GOOD
MORNING TROOPS, LADIES, GENTLEMEN, BOYS AND GIRLS, WELCOME
TO THE BURLEIGH HEADS RSL ANZAC DAWN SERVICE, THANK YOU Fr
PAT MOLONY, KEN KEYTE, LES McKENZIE, & GEORGE UTTERSON.
TODAY
IS THE 90th ANNIVERSARY OF THE LANDING BY THE ANZAC’S
ON THE SHORES AT GALLIPOLI, THE DATE WAS 25TH APRIL 1915 THE
TIME WAS 4.28am. THAT FATEFUL DAY MANY AUSTRALIANS DIED ON
THAT DISTANT BEACH AND BEFORE THAT CAMPAIGN ENDED THERE WERE
NEARLY 27,000 KILLED OR WOUNDED. IT IS DIFFICULT TO IMAGINE,
THAT ALMOST HALF OF OUR PRESENT MILITARY FORCE WOULD BE WIPED
OUT TODAY. SADLY, THERE ARE ONLY THREE WORLD WAR ONE VETERANS
ALIVE TODAY AND NONE OF THEM HAD SEEN ACTION IN GALLIPOLI
OR THE WESTERN FRONT. THEIR AGES ARE 105, 106 & 107
THIS
EPISODE OF AUSTRALIA’S HISTORY NOW MOVES TO THE WRITTEN
WORD AS THERE IS NO LIVE SPOKEN HISTORY REMAINING, WE MUST
TREASURE THIS HERITAGE THAT HAS BEEN LEFT TO US BY SUCH SACRIFICE
BY 416,809 AUSTRALIANS WHO ENLISTED IN THE GREAT WAR.
SADLY, THE LINES ARE THINNING OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR VETERANS,
AS THIS YEAR ALSO MARKS THE 60th ANNIVERSARY OF THE END OF
THAT CONFLICT. OVER 800,000 MEN AND WOMEN SERVED IN AUSTRALIA’S
ARMED FORCES DURING 1939 & 1945. THESE MEN AND WOMEN ARE
NOW MOSTLY OVER 80 YEARS OF AGE WITH JUST A FEW STILL UNDER
THAT AGE BUT NOT MANY. WE MUST TREASURE THESE VETERANS BEFORE
THEY TOO MOVE INTO THE ANNALS OF HISTORY JUST AS THE FIRST
WORLD WAR VETERANS ARE DOING SO.
WE
COMMEMORATE AND REMEMBER TODAY ALL THE FALLEN, NOT ONLY THOSE
FROM THE FIRST WORLD WAR BUT ALL THE 102,807 YOUNG AUSTRALIANS
WHO HAVE BEEN KILLED IN ACTION, IN ALL WARS TO DATE, SINCE
AUSTRALIA BECAME A FEDERATION IN 1901, ONCE AGAIN WE ARE HERE
TODAY TO HONOUR ALL THOSE WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE US.
IN
THIS BRIEF MOMENT OF OUR TIME MAY WE CONSIDER THE STRESS AND
THE STRAIN THESE MEN AND WOMEN MUST HAVE PASSED THROUGH BEFORE
LAYING DOWN THEIR CROSSES OF LIFE.
ENABLE
US, THEIR FRIENDS AND FAMILIES, TO BE WORTHY OF THE TRUST
THAT THEY HAVE IMPARTED UNTO US ON THEIR PASSING, FOR THEIRS
WAS AN HONOURABLE AND NOBLE LIFE.
REST
PEACEFULLY, THOU GOOD AND NOBLE WARRIORS, WE WILL NEVER FORGET
YOU, LEST WE FORGET.
FOR
THOSE PRESENT HERE TODAY, WHO MAY NOT BE AWARE OF AUSTRALIA’S
LIST OF CONFLICTS THAT AUSTRALIA WAS INVOLVED IN, THEY WERE
THE FOLLOWING CONFLICTS:
THE
BOER WAR
FIRST
WORLD WAR
SECOND
WORLD WAR
KOREA
WAR
MALAYA
AND BORNEO
VIETNAM
WAR
GULF
& IRAQ WARS’
AFGHANISTAN
WAR
WE
MUST REMEMBER NOT ONLY THOSE ON WAR SERVICE WHO GAVE THEIR
ALL BUT ALL AUSTRALIAN SERVICE PERSONNEL WHO HAVE DIED WHILE
SERVING AUSTRALIA IN PEACE WITH AUSTRALIA’S PEACEKEEPING
DUTIES AND HUMANITARIAN SERVICE ALL OVER THE WORLD, IN PARTICULAR
I WOULD LIKE US TO REMEMBERS THOSE NINE YOUNG MEN & WOMEN
WHO DIED WHILE SERVING ON HUMANITARIAN SERVICE IN THE TSUNAMI
AND EARTHQUAKE REGIONS OF INDONESIA JUST RECENTLY, WE MUST
BE PROUD OF ALL THESE YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN OVER THE AGES, WHO
HAVE AND ARE SERVING IN AUSTRALIA’S DEFENCE FORCES TO
KEEP US SAFE.
"Lest
we Forget"