First the sun shone and then a gentle rain fell on those gathered at the Memorial Park in Walcha for the 11 am Anzac Day service.
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The president of the Walcha RSL Sub Branch – Mr Roy Westfold – conducted proceedings and Mr Ross Hoy addressed the gathering.
Mr Hoy spoke of the importance of support in war time, both of your comrades and the community back at home. He also congratulated the local historical society for publishing their book on Walcha’s involvement in the First World War in 2014 ahead of this year’s commemorations.
This year Anzac Day remembers 100 years from the end of the First World War.
In a press release issued by MP Barnaby Joyce he said:
“Our nation is still defined by those who fought not just in the First World War but the Boer War, the Second World War, Vietnam, Malaya, Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan and so many other operations that Australians have participated in even though they were not fought on our island continent.
“People can go back and forth on the politics of why and whether they should have done it but that’s a question for politicians to answer. What is without dispute is Australian service men and women offered their life in service to our nation because they believed it was right - a nation built on that character is and always will be a great nation.
“We remember on Anzac Day those who have made a supreme sacrifice but we should also not forget those who have suffered the other maladies of war and of service, those who were maimed, psychologically scarred, who had their personal lives turned upside down because they weren’t here.
“It is so important that we do not think of these people as superhuman or endowed with some God-given heroism. They are people just like you. They lived in the same streets, swam in the same pools, they played sport, they looked at the same hills that you looked at and sat under the same trees. They loved and were loved. They thought serving our nation in the armed forces when their life was at risk was the right thing to do.
“The biggest thing they ask of us is really simple – do not take their service for granted and do not forget. Lest we forget.”
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Vanessa Arundale
Everyone has a story to tell and I like to help them do it.
Everyone has a story to tell and I like to help them do it.
