I arrived at the Burleigh Memorial Park at 8.30am. The day, weather wise was glorious, the sun was shinning and the memorial Park was manicured to perfection. The marquee and chairs were set up and the sound equipment was being tuned by the sound tech Grant Maroney. Veterans were starting to arrive and some members of the public, Army cadets with Cadet Officers Lt's Shelly had arrived and were busy preparing to mount the guard.

I received a phone call at 10.17 am from our Secretary, Trevor Taylor advising me that a friend of his, Keith Richards, had acquired a copy of the "Instrument Of Surrender" signed on the 2nd September 1945 which officially ended the Second World War in the Pacific with the Japanese. I was further informed that the document is a donation to the Sub-Branch to be included in its memorabilia. I was excited and asked Trevor to bring it along for the days service. When Trevor arrived and presented me with the document, upon closer examination, I discovered that the document was a copy that had been reproduced from the original document in "1981 by the Awani Press, Fredericksburg, Texas, United States of America". It is the best copy I had ever seen. The document was displayed at the foot of the lectern on the Cenotaph during the service for all to come and inspect.

At 1050 hrs, Parade Marshall Les McKenzie and about thirty Veterans with flag party, Ken McNaught, Vern Williams, Ron Mansfield & Alistair McColl fell in on parade and the Army cadets mounted the guard on the Cenotaph. There were only about fifty members of the public ready for the service to commence. In attendance were: Fr Pat Molony - Honorary Padre, Samantha Naday - Vocalist, Greg Betts - Councillor Division 12 for Burleigh and Christine Smith - State Member for Burleigh. On parade with the troops were Norm Anderton, MBE and Ex-POW - ex-Secretary of the now defunct Gold Coast & District Ex-POW Association, and fellow ex-POW Mick Kilday. These are just two of our surviving ex-POW's, great to see them still standing tall. Greg Betts was asked to read the POW's Prayer on behalf of the POW's during the service.

The service of commemoration concluded with Samantha singing all four Anthems with the New Zealand anthem being sung in Maori for the very first time! What a great voice for such a small young lady. Thank you Sam!

A huge thanks to the Veterans and public that turned up on the day to remember and say "Thanks for the sacrifice" to those who didn't return or are with us no more!

The turnout was, to say the least, disappointing. It would seem that unless a day of commemoration is dignified with a Public Holiday, very few Australians see any reason to stand, remember and give thanks. We at Burleigh Heads RSL with the support of the Gold Coast City Council and our local councillor will persevere to recognize this very special day in Australia's history and remember the sacrifices that nearly one million Australian service men & women and their families made during the second World War.

" Lest We Forget"