 Following his retirement , Becher accepted the position of Director @-@ General of Recruiting for the Australian armed forces from 1966 until 1969 , a period during which conscription was in effect . Minister of Defence Allen Fairhall asked Becher to find enough volunteers to fill the armed forces , and Becher believed that conscription eroded professional standards , but he found this task difficult given that the military was " competing with industry , and the country was short of labour . " He also held the post of chairman of the Council of the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of New South Wales . On 15 June 1977 , aged 68 , Becher died from a myocardial infarction at Sydney Hospital . Survived by his wife and their three sons , he was cremated . 
