THE spirit of Ballarat born surgeon and war hero Sir Albert Coates lived on last night, through the words of another dignified surgeon.The ninth annual oration named in Sir Albert's honour took place at the University of Ballarat's SMB campus, with leading surgeon Professor Bruce Waxman addressing the 100 strong crowd.Like Sir Albert, Professor Waxman is a surgeon, has a passion for education and training and has spent time overseas with the Australian Defence Force.He has been deployed to Bougainville, East Timor, Bali and was surgical leader in Banda Aceh.He is also director of the board of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.Professor Waxman said the invitation to talk at the oration came as quite a shock but was a great honour at the same."It's a great honour and I like to think I'm similar to Sir Albert in some ways," he said.His presentation ? Triumphs and Disasters: Journeys of a surgeon's life ? focused on his life both as a leading surgeon at Dandenong Hospital and his time as a surgeon in the defence force.Sir Albert was born at Mt Pleasant in 1895 and served at Gallipoli in World War I and in Malaya in World War II, where he was captured by the Japanese.