged around 20.