He was a gentle giant, remembered by one nephew as so tall that when Uncle Ken picked him up “I could touch the ceiling”.
Wayne Ranse, the nephew, also regards him as “a local hero”.
The Gazette wrote about Private Kenneth Houston a month ago, in reporting on a ceremony at the Katoomba Cenotaph to recognise the 23-year-old conscript who died in Vietnam.
Details about his life were scarce and the Blue Mountains Vietnam Veterans & Associated Forces was keen to learn more.
A number of Ken’s family members and friends were quick to pass on their memories of a young man who died of “heat exhaustion, severe shock and suffocation” in Phuoc Tuy just a month before he was due to return home from his tour of duty.
Ken Houston was born in Katoomba Hospital and attended Katoomba High School.
He had three sisters, one of whom has died but the other two still “miss him greatly”, according to another nephew, Chris Ranse. “He had a big family and many, many friends who still remember him fondly.” he said.
Ken’s parents died within a year of each other in 1983-84.
“They were heart-broken from the day he died,” said Wayne. “I remember as a kid [a seven-year-old] it was a very traumatic time for the family. And I recall when Ken’s funeral was on at St Hilda’s Church in Katoomba, all the shopkeepers closed out of respect for Ken.”
Some time after his death the family met Ken’s platoon leader, Lieutenant Peter Luffman, who had planted a lone pine in honour of the young soldier on his Goulburn property.
Wayne Ranse described him as “a knockabout bloke. He was right into cars and didn’t mind a beer.”
Ken Houston joined the police force after he left school and was serving as a constable when he was conscripted in July 1967.
He was sent to Vietnam with the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment where he died in October 1968.
Private Houston is buried in Katoomba cemetery, next to his parents.
